Thread by @risj_oxford

📧🎙️▶️
In our latest #DNR20 podcast episode @nicnewman talks to host @fedecherubini on how news outlets are trying to build deeper engagement with new and existing audiences through habit-creating content like email newsletters and podcasts.

Snippets of the conversation below👇

"Digital media was primarily about selling advertisers mass audience, it was all about reach/scale. The focus is switching now to how you can make money more directly by serving or super-serving loyal readers. We’re moving from reach to deeper engagement." - @nicnewman

🛎️Nic says building habit is a mixture of engagement - through content such as podcasts, videos, long reads, physical events - and how you remind people as they go about their daily lives through mobile alerts and email “that you have something valuable for them”

"Email is definitely something that engages people and brings people back regularly."

@nicnewman cites data from the #DNR20 that those who receive email newsletters do so, on average, from around four different news providers (🇺🇸 figures below)

#DNR20 data shows that the proportion of people receiving email newsletters varies greatly across the 40 markets we look at:

🇧🇪28%
🇿🇦24%
🇬🇷22%
🇰🇪22%
🇺🇸21%
⏬
⏬
🇫🇮10%
🇳🇴10%
🇭🇷10%
🇰🇷9%
🇬🇧9%

"Around half of people say they read most of their email newsletters. They’re an interesting group of people for publishers: They have a higher interest in news, they’re more likely to subscribe. This is a group that publishers want to engage more regularly" says @nicnewman

⚽️🏀🏃‍♂️Sports fan @nicnewman says he reads mainstream email newsletters and also one from @TheAthleticUK: “People are finding it a really convenient way of combining general news but also drilling down into something that really matters to them.”

📲Daily news updates are among the most successful news email formats, says @nicnewman. For example, the @nytimes' morning newsletter has 17 million subscribers and is now considered “one of the main ways that people access their journalism”.

♻️"As more publishers are moving towards subscriptions, email plays two roles. One is trying to attract new subscribers, people who don’t know the publication. The second is engaging people who are already subscribed, reminding them what’s available and reducing churn."@nicnewman

🎙️Similarly to emails, @nicnewman says podcasts can be a way of “attracting that next generation of subscribers. In other cases it’s about providing more value to existing users of your product/brand so you’re more likely to stay and that you’re coming back regularly”.

🚃Due to coronavirus “That morning commute which was a real peak for podcasts, that’s gone, it’s flattened. We’re seeing more usage through the day.” Some podcast listening has declined but news podcasts have done better, w/many pop-up and daily podcasts focusing on the pandemic

"The conventional view of millennials is they’re just skimming over stuff, they’re not engaging deeply with things. It’s certainly not true with audio where we see young audiences listening for long periods of time. That engagement is there. That’s why it matters." - @nicnewman

💡"In our survey we found that 50% of people who listen to podcasts say it gives them a deeper understanding of complex issues. That’s one reason that podcasts not only engage new people but is also something that people value enough to pay for as part of a package." -@nicnewman

Listen to the podcast on:

🍎Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/dig…
🟢Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/15Chgv…