Two trends that point in the right direction

A recent piece titled, In Charts: 9 trends that will define media in 2020, included two trends that I would like to highlight here.

Mobile matters more than ever
Stories are the format of today. And tomorrow.

I read this piece while visiting India to conduct workshops on those two very important subjects for the team of the Hindustantimes.

Not that we need to be reminded that these two “trends” are timely and important, but, yet, in many newsrooms there is still a feeling of uncertainty concerning how to go about conceptualizing and crafting content for mobile presentation. It is the foundation of my workshops and once journalists see how it can be achieved, the rest is easy.

Here is a highlight from the piece:

For the first time, in 2019 “US consumers will spend more time using their mobile devices than watching TV,” eMarketer reported during the summer. “As recently as 2014, the average US adult watched nearly 2 hours more TV than they spent on their phones.”

And as a further sign of how quickly this market has evolved, Mary Meeker’s annual data deck showed that mobile now accounts for 33% of ad spend, up from 0.5% at the start of the decade.

For some newsrooms where editors never truly embraced a digital first approach, I am recommending that you go straight to a mobile first strategy in the newsroom. Go from the smallest to the largest platforms. Get reporters to write for mobile first. The evidence is there that mobile is where consumers are reading our content.

Story formats

Closely connected to the item above, the piece also highlights the importance of how stories are presented, especially for that young audience we all try to seduce for our products.

An essential part of the mobile experience, especially for younger audiences, is the stories format.

The story format of choice for many is the way they tell daily stories via social media: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat. The following statement is very telling:

And it’s not just friends who are embracing this format. Brands, marketers and media organisations (including more establishment brands such as The Telegraph and The Economist and Penguin) are all actively investing in Stories. …..As the “swipe up” functionality of this format continues to develop, so we can expect publishers to further explore the possibilities for eCommerce, subscriptions and other forms of engagement, that Stories may help unlock.

The year 2020 will mark a time when we pay more attention to mobile as the platform of choice, and look in more detail about the story formats of social media and how they may influence how we tell stories.

Start the year with The Story

A good read to start the year 2020: The full trilogy of The Story now available–3 books to guide you through a mobile first strategy. Whether you’re a reporter, editor, designer, publisher, corporate communicator, The Story is for you! https://amazon