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- Thursday 20th January: What The Atlantic learned from two years studying reader needs
Thursday 20th January: What The Atlantic learned from two years studying reader needs
Good morning! Thursday's newsletter is brought to you by Peter.
The Atlantic is keen to know what its readers (and listeners) want from it as well as other media. In this piece, executive director of audience research Emily Goligoski outlines five 'needs' her team has gathered from research done over two years.
Current, prospective, and former subscribers want:
Deeper clarity and context
Help discovering new ideas
Their assumptions challenged
A meaningful break
Writers at the top of their craft
Why bother? “The reader needs help me stay intentional in how we’re using our readers’ time," says Associate editor Isabel Fattal. "I use them, along with other editorial priorities and programming methods, to make sure we’re giving our audiences a balanced reading list.”
There's been a lot of commentary around The Smiths’ ideas to launch a global news brand. The general thrust of the criticism centres on the idea that two white, male, American professionals should be deciding what the world needs to know. This from Isabelle Roughol moves beyond the personalities to question the very validity of trying to serve a global audience.
WNIP continues to dig into the detail of the Reuters Institute’s Journalism, Media, and Technology Trends and Predictions 2022 report. Today it's highlighting product development, noting that 67% of publishers plan to focus on iterating and improving existing products this year. In comparison, just 32% intend to launch new products and brand extensions.
How well do you know your new media mantras? Take Defector’s Quiz, matching the quotes or statements from the founders of the media companies trying to save journalism. Watch out for the fakes. Check your answers at the end and let us know how you did.
This week's podcast:
In this special podumentary episode of Media Voices, Esther talks to four local news start-ups: Borderless, Santa Cruz Local, the San Jose Spotlight, and The Mendocino Voice. They discuss what drove them to start their publication, what business models they’re choosing to use, and some of the challenges they’ve faced launching a media business.
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