Wherever the Audience Is: Two News Leaders Discuss Audience Fragmentation

Tailoring stories and making them available to audiences whenever they want on their platform of choice are the key elements to attracting and retaining audiences for under-pressure broadcasters.

On the next episode of the Making the Media podcast, two industry leaders give their take on how to ensure the next generation of viewers—and the current generation—are attracted to the stories they produce.

Matt Goldberg, VP of Content Strategy for NBCUniversal-owned stations in the United States, says a formulaic approach to news has turned people off.

"They're watching news when they want to, on demand, they're watching news on their phones. They're watching news on their iPads, desktop, and they're using social media. And that is really what is driving, I think, the whole concept of developing a story based on what the story needs, but then in the presentation, you make that story look different to be optimized for the platform it's playing in."

Goldberg also says the use of analytics from online platforms helps informs their decision-making process when choosing the type of stories to cover.

This is something which Philip Browmwell, Digital Native Content Editor for RTÉ in Ireland, agrees with. He also says making the content easily available is key.

"It's about finding original stories and just getting them out there; just making sure that wherever they are landing, they're landing in the right form, so that the audience can appreciate them on their terms. You know, it's about delivering content wherever, whenever the audience wants it these days, and so that means a lot of the work we do is that we could end up doing four or five different versions of the same story, which is a bit laborious and maybe at the end of it you've fallen a bit out of love with the story, but unfortunately for news professionals, I think that's the reality of the industry today. The audience is really fragmented. It's not necessarily as loyal as it once was."

You can hear the full interview on the next episode of Making the Media, available on Monday, May 3.

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