Audience data
Audience data shouldn’t make editors feel like they need to ignore important, but less popular stories
Audience data shows that many readers just aren’t interested in reading stories such as the terrorist attack in Lahore. But Guardian audience editor Chris Moran writes that’s not a valid reason for newsrooms to choose to cover those stories less: “Does the greater ‘success’ of one piece of journalism inherently sully the success of another […]
The danger of Facebook/publisher partnerships focused heavily on data is that they can create a feedback loop that doesn’t allow for new perspectives
You might have heard: Facebook and Glamour magazine will host a series of town halls on women’s issues in the 2016 presidential election (Politico Media) But did you know: In its partnership with Glamour magazine, Facebook will use its audience data to inform the issues that the town halls will cover. Partnerships like this have […]
Lessons on how to use audience data better, from outside the journalism industry
Nearly every industry is learning how to make better use of data, Yuyu Chen writes. Executives from General Mills, Tinder and Bain & Company shared their thinking around data at the Economist’s Marketing Unbound conference this week. Some ideas from the conference: Big data can inform ideas but it cannot create ideas, marketing should still […]
National news organizations are adapting to the changing news landscape, but local news are struggling to keep up with data and scale
You might have heard: The last year has seen big changes in the local news landscape, including ownership changes at the Los Angeles Times, Las Vegas Review-Journal and Philadelphia Media Network, with overall revenue continuing to fall for many local publishers But did you know: Large legacy outlets such as The New York Times and […]
Dao Nguyen: BuzzFeed doesn’t have a monopoly on data; it just knows how to use it in the right ways
BuzzFeed publisher Dao Nguyen wants to dispel the myth that data scientists determine what’s written at BuzzFeed. The reality is much more nuanced, Nguyen says, and BuzzFeed knows there are a lot of things that they can’t learn from data, including the qualitative reasons why a story resonated with people. Nguyen says: “I don’t think […]
LinkedIn is shutting down its ad network just a year after launching it
Following in the footsteps of Facebook and Google, LinkedIn began letting advertisers use its data to target ads to people outside of LinkedIn in February 2015. Now, LinkedIn is shutting down its ad network because the company believes the cost of growing the network will offset any potential profits. LinkedIn says it will use the […]
How Financial Times’ data team makes engagement a priority for the entire company
Many publishers are in the “awkward adolescent stages of data adoption,” Lucinda Southern writes, but because Financial Times has had a paywall since 2007, it’s had a head start. FT’s 30-person data team is focused on customer analytics and research, and chief data officer Tom Betts says the team helps make engagement a company-wide focus: […]
Why it might be worth it for publishers to invest in apps again
In the last year, publishers including Quartz, The Wall Street Journal and BuzzFeed have launched new apps or announced plans for new apps, showing how publishers are starting to be interested in apps again after they fell out of favor. App users tend to be more engaged and valuable to publishers, a priority for publishers […]
Measuring audience across different platforms is proving to be difficult for publishers
As many publishers are jumping into distributed strategies, they’re finding that measuring their audiences across different platforms isn’t simple, Lucia Moses writes. CNN’s Meredith Artley says they are somewhat at the mercy of the platform, which may choose to provide data once a day or even once a week: “All these platforms are a little […]
A glitch caused Apple to underestimate the number of News users since its launch, providing publishers with inaccurate data
You might have heard: Publishers have said they’re underwhelmed with Apple’s highly anticipated News app due to low traffic, poor data from Apple and an underwhelming user experience But did you know: Apple’s senior vice president of Internet software and services Eddy Cue says due to a glitch, Apple has been underestimating the number of […]