For the third year running Edelman hosted the launch of the Reuters’ Institute for the Study of Journalism’s Digital News Report 2016 at its offices in London before an invited audience of over 90 media stakeholders and communicators. This is the fifth edition of the most authoritative source on news consumption in the world today.
The report contains detailed analysis of the way people in 26 countries, including the UK and US, read and absorb their news, and has a powerful track record of predicting developing trends. This year’s report is full of fascinating insights and extraordinary headline revelations about the future of our news, building on a growing bank of data from 2012 to the present day.
Moderated by Edelman UK CEO, Ed Williams, this year’s panel debating the findings were David Pemsel, Chief Executive Officer, Guardian Media Group, and Executive Chair, Guardian News & Media, John McAndrew, Director of Content, Sky News, Katie Vanneck-Smith, Chief Customer Officer & Global Managing Director, International Dow Jones and Stephen Hull, Editor-in-Chief, Huffington Post UK.
Highlights from the panel discussion included:
- There has been a big shift from news consumed on media brand sites to news consumed on distributed platforms (with Facebook being the most dominant;
- Debate around different paid models for publishers; pay walls versus membership models;
- Who should curate the news, and which do consumers prefer; editors or algorithms? Consumers are becoming more comfortable with algorithms making news choices for them;
- Smartphone and tablet together have now overtaken TV and PCs as the dominant devices that people consume news on;
- Cultural shifts within publishers as they become digital producers rather than traditional television channels or newspapers;
- The need for publishers to balance distribution, reach and influence with commercial success.
For highlights, see the video below:
The full report can be found here, including essays by industry leaders, analysis by each country included and a full analysis. To view the full data, please see the deck below: