Three Things for February 17, 2022
This week we look at news podcasts: how many listen and who are the listeners. Also, two studies look at DEI efforts. Plus, research on advertising in news programs.
First, a reminder: In last week’s newsletter, I discussed the results of research from late last year by the National Council of Nonprofits that found that four in ten nonprofits were struggling with job vacancy rates of 20% or more.
To assess if this is an issue in public media during this time of the "Great Resignation" and rising inflation and wages, the Public Impact Group is partnering with Current on a brief survey to determine the state of staff vacancies are in public media.
The survey should take less than three minutes, and your input would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to forward the link to the appropriate person in your organization to complete it if needed. We’re hoping to wrap up the data collection by the close of business on Friday, February 25, 2022.
Thank you.
THING ONE: How Many and Who Are Getting Their News From Podcasts?
On the subject of surveys, the November 11 edition of Three Things looked at research exploring what platforms Americans use to stay informed about the news. The Pew Research Center study detailed how consumption patterns vary by age, gender, race, ethnicity, and educational attainment.
This week, Pew took a bit of a deeper dive into the research, specifically around the question of how many Americans get their news from podcasts1.
The topline results are that 7% of Americans say they “often” get news from a podcast, with another 16% saying they “sometimes” do.
More than half of Americans (56%) say they “never” get news from podcasts.
What’s interesting and somewhat surprising to me from the results is the little year-over-year actual growth from 2020 to 2021. Despite that marginal growth last year, the Pew Researchers suggest there is still quite a lot of growth potential for this “nascent industry.”
In a post about the research, NiemanLab’s Sarah Scire2 wrote that “growth potential is different from, you know, actual growth, and the numbers are not exactly shooting up. Pew found 23% of Americans ‘sometimes’ or ‘often’ got news from podcasts in 2021 compared to 22% who did in 2020.”
Of course, much of the flat growth from last year could be due to news fatigue that nearly every news outlet experienced last year.
The research provides some vision for the future of news podcasts in that younger audiences are moving toward a reliance on podcasts much faster than older audiences.
Adults between 18-29 are at least twice as likely as those age 50 and over to turn to podcasts for news. And those with college degrees and higher incomes, similar to the traditional public radio audience, are also more likely to get news from podcasts.
The Pew Center notes that few differences exist across racial and ethnic groups. That is also true when it comes to political affiliation. Roughly a quarter of both Republicans and independents who lean toward the Republican Party, as well as Democrats and Democratic leaners, get news from podcasts (23% and 24%, respectively).
The research from this study, which you can see in the complete analysis here, was conducted in July and August last year, with results coming from a survey of more than 11,000 U.S. adults.
Over the last few years, the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism3 has been doing quite a bit of research on the subject of news podcasts focusing specifically on daily news versions. In a paper released in December 2020, the study found that daily news podcasts make up less than 1% of all those produced but account for more than 10% of the overall downloads in the U.S. and 9% in France and Australia, according to an analysis of publicly available data.
“These shows are clearly punching well above their weight with audiences and have played an important role in helping to inform the public about a range of subjects, including coronavirus.”
The researchers identified four distinct types of daily news podcasts, often aimed at specific audience needs and with different implications regarding the resources required to create and maintain them. They are:
The Deep-dive: Examines one, two or three subjects in detail. Tends to be heavily produced using sound design and narrative storytelling techniques. Examples:
The Daily (New York Times), Post Reports (Washington Post), Please Explain (Sydney Morning Herald), Today in Focus (Guardian), La Story (Les Echos), Genstart (Danish Broadcasting Corporation)
The Extended chat: Round table discussions, informal style, flexible format taking single or multiple topics, sometimes extended monologue. Examples:
Newscast (BBC), NPR Politics, the Ben Shapiro Show (The Daily Wire), News O’Clock (Buzzfeed), various coronavirus podcasts
The News round-ups: Podcasts that have the aim of briefing people in a concise way at particular points in the day. Normally includes a range of stories. Examples:
UpFirst (NPR), FT News Briefing, OmniPod (Omni, Sweden), BBC Global Podcast, From the Newsroom (News.com, Australia)
The Microbulletins: Very short news bulletins that provide a quick summary of the day’s news. Often aimed at voice devices such as the Amazon Echo and Google Home as well as Spotify. Examples:
BBC Minute, NPR News Now, Ekot (Swedish Radio)
The study also looks at dedicated staffing levels for several daily podcasts noting that “different staffing levels reflect, to a large extent, the strategic importance placed on daily podcasts by different news organizations. For The New York Times and The Guardian, investment in audio represents a major commitment from the top, to build a habit and attract younger audiences.”
There’s also some examination of hybrid staffing models, with NPR’s UpFirst serving as an example of that production model.
The research looked at daily news podcast production and consumption across six countries – the US, the UK, France, Australia, Sweden, and Denmark. Since the report was published at the end of 2020, it devotes much of its investigation around the impact of the pandemic on listening habits but also looks toward the future.
The challenge is perhaps greatest for radio broadcasters, who have to maintain ‘flow radio’ services for older listeners at the same time as investing in podcasts for younger demographics.
As our interviewees have made clear, this is not a simple reversioning of radio output. Podcasts are mostly listened to through headphones and this requires a more intimate approach – as well as content that engages the emotions. Narrative techniques that build on a movie model of storyboards, scenes, and moods are one way of doing this, but this is not the only approach.
Shows like Newscast from the BBC can create a familiar cast of characters that can guide you through a story and bring warmth and fun to the party as well. Dual-use podcasts are increasingly starting life as digital-first formats before migrating to radio and TV.
The study notes how crowded the U.S. market is (this was a year ago, and it’s even more crowded today), and only a truly distinctive new proposition is likely to gain attention.
The researchers point to another item that some publishers are looking at emerging opportunities around repackaging individual stories for smart speakers and voice search. But in this area, where there is often only one response to a voice query, publishers are likely to be even more dependent on platforms.
By being aggregated at the platform level there is also less opportunity for the publisher to get full credit for the content that it has created. Longer-form daily podcasts, on the other hand, provide more time to build relationships with listeners and more opportunities for the tone and values of the brand to shine through.
You can download the full report here if you’re interested in the study.
THING TWO: Are News Orgs and Public Media Succeeding with their DEI Efforts?
The past few weeks have seen some important published pieces focusing on how well news organizations and public media are doing in their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Last week, Danielle K. Brown wrote in the Columbia Journalism Review about the Medill Media Industry Survey findings released recently by the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. Brown is the Cowles Professor of Journalism, Diversity, and Equality at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. She designed the survey with Stephanie Edgerly, Associate Professor and Director of Research at Medill.
The Medill Media Industry Survey had more than 1,500 responses to the questionnaire that included several questions concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
Brown wrote in the CJR that the “findings suggested that a majority of respondents believed that DEI efforts have positively affected the journalism industry.” The survey found that 56.3% of those responding said their news organizations have formal positions devoted to DEI and advocacy work.
However, Brown cautions that the results were based on a sample that was about 86% white. Brown notes that this level of response that may represent broad industry or newsroom demographics4, but nevertheless limits broader understanding of how journalists from diverse backgrounds might be feeling about DEI efforts.
Stephanie Edgerly, one of the report’s authors, notes that the survey results indicate that “a shift” may be occurring, “A majority of people see diversity as a benefit, as a positive for the industry,” she said. “But digging in and committing to culture change in newsrooms will require more change, effort, and support. There is still a lot more work to be done.”
The study broke down the respondents by platform, with the highest level of satisfaction found with those working in television news.
Asked if their media organizations value diversity, equity, inclusion and advocacy work, 71% of the survey respondents overall agreed.
Among television journalists, more than 80% agreed, and TV journalists were more likely than people working for other types of news organizations to agree that DEI efforts were comprehensive at their employers and that they were satisfied with DEI efforts in their newsrooms.
TV news organizations also were more likely to have formal positions devoted to DEI and advocacy work, the survey found.
Meanwhile, those working in radio or podcasting were less enthusiastic when compared to other platforms in assessing that DEI efforts have positively affected the journalism industry. Slightly more than half agreed that DEI efforts at their organization were comprehensive.
A second study, this from Greater Public, explored views about the progress being made in DEI in public media. The survey of 359 public media employees5, representing between 110 and 140 stations, sought answers to the tools and resources public media colleagues were accessing and how they perceived public media’s diversity, equity, and inclusion work. The study also asked what Greater Public could provide to those employees in the coming year.
In a question similar to the Medill survey, the Greater Public questionnaire asked how respondents would rate their organization’s commitment to and support of diversity, equity, and inclusion. The response depended on what level you worked in at the organization.
A similar result came from asking how many DEI activities to further your own personal education you participated in during the last year.
An important question asked in the survey was about the organizational commitment to DEI.
The results showed a differing view on that question between white and BIPOC respondents.
In writing about the results, Greater Public CEO Joyce MacDonald and Andrew Leitch, the organization’s Vice President for Operations, found a correlation in the responses between the number of DEI initiatives undertaken by an organization with the commitment of that organization to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
They added that “when comparing their organizations to the industry as a whole, respondents across different racial groups, levels of experience, and job levels were more positive about DEI efforts within their organization than within the industry as a whole, with one exception: Few respondents feel individuals in their organizations are able to have discussions on difficult/uncomfortable topics.”
A takeaway from the Medill and the Greater Public surveys alluded to some skepticism by respondents as to whether these efforts were truly focused on the long game instead of being somewhat reactive to this particular moment in time. And both surveys offered much more pessimism from people of color about DEI-related progress than their white colleagues.
This type of data collection is vitally important to provide a framework for moving ahead for news organizations and public media.
McDonald and Leitch added at the end of their post on the Greater Public website:
Having greater transparency helps. It’s crucial that leaders offer clear, ongoing communication about challenges, progress, and opportunities. If staff don’t hear about the DEI work that’s being done in an organization (however imperfect), they will assume it’s not happening.
In a comment related to the Medill research, Martin G. Reynolds, co-executive director of The Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education, said, “What really needs to happen is that news organizations (and public media) need to build cultures of belonging. A lot of people feel they don’t belong. They feel they’re the only one there. Their stories and sources aren’t deemed as worthy. They’re not paid equitably. They’re mistreated as colleagues. How could you ever feel you belong?”
We know there is much work to be done. This will require leaders to be courageous, focused, and relentless to build trust at organizations large and small across the system.
THING THREE: New Study finds Advertising in News Programs Is More Effective
In underwriting and sponsorship efforts in public radio, for nearly two decades, we’ve always sold the idea of the “halo effect” that associating a business with public radio brings credibility resulting in a positive perception of that business and its products. This has been reinforced time and time again through research over the years.
A new study from a somewhat unlikely source reinforces that idea with a specific focus on advertising in news programs. The source is Disney Ad Sales, who partnered with Magna, on research that found that “ads” (feel free to substitute underwriting or sponsorship for public media) appearing in news are perceived by audiences as being more relevant (+8% versus a control group), more valuable (+6%) and more trustworthy (+4%).
The study focused on television news programs, but I’m going to go with the idea that this would translate to audio just as well.
And here’s another important point from the study that works well for public media:
The credibility of the news source mattered more than the news story.
Ads on a high-quality, trusted, and well-respected news source led to increased research intent (+25%), brand favorability (+21%), and purchase intent (+21%).
"Advertisers who avoid news content are missing out on a curious audience that is actively looking to learn about the world around them,” the study concluded, stressing that advertisers needed to “seek out trusted news sources” and “tailor the advertising message to the type of news in which it will appear….With this strategy in place, advertising in news content is key to delivering on campaign KPIs. More simply put, No News is Bad News.”
Political news sponsorship has always been a challenge at times because many business prospects are sometimes hesitant to be associated with the nastiness that comes from campaign coverage or the workings of government. But the study found that while purchase intent was slightly lower in that category (down 1% versus the control group), brand favorability ratings in political news were up 5%, and researcher intent was up 2%.
Hard news, race & culture, and human interest stories also performed well for brands seeking to be looked upon favorably by audiences.
The study also concluded that the type of ad message was necessary for advertising in different types of news. For example, a more direct product-focused ad worked very well in hard news, boosting brand favorability by 10%. In contrast, a more storytelling approach in the ad worked better in race and culture news, increasing brand favorability by 11% and improving purchasing intent by 10%.
Again, it’s important to note that the focus of this research was on television news. Still, it should reinforce and enhance the “halo effect” for public radio sponsorship that the industry has focused on for years. If anything, this strengthens public radio’s position as a trusted news source that provides a safe space for sponsors to connect with public radio’s extraordinary audience through our broadcast and digital channels.
A closing thought regarding the “halo effect” is something that’s been on my mind for the last few years. That is whether it’s still relevant on digital platforms. Does public media’s digital presence still reflect the non-commercial positioning and practices found through our broadcast service?
What are your thoughts?
One final reminder, please, if you’re in a position at your station to complete the brief survey to determine the state of staff vacancies in public media, please take three minutes and complete the five questions we’re asking.
Rather than click on the link, perhaps you would instead join the 83.4 million U.S. smartphone users who will scan QR codes this year and go to the survey via the QR code below.
You may have read about the QR code news earlier this week after Coinbase Global, the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange made its Super Bowl debut. with a QR code ad so popular that it forced the company to throttle traffic to its site. It’s unlikely the code above will have that impact, but please feel free to use it.
Before the pandemic, I would laugh at attempts to use QR codes, but it looks like they’re here to stay based on the chart above. And it’s worth thinking about how you can use them to drive engagement to your digital assets.
Thanks for reading.
The recent controversies regarding Joe Rogan brought about the release of this data by Pew.
Authored by Nic Newman and Nathan Gallo, “Daily news podcasts: building new habits in the shadow of coronavirus” was published by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism with the support of Google and the Google News Initiative.
The Pew Research Center found that 77 percent of those who work as reporters, editors, photographers, and videographers in the news business were non-Hispanic whites, according to an analysis of 2012-2016 American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
In an industry where the workforce as a whole has gender parity, nearly 80% of those responding to the opt-in survey identified as female. Also, BIPOC respondents were slightly overrepresented in the Greater Public survey compared with the public media workforce as a whole. 29% of our respondents were BIPOC, while 25% of public media staff are BIPOC, according to 2020 data1. Public media staffing is not representative of the U.S. population, which is 36% BIPOC, according to 2020 Census data.