Disrupting A Monopoly: Packaging Is Everything
A lot can be learned from the 18-34 year-old demographic. Experience has taught us that your “above-the-fold” must be simple and aesthetically appealing to warrant an initial scroll. Then, title and cover photo/caption needs to encourage the next scroll. Mid-way into the body of text, and gripped by a compelling introduction, the reader should finally be rewarded and left satisfied by the end of the bite-size content. Statistics on the online usage of millennials demonstrate a resistance to useless scrolling; when time is valuable, especially in the online environment, with multi-tasking at an all-time high, the struggle to win clicks has never been so real.
But as with any good media company, we are constantly revitalizing and re-evaluating our approach to content. The publishing industry is one that evolves constantly, changing at a moment's notice. The benefits of the online publication medium offer an adaptability and flexibility that traditional media never had to consider previously - one that is simply not possible in print form. “Papers” are limited to the categorical 'news' moniker when presenting content, whereas online publishers are free to explore content in highly innovative ways, such as Foodgasms, House-porn, and Spotted’s. These types of unconventional categories have actually begun to shape the news, finding their way in to the regular content flow of the papers, broadcast news and our social media newsfeed.
The papers are now finally making a push to optimize their content in the new digital world, embarking on the rainbow road that is the learning curve blogs have already crossed. If there is a lesson to be learned from the swift rise of blogs and the evolution of online publishing, it is that packaging is now more important than ever, and that traditional news organizations must work with these young publishers. You might be surprised at how much can be mutually exchanged.
Keep reading
- Disrupting A Monopoly: Millennials Love Controversy
- Disrupting A Monopoly: The Rise of Independent Publishers
Follow me on Twitter
In collaboration with Matthew Orsini, Synden Hope-Johnston