What do changed media habits mean for consumer engagement?
Consumption of online news media has overtaken TV news for the first time, as reported by bbc.co.uk which, along with CNN, is one of the two most visited news sites in the world (source: Ofcom).
There’s no doubt this is a watershed moment, which underlines the relentless shift in consumer preferences and has significant consequences for PR effectiveness. There’s no doubt that online media are by far the most influential source of news. Broadcast TV remains the most effective way to reach a large audience quickly, but its impact decays almost immediately because a TV bulletin is over in minutes. Online news about brands, topics and issues stays there and continues to influence audiences over a much longer timeframe.
Ofcom realises, as the article says, that consumers are not good at reporting their media consumption habits. The same applies to remembering what has influenced their brand perceptions and consideration in brand tracking responses to organisation like YouGov. So, the comment about, ‘this is what people say they do’ is interesting. The proportion of the audience that is influenced by TV is almost certainly smaller than this survey finds.
It’s likely that many of the 70% who say they ‘watch’ news bulletins on TV aren’t watching at all; it’s just background noise. On the other hand, we know from consumer responses to online media coverage that readers of online news are paying attention, and it becomes a powerful catalyst for other behaviours.
This manifests itself in increases in Google search from people seeking more information. We see it in strong relationships between the size of audience that finds and reads online news coverage and website sessions. It comes through in time series analysis of brand tracking responses that – contrary to accepted wisdom – are clearly strongly influenced by having read online media coverage. The challenge for professional communicators is being able to evidence that these are statistically robust relationships, rather than imputed correlations.
Another challenge is that not all online news outlets have the same influence, as the Ofcom survey validates. In the real world, what works for one brand or topic might not work for another. At Metricomm, we continually validate the impact of the largest online news sites including theguardian.com and dailymail.co.uk, but they are not always the most effective at engaging the audience, depending on the client, the product or the issue in question. It’s our job to flush out which online media are impacting business outcomes over time, whether they are news, consumer, regional or business and finance sites.
Understanding when and how online media influence audience outcomes, along with the ability to quantify this impact over time, is key to elevating the conversation about ‘media effectiveness’ to the boardroom. We’re already doing this for clients, helping them substantiate the contribution of online media coverage to the business outcomes leaders care about – all the way through to sales revenue and market value.
Do you want to elevate the conversation about ‘media effectiveness’ to the boardroom? Contact us via hello@metricomm.com or by using the form below, and we’ll get straight back to you!
