Be smart about smartphones analyses newsbrand reading behaviour tracked on smartphones over three months and explores how young people specifically weave newsbrands into their 24/7 mobile lives. We challenge assumptions, provide detailed insight into the smartphone day on newsbrands and suggest five key ways that will help clients and agencies to optimise campaign engagement.
2. Mobile matters
36m
UK adults own a
smartphone
£7.2bn
mobile ad spend
in 2014, £2.3bn
(32%) display
2hrs 4mins
daily time spent by
average UK adult on
their smartphone
3. The smartphone newsbrand
audience is huge…and young
44% of smartphone
newsbrand readers
are aged 18-34
Newsbrands reach
25 million
on smartphones
4. The smartphone newsbrand
audience is huge…and young
Newsbrands reach
85% of total active
smartphone audience
92% of 18-24 and
91% of 25-34
smartphone users
access newsbrands
8. Getting under the skin of the smartphone
newsbrand reader - a two stage approach
Passive smartphone data analysis
• 1004 users of newsbrand websites
• 238 users of newsbrand apps
• 16th April to 16th July 2015
Interactive daily blogging
• 13 millennials aged 18-34
• Recruited using Generation News quiz
• 15th to 21st August 2015
14. Peak reach 9am
Longer visits and more
exploring at 11am
Steady reach
Longer engagement
at lunchtime
Visits increase from 7pm
Shorter visits at dinner time
Longer engagement in later
evening
Golden moments
Source: YouGov analysis of passive website data, April-July 2015
18. “
“I usually read the news around
10am, 1.30pm and 9.30pm.
Additional times can include a
lull in my workload in the
afternoon and on the journey
home from work.”
Rosemarie, 32
Fix
19. ““A lot of time, during the day, I
will be clicking on and off the
app, reading different articles
which could take half an hour
to an hour, and sometimes for
only 5 to 10 minutes.”
Paige, 19
Track
23. Newsbrand readers on smartphone make more
visits to other categories than non-readers
13099 12881
9112
5698
8386
3223
1432
1062 768 1051
2592
150
Finance Travel Food and Drink Games Gambling Autos and vehicles
Newsbrand website visitors via
smartphone
Smartphone users who did not visit
newsbrand sites
Source: YouGov analysis of passive website data, April-July 2015
24. Newsbrands command attention
when in smartphone portfolio
2.0
1.6 1.6 1.6
1.3 1.3 1.3
1.2
1.1 1.1 1.1 1.1 1.0 1.0
Average duration in minutes per website within category for newsbrand readers on smartphone
Non-readers spend
80% more time on
games sites
Source: YouGov analysis of passive website data, April-July 2015
25. Newsbrand app readers also devote
significant time to newsbrands
5.3
3.4
2.6 2.6 2.5 2.5
1.8 1.8 1.7 1.7
1.3 1.2
0.9 0.8
0.5
Average duration in minutes per app
Source: YouGov analysis of passive app data, April-July 2015
26. 0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
Discount websites: number of visits
Average total duration (mins)
Base: Newsbrand visitors on smartphone
Averageduration(mins)
Numberofvisits Smartphone newsbrand readers love a bargain – morning
and early evening are the best time to target them
Morning Afternoon Evening
Source: YouGov analysis of passive website data, April-July 2015
27. 0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
8:00 9:00 10:00 11:00 12:00 13:00 14:00 15:00 16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00 22:00 23:00
Averageduration(mins)
Numberofvisits Smartphone newsbrand readers love researching
travel – target them in the late evening when
they are dreaming of their next holiday
Morning Afternoon Evening
Travel websites: number of visits
Average total duration (mins)
Base: Newsbrand visitors on smartphoneSource: YouGov analysis of passive website data, April-July 2015
28.
29. “
“Came out to do shopping, while parked
up just reading some news about UK
and the world. Also catching up with
the latest results of the premier league
game. While parked up I have nothing to
do…instead of using Facebook, I like to
know what’s the headlines today.
Shahenur, 23
35. They notice and enjoy seeing tailored
adverts, and click on them regularly
“
I'd like digital marketing to be smarter –
if there were a way to track someone's
reading habits and show them adverts
based on this it would be useful. I love
fashion so this advert is perfect for my
interest. It's related to somewhere I can
shop for clothes so would definitely
interest me – I love clothes shopping!
- Sophie, 23
36. Ads should be streamlined and
non-invasive to news content
..the Daily Mail for example
is right at the bottom of the
screen and is great because
it is tailored and non intrusive
to the story I'm reading
- Mark, 33
“
37. Smartphone advertising should
be seamlessly integrated,
interactive and targeted
“I would make it less invasive and more
targeted. I know that internet
advertisers can track your browsing
activity and target adverts at you, but I
feel these are still quite generic. I don't
know how, but it would be great to see
adverts tailored personally to you
– Michael, 21
“
38. I would like more personalised
and more interactive. I like
adverts which are moving and
catch the eye, rather than just
a still image
– Paul, 34
““
41. In the know
“I will read the news on my
smartphone whilst on the train, this
is to read more in-depth stories about
business and the local news to get
an informed view of the day ahead
- Mark, 33
“
42. In the know
“
To learn about the day's news,
important global news that may
have happened overnight that I
hadn't heard about yet
- Rosemarie, 32
“
43. To keep up with current events,
form political opinions, engage
with the world around me, and
help act in a way that validates
my beliefs (e.g. activism)
- Sophie W, 22
““
In the know
44. “I read the news predominantly to
keep updated on current affairs –
I like to know what’s happening
in the world in a variety of
different areas, such as sport,
business, and politics
- Lee, 23
“
In the know
45. Something to share
I read the news with my boyfriend. He’ll
be looking at the sports news and I’ll be
asking him questions, or I’ll be reading
the entertainment news and he will ask
me questions. A lot of the time we will
read the world news together because
we both find it interesting
- Paige, 19
““
46. Something to share
“
I read news in the morning before work
so I have something to talk about with
colleagues
- Shahenur, 23
“
47. Something to share
“
I look up news articles probably 5 times
a week when I’m talking to flat
mates/boyfriend etc about politics, pop
culture/music/arts. We quite often
communally browse the internet at
home, then about the news and what we
find.
- Sophie W, 22
““
48. Newsbrands on mobile are almost
synonymous with social media
A lot of the time I read the news just
after I’ve looked at Facebook, mainly
because I’ve seen an article on there
that someone has posted or a status
that someone has put that is of
something that has happened around
the world or to a celebrity that I want
to know more about
- Paige, 19
““
49. Newsbrands on mobile are almost
synonymous with social media
“
I read news so I don’t feel isolated
and I would feel selfish if I didn’t care
what was going on around the
world…news is fun, plus learning
is beneficial.
- Shahenur, 23
“
50. Global social media interactions* from UK newsbrand
articles have grown by 92% year on year
41,729
48,041
56,757
50,592
46,015
64,447
56,037
71,021
67,608
82,393
86,939
96,481
80,324
Aug-14 Sep-14 Oct-14 Nov-14 Dec-14 Jan-15 Feb-15 Mar-15 Apr-15 May-15 Jun-15 Jul-15 Aug-15
000s social media interactions
Source: Newswhip
UK Newsbrands: dailymail.co.uk, theguardian.com, independent.co.uk, telegraph.co.uk, mirror.co.uk, express.co.uk, standard.co.uk,
metro.co.uk (from March 2014), thetimes.co.uk (May 2014), dailystar.co.uk (May 2014)
*Facebook likes, shares & comments; Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest shares across all platforms
58. Five principles
1. Choose your
moment
2. Prime your
audience
3. Enter their
world
4. Fuel their
conversation
5. Play the
field
Editor's Notes
Good morning everyone, and thank you for coming.
For a while over the last decade or so, we kept hearing that the upcoming year was to be the year of mobile. In fact, it was so often claimed, that it became a bit of a joke.
I believe 3 things needed to be in place to ensure that mobile comes of age, scale of adoption, ease of integration into life. However there is a third angle, and that is how to make marketing on mobile devices a commercial success.
Scale of adoption and ease of integration have been achieved. But there is still some way to go on commercial success.
One important thing to remember is that mobile is just a platform, you still need to have great content
Newsbrands have seen rapid growth in content being accessed on smartphones.
Today I’m going to reveal the results of some bespoke research that will show the value of the newsbrand consumer on smartphones and provide practical guideline to help make mobile marketing a success..
We know that mobile matters, you just have to look at the stats to see that. Smartphones are everywhere, and people are spending more and more time on them, whether that be apps, accessing content, emailing. There are even apps for homework now – my son who has just started secondary school, accesses his homework diary via an app, and I as a parent, can access the same information – that’s definitely ease of integration into life!
Sources:
Ownership: comScore Mobilens, 3 months to June 2015
Time spent: IPA Touchpoints5
Spend: IAB
It has become increasingly obvious that smartphones are an important platform for accessing content, when you want, where you want, how you want. And over the last few years, we have seen an explosion in the number of people reading newsbrand content on their smartphones.
Source: comScore August 2015
The latest comScore figures show the sheer scale of the smartphone newsbrand audience. Not only is it huge, but it is also largely made up of young people, an audience very attractive to advertisers.
Source: comScore August 2015
There’s a real danger that the language we use is already creating myths about smartphones. We talk about mobile, when we mean smartphones and tablets – which have quite different audiences, uses and habits. We say mobile, so there’s a danger that we imagine people moving about.
We know that smartphones are always to hand and “always on” (though we know that active use is much less – as we’ve just seen, it’s just over 2 hours, so there’s a risk that we might assume that smartphones interactions are transitory – but is this really so? Is it all about snacking? And if and when people are engaged more deeply, are they really averse to being interrupted and doing everything they can to block ads?
Finally, we all like to compare and compartmentalise, so we divide up smartphone activities into easily understood silos and time each one – entertainment versus social media, news versus gaming – but are we missing the most important synergies that would make the most effective communications? And how can we properly integrate smartphone into overall media plans? Newsworks set out to uncover some truths so we can be smarter about smartphones.
Newsworks’ recent Generation News project explored newsbrand habits in a connected age, and provides evidence that that those habits are stronger and greater in number than ever before. In a world saturated with news, the role of newsbrands as a trusted lens on the world is more important than ever
The Generation News research identified five news habits, which transcend both millennials and boomers:
Fix - access news constantly, prompted by a general need and state of distraction
Track - access news regularly throughout the day to keep up to date with breaking stories
Fill - access news to pass the time when moving from one place to another
Indulge - making time to enjoy the news as a break from everything else in the day
Invest - read the news regularly to get an in-depth perspective on stories
While the habits are universal, millennials are more likely to adopt the Fix and Fill habits and boomers have more time to adopt the Indulge habit and – to a degree – Track and Invest.
Newsworks set out to understand how newsbrands were being consumed on smartphones, and how this links with other activities both on the smartphone and in the wider media context. First we analysed the actual tracked behaviour of people on YouGov’s panel who had read newsbrands – either via mobile websites or via an app – in the previous 3 months.
And in order to understand behaviour and motivations in more depth, we commissioned qualitative research from Lieberman Research Worldwide among millennials who read at least one newsbrand daily on their phone. (Over 9 in 10 people aged 18-34’s read newsbrands on their phone in August 2015, according to the latest comScore data and they are most likely to say their primary source of news is their phone, according to the Reuters Institute for Journalism digital news report 2015.) I’ll talk a little more about the rationale for using the Generation News quiz to recruit them in a moment.
Participants blogged for at least half an hour every day for a week, noting each interaction with newsbrands & sending images to encapsulate time, place, moods and emotions, areas of interest and advertising.
We know from our recent Generation News project that newsbrand habits are stronger and greater in number than ever before – we uncovered 5 newsbrand habits in that research. The smartphone has played a key role in developing some of those newsbrand habits. And we all know how much of a habit our smartphones can be! Habits are defined by 3 things – frequency, automaticity and triggered by context. There are various pieces of research out there that talk about how often people look at their phones. Tecmark research put the number of times at 221 - that’s a very frequent and automatic habit!
Smartphones are definitely characterized by diversity and accessibility- and that is especially the cases for accessing news content.
All respondents graze newsbrands on their smartphone
They check regularly for updates, but spend relatively little time in one go on the app or website
They very rarely read articles in depth, preferring to skim read headlines
They know what interests them, and sometimes head straight for it
But they also celebrate diversity and accessibility of news on smartphones, picking up the words and images that catch their grazing attention
Newsbrands are part of the daily networked conversation that Millenials are engaged in. This conversation is multi-dimensional and multi-media, straddling the personal, the social and the societal and providing an ongoing, ever changing background to their lives.
Each individual is the spider creating his own web of conversational networks, and once integrated into it newsbrands will be connected and reconnected, shared and discussed as seamless parts of a continuous and ever-changing dialogue.
We have used the results of both parts of our research to develop five principles for engaging the valuable newsbrand smartphone consumer.
So we have learned that we pick up or look at our phones over 200 times a day. So that must mean that it doesn’t matter when you target people right?
Wrong! Looking at the actual tracked behaviour of people on YouGov’s panel who had read newsbrands – either via mobile websites or via an app – in the previous 3 months, we were able to pinpoint times of day when it is better to reach this valuable and engaged audience.
We looked at 3 key measures:
Reach – ie the number of people accessing newsbrand websites/apps on smartphones
Breadth – the number of visits those people are making
Depth - how long they are spending and how many pages they are accessing
Each peak offers opportunities to tap into different need states – there are times when they are grazing of course, but there are also times when they are feasting or ruminating.
We looked at 3 key measures:
Reach – ie the number of people accessing newsbrand websites/apps on smartphones
Breadth – the number of visits those people are making
Depth - how long they are spending and how many pages they are accessing
Each peak offers opportunities to tap into different need states
So let’s look first at newspaper websites on smartphones.
Number of visitors is steady throughout the day – apart from a few hours in the middle of the night. I imagine though that might have been different on Sunday night with the number of people tweeting pictures of the lunar eclipse at 3am!
The number of visits builds steadily as people wake up and get going on their day, dropping down a little during working hours, and rising again steadily during the evening. They don’t appear to be taking Arianna Huffington’s advice to switch off digital devices an hour before bedtime
Duration follows a similar pattern though there are a few differences.
Let’s zone in on some of those golden moments
So, looking in more detail: In the hours before the start of the working day we see the increase in both traffic to newspaper websites as well as the duration spent on them. Engagement with newspaper websites increases more dramatically as people spend more time, perhaps during the commute to work. From about 9am – 10am (when many people will be getting to work) the average duration falls but the number of visits remains steady, suggesting more newspaper website snacking habits at this time of day. Then, once they are more settled into the morning (be it at their desk or elsewhere), at around 11am the duration picks up
After reach and engagement fall back from about 11am through to lunchtime, they remain fairly steady through the afternoon, with the exception of an increase in duration around lunchtime when people are perhaps on their lunch break and have more time to spend
After work hours, from about 5pm, both reach and engagement with newspaper websites increases through to about 7pm. Both measures then drop off around dinner time, though engagement more so suggesting that if they are looking at this time it is more likely to be snacking. Then in the later evening there is a general increase in both leading to a peak at around 11pm
As we saw with newspaper websites, so app reach and engagement starts increasing from the early morning – it ceases to increase a little earlier for app, at around 10am. It then steadies through until about 4pm when it increases, particularly in terms of reach, making the later afternoon another important time to target app users. Unlike newsbrand website usage, newsbrand app usage does not increase through the evening – however, time spent is higher throughout on apps
The passively tracked data is backed up by the respondent blogs in our qualitative piece. Rosemarie who was identified as having the Fix newsbrand habit (scratching a constant itch for news) was aware that she was dipping in and out of news throughout the day
And Paige, identified as having the Track habit (keeping up to date with the news) was keeping up with news stories throughout the day, alternating between shorter and longer reads.
And Paul, identified as having the Fill habit (using news to pass the time) was spending a significant amount of time across the day.
Newspaper smartphone website visitors are generally in fixed locations, however during the middle of the day are more likely to be roaming - so there is more competition for their attention at this time, and adverts that use a lot of data will be less appreciated.
The pattern of wifi and 3G/4G usage is similar throughout the day for both NWS visitors and NAS users
The usage of WiFi or 3G/4G is specific to the users of newspaper websites at those times of day
The average number of newspaper website visits in a given day is proportional to the use of WiFi to access them on a smartphone
The reinforces the importance of mornings and evenings for campaigns on newspaper websites
Smartphone newsbrand readers are a valuable and engaged audience for advertisers, which leads me to the second of our five principles
Newsbrand readers on smartphone make significantly more visits to other categories than non-readers who are smartphone users, whether that be finance, travel, food and drink and so on.
Newsbrand websites have relatively high levels of engagement when compared to other categories of website that smartphone readers visit – commensurate with some of the most popular categories accessed by phone. Interestingly, non-visitors to newspaper websites on their smartphone spend 80% longer on games sites than newsbrand readers.
For newspaper app users it is slightly different, once they have opened a games app, they spend the most time in it, by a significant margin. But newsbrand apps are second most used in terms of time spent per app. Also, games apps are most heavily used in the late afternoon and evening, whereas newspaper app reach & engagement is highest in the mornings.
For newspaper app users it is slightly different, once they have opened a games app, they spend the most time in it, by a significant margin. But newsbrand apps are second most used in terms of time spent per app. Also, games apps are most heavily used in the late afternoon and evening, whereas newspaper app reach & engagement is highest in the mornings
If we go back to our golden moments, there are some times in the day that are better to reach them, so you can prime them to be responsive to your brand. I’ve picked out a couple of examples here, first is for discount websites such as Groupon, wowcher, etc. Smartphone newsbrand readers love a bargain – morning and early evening are the best time to target them
And the second is for travel websites. This shows quite a different pattern to the previous category, with more visits and time in the evening. Smartphone newsbrand readers love researching travel – target them in the late evening when they are dreaming of their next holiday.
Newspapers are the digital bookend for the day - they peak first thing in the morning and last thing at night, setting the context for the day and the things to sleep on. Obvious opportunity to create product awareness advertising in the morning and the activation oriented advertising in the evenings.
Travel – corresponding evening peaks in reach and engagement, couple with the mood to relax and explore
Food & drink - grows from about 4pm and peaks at around 7pm. This is when newsbrand readers are thinking about what to have for dinner – where to eat, who to order from?
Motors – evening peak in browsing and duration, at the same time as newsbrands
Finance – 9am, lunchtime and 6pm peaks
Source: YouGov analysis of passive website data, April-July 2015
Perhaps one of the most important principles – how to effectively incorporate brand communications into the smartphone world. We’ve seen a lot of discussion recently about ad blocking, and how it is a crisis for the industry. A couple of comments around this whole issue stood out for me – at Mediatel’s Future of National Newspapers Nick Hewat from the Guardian talked about how mediocre a lot of mobile advertising is. And Jon Kershaw from Havas wrote a piece last week that talked about adblocking as consumer feedback, and the feedback consumers are giving the marketing industry is loud and clear. Collectively, our work simply isn’t good enough. The majority of online advertising is actually pretty terrible.
We need to take account of this feedback and redress this balance.
We’ve based this principle firmly around Millennials. Newsbrands are part of the daily networked conversation that Millennials are engaged in. This conversation is multi-dimensional and multi-media, straddling the personal, the social and the societal and providing an ongoing, ever changing background to their lives. Brands and news content have as much a place in this conversation as family and friends, providing they are personally relevant and integrated. Advertising which continues the conversation is welcome. Content, media, accessibility and tonality which disrupt the conversation and cause discontinuity are avoided, filtered out or rejected.
This generation often takes its relaxation in small chunks. On-the-go, and frequently multi-tasking, they use a quick glance at the news on their smartphone for a few minutes of ‘me-time’
News on smartphone provides a distraction – from work, from waiting, from boredom, from irritation – and often includes light or uplifting content to change the mood
They want companies to exploit digital technology. They know that the web can track what sites they have viewed so think ads should be shown based on their internet history
Millennials are quite positive in their acceptance of advertising – older generations frequently claim to ignore ads and deny their influence. This generation accepts them as making a valid contribution to the dialogue
Millennials object when they have to close an ad to see the article, or when the advert cuts across the text
This happens a lot more when using news websites on smartphones as they seem to be designed for the computer screen and do not have a pre-set location for smartphones
They have no problem with combining promotion, news content entertainment and advertising, providing it is seamless and integrated. They are all about connectivity and continuity – as long as a brand does not break the conversation and create discontinuity, it is allowed a role in the discourse
Closely linked to that is our fourth principle – if those conversations are happening, then there is a big opportunity for brands to fuel them.
Looking more specifically at our Millennial group here, they read newsbrands on their mobiles for 2 key reasons:
To be In The Know and to have Something to Share
Staying informed about current events and news is important to them and is the core basic function of all the newsbrands
Staying informed about current events and news is important to them and is the core basic function of all the newsbrands
They are social animals, always looking for a point of contact. Newsbrands form the basis of conversation and the common context that binds a community – especially at the distance of the internet and discussion via social media. Even though we may be miles apart, we are still connected by the same topics and points of view
Reading the news with friends/family/colleagues helps fuel conversation around common interests. Reading news on their smartphone makes this more accessible whenever, wherever they are
It is a way of confirming, clarifying and contributing to hot topics of conversation – when out with friends they can use their smartphone to quickly find news and add their bit to the discussion
They are social animals, always looking for a point of contact. Newsbrands form the basis of conversation and the common context that binds a community – especially at the distance of the internet and discussion via social media. Even though we may be miles apart, we are still connected by the same topics and points of view
Reading the news with friends/family/colleagues helps fuel conversation around common interests. Reading news on their smartphone makes this more accessible whenever, wherever they are
It is a way of confirming, clarifying and contributing to hot topics of conversation – when out with friends they can use their smartphone to quickly find news and add their bit to the discussion
They are social animals, always looking for a point of contact. Newsbrands form the basis of conversation and the common context that binds a community – especially at the distance of the internet and discussion via social media. Even though we may be miles apart, we are still connected by the same topics and points of view
Reading the news with friends/family/colleagues helps fuel conversation around common interests. Reading news on their smartphone makes this more accessible whenever, wherever they are
It is a way of confirming, clarifying and contributing to hot topics of conversation – when out with friends they can use their smartphone to quickly find news and add their bit to the discussion
Newsbrands on mobile are almost synonymous with social media, which is the background to the lives of this generation. It provides the context and the fabric of their communication.
The boundary of social and personal discourse becomes blurred – newsbrands and social media are two parts of the same conversation, rooted in the connection of the individual to the social milieu
Newsbrands on mobile are almost synonymous with social media, which is the background to the lives of this generation. It provides the context and the fabric of their communication.
The boundary of social and personal discourse becomes blurred – newsbrands and social media are two parts of the same conversation, rooted in the connection of the individual to the social milieu
UK newsbrands drove 605.3 million social media actions so far, during the year 2015
There are massive shared audiences on a daily basis across newsbrands and social media
Facebook sharing is increasing audiences to UK newsbrands and is vital to social media velocity
Wide range of stories to tap into for advertisers
In addition to the interactions measured by Newswhip from specific article links, UK newsbrands have high numbers of followers on Twitter and Facebook in their own right (some of whom will be responsible for shares etc)These numbers continue to grow – for regular updates go to http://www.newsworks.org.uk/Titles-at-a-Glance
Newsbrands are often conversation catalysts. The Mail on Sunday published a story about a book ‘Call me Dave’ by Lord Ashcroft. According to the book, the British Prime Minister took part in an obscene act with a dead pig's head in his young student days.
Hashtags #Hameron #Oink and #piggate started trending on Twitter social network minutes after the allegations were revealed on Sunday evening…
Our final principle reminds us that we don’t consume content on just our mobile phones. Even if most of us couldn’t imagine life without our mobiles, there is still a whole world of content outside of them.
A host of data and insight supports this human truth.
IPA TouchPoints tells Smartphone readers are also print readers
43% of smartphone newsbrand readers also read newspapers
37% of smartphone newsbrand readers aged 18-34 also read newspapers
Especially at weekends, when the pace of life can slow. Perhaps as a reaction to digital overload, over half of weekday smartphone readers turn to print – and this applies to young as well as older smartphone readers:
57% of weekday smartphone adult newsbrand readers read a weekend newspaper
53% of weekday smartphone 18-34 newsbrand readers read a weekend newspaper
Source: IPA TouchPoints
These are the kinds of words that our respondents in the qualitative part of our research told us. It is backed up by the work we did on Generation News – the phone is about scratching a constant itch for news, about keeping up to date with it.
These are the kinds of words that our respondents in the qualitative part of our research told us. It is backed up by the work we did on Generation News – the phone is about scratching a constant itch for news, about keeping up to date with it.
And in a digitally overloaded world, there is an increasing desire to switch off. Print requires a much lower cognitive load – we’re not trying to decide whether to read that article or send that email.
IPA TouchPoints tells us that 57% of weekday smartphone readers, read a printed paper at the weekend, and that figure is 53% for 18-34’s. Newsbrands have a platform for not just different need states but also different days.
So to return to the five principles for successful engagement with the newsbrand audience on smartphones:
Choose your moment: Picking the right moments can make the most of peaks in newsbrand reach and engagement, tap into moods, and ensure practicalities like data use, are taken into account
Prime your audience: use the reading patterns of newsbrand readers to influence them before they shop, think about food, dream of travel etc
Enter their world: Perhaps the most vital advice. Interrupting the free flow of “conversations” is rejected, but creating relevant communications that work with the audience and the context sees brands welcomed into the conversations.
Fuel their conversations: there is a seamless interaction between newsbrands and social media on smartphones that can help disseminate and amplify brand messages
Play the field: Multi – newsbrand, multi-platform campaigns are best-placed to exploit different needs and moods through the full week