It’s official: we are more likely to watch Netflix or YouTube in the evening than tune in to the 6:00pm news.
That’s the main conclusion from the 9th annual Where Are The Audience? survey of New Zealand media audiences. It’s the first time that online video and streaming services have trumped linear TV for primetime viewer numbers at night.
NZ On Air CEO Cameron Harland told The Fold the findings reinforce a steady change in how, when and where New Zealanders consume content.
But podcast host Duncan Grieve thinks there’s a more fundamental shift occurring, and I agree.
It’s no surprise younger audiences find their news via social media throughout the day, instead of watching TV or listening to the radio at night or in the morning. But it’s not just young people doing this. Older viewers have broken the long-standing habit of primarily watching free-to-air, live TV.
This marks a fundamental shift in how all New Zealanders engage with media.
We can no longer guarantee that mass media is the best way to get news and information to people, like we did in the past.
This has ongoing repercussions for how all sectors engage with the media.
Changing audience habits shakes up news access, format
The increasing use of online platforms is linked to social norms such as the length of the working day, with implications for news cycles.
Lunchtime is ideal for news alerts, with many people checking their social feeds and news apps. So too is 8:00pm when people are busy scrolling on their phones.
Speaking of scrolling, the fracturing of platforms and audience behaviour means a wide variety of choice for consumers. Some people receive a curated morning email from a news outlet. Others might subscribe to receive updates from their preferred journalist.
And if you’re under 35 then there’s a high chance you don’t seek out news at all – but stumble on it in your social media feed, via a post from a news site or commentary from a friend or influencer.
Experimenting with news products and revenue streams
Despite people having more ways to engage with news media, the industry is still struggling financially.
To survive, news outlets need to get more sophisticated and creative with where and how to eke out new revenue streams.
They need to find new ways to be part of the conversation and meet audiences where they are. Often, this is with a higher production cost for content.
Experimentation in this environment is high, which can be a good thing for innovation, but the risk is high too, as we saw with Today FM’s closure this year.
Concurrently, the push into paywalled, subscription news means fewer people seeing important, quality news stories, including the investigative stories. Another impact is that bad news is sometimes tucked away behind a paywall and hidden from the masses.
Sharing news in a post-mass media era
Another change for media engagement is the decline of the press release as a primary tool for communicating with stakeholders. It’s now just one tactic, which must be complemented by other tools to reach your target audiences.
You need to be across multiple spaces with reliable information that’s considered and careful. And use authentic, trustworthy spokespeople and representatives of your business – whether that’s your CEO or a valued, engaged employee on the ground.
In short, the growing preference for getting news and information from multiple online media platforms means it’s more important than ever for organisations to communicate transparently and consistently to their target audiences.