Future News Trends – part two
In the second part of our series examining the findings of a ground-breaking study from The Future Laboratory, News International’s Abba Newbery investigates ‘Authoritative News’ and the ways that newsbrands can present confident leadership and a strong point of view for their audience to align with.
Last month I looked at the concept of Intuitive News, the idea that news content can be presented to readers in ways that are tailored to their interests. This month, I exanine the other end of the spectrum and look at Authoritative News.
Whereas Intuitive News is all about the reader explicitly or implicitly defining the content that they view – effectively making news content fit around their interests – Authoritative News sees the newsbrand as the opinion leader. In this age of political and economic uncertainty, it is argued, there is a role for newsbrands to be a flagship of confident leadership, holding a strong point of view that an audience can align with.
This idea effectively runs counter to much of what is currently seen as best practice in news. Instead of leading, many online titles are now almost entirely reactive, looking at trending topics online and tailoring their content to speak to these topics in the search for ephemeral popularity.
Titles like Buzzfeed or the Huffington Post aren’t trying to be powerful voices of their own, they’re simply trying to reflect the opinions of the people that read them in the hope of attracting short-term clicks and revenues.
The challenge of leadership
The challenge, some might argue, is that the age when newsbrands could hope to lead opinion have passed. In an era where news was dominated by a small number of print titles, consumers were forced to align with one of the available title’s opinions and that was that.
In these days of infinite media choice, news snacking and personalisation, people can create their own news ecosystem that tallies perfectly with their own views.
At News International we disagree. Our papers have always held true to their own, clear views and are never scared to take a viewpoint. What’s more, we know that our readers like that strength of conviction and the leadership we can offer.
It’s a responsibility and a challenge to maintain, but it’s also a powerful tool when it comes to facing up to the new revenue challenges that every traditional media organisation now faces.
This authority is represented in our editorial, but it’s also in our titles’ actions. Activities such as The Times‘ ‘Cities fit for Cycling’ campaign show how an authoritative brand can take a real position on an issue and can work with its readers to act as a proactive force for good.
The opportunity of authority
Where the benefits come is in what holding this position of authority can allow you to do. Once your readers align themselves with your positions they become more than readers; they become fans and believers, creating a following that will go the extra mile to support the newsbrand that they believe represents their world view.
This has a clear and real business benefit. Our paid-for content strategy would never work if we were simply a repository of middle of the road content, chasing daily clicks in the online popularity contest.
People see our titles as content worth paying for exactly because they take a view and differentiate themselves through their beliefs and positions.
Moreover, there is a clear advertiser benefit in the authoritative position that titles such as The Times hold for their readers. If you view a newsbrand purely in terms of the traffic it generates then yes, the click-chasing model might be of value.
However, we believe that there is a real value in a readership that buys into a stated set of beliefs and positions.
The fact that this alignment means that they’re willing to enter into a data-rich subscription arrangement only strengthens that advertiser case, but it’s the authoritative positioning that enables all of this.
Choices for news brands
None of the above is to say that an authoritative positioning is the only option for a newsbrand – many publishers are developing new and successful models based around more reactive and volume-based approaches.
However, NI’s titles have a legacy of authority that it would be difficult to ignore. Moreover, we see this positioning as not just a beneficial legacy, but a future to be embraced and enhanced.