Readers want investigative, long-form reports – and that’s good news for PRs
A couple of weeks ago I attended the 2016 Polis Journalism Conference and was interested to see just how much journalists rely on new media when covering and keeping alive news such as the refugee crisis or Brexit. From interviews conducted over WhatsApp to long-form video, journalists are increasingly combining new media with investigative reporting to keep audiences hooked.
New research published by the American Press Institute (API) suggests that they’re on the right track. More than 400,000 articles across 55 outlets were tagged based on the type of news story and content as part of the research project. The articles were then analysed based on data made available by the publishers.
The analysis revealed that the best way to increase a story’s impact and extend its shelf life is to help readers understand the background of news events. Even in a digital world defined by fast news and celebrity culture, readers yearn for in-depth, long-form journalism focussed on hard-to-cover stories – brought to life with images, video and audio.
The API’s wider findings include:
Readers like in-depth, investigative stories
Audiences don’t just want to read about news events, they also want to understand why they are happening in the first place. Articles that were tagged as “enterprise” or investigative reporting generated more engagement amongst readers than articles tagged as ‘in-brief’ or daily news stories. In-depth articles received 83% more page views, readers spent 39% more time reading them, and they saw 103% more sharing activity than other types of articles.
Even when reading on a smartphone, we prefer long articles
Despite an obsession with short-form, mobile-friendly content, readers actually want to read long articles. Stories that were 1,200 words or more saw increased engagement. Page views, sharing and reading time also increased by 11%, 45% and 36% respectively.
Images, audio and video help us understand
Readers like “non-narrative” online content. Stories that included a photo received 19% more engagement than those without. Video and audio also made a story more engaging, increasing views by 81% and shares by 84%.
The API report is good news for media houses looking to justify investment in long-form and investigative reporting. But it’s also good news for PRs. More journalists will be looking for experts and thought leaders on hard-to-cover topics – and that’s where PRs can add real value.
This blog first appeared on mhpc.com