Death and Taxes are two well known certainties. That the sun will rise and that the media is consumed by talking about itself were two more to the fore yesterday as we gathered early for a business breakfast on the Future of Media hosted by PSG Communications on Sir John Rogerson’s Quay in Dublin.
An impressive speaker line up covered the arc of how media was, is and might be consumed by the general public and there was little doubt that the primary medium of the future was the mobile device you are likely to be reading this on.
The consumption of news on smartphones in Ireland rose from 21% in 2012 to 46% in 2013 according to statistics from Susan Daly of The Journal (above).
Craig Farrell of Starcom backed up the importance of this by telling us that on average we open up our phones to check the multiplicity of channels available though it on average over 100 times a day, every day.
That’s what qualifies as significant behavioural change and Daly also revealed that journalists working in her live environment have to check the ‘experience of every story on mobile and tablet as zoo as it is published, changing if the look and feel is not working in either.
It is clearly working for The Journal and The 42, or the outlet formerly known as the Score, who announced in recent days that they would be increasing the number of staff by 35 over the next three years, mainly in areas of journalism and content, and mainly in sport.
45% of 18-25 year olds would never consider buying a newspaper and 80% go online first for a breaking story but that has not deterred Ian Kehoe (left), the new editor of the Sunday Business Post who professed himself a total novice in the field of digital, only recently getting an iPhone and not engaging in the least with social.
Ben Bradlee of the Washington Post would similarly have been one to look at the broader picture but it was still a surprising admission from the man charged with bringing the paper, with a strong niche following in business and corresponding high potential, into the digital age.
TV featured strongly and Farrell revealed up to date statistics which showed that TV viewing was at an all time high of 213 minutes, up 11 minutes on 12 months ago but that the ‘big box in the corner’ was taking a hit, down two minutes a day and being challenged, if still a long way off being replaced by mobile.
We asked the value of quantity vs quality in light of yesterday’s story about the lower than expected viewing for the early stages of Rugby’s European Champions’ Cup and the consensus was that the engagement with a consumer was increasingly more important as a marker of success than the bare figure of numbers of eyeballs.
Dan Leahy of RTÉ2FM proved the point with a story about how the best way to judge the effectiveness of advertising was to get it wrong and watch the reaction among consumers and brands.
It’s all about active rather than passive in the mass market, a point brought home again in the early hours of this morning watching the concluding game of Baseball’s World Series.
That would resonate with Daly who outlined the ambition of the Journal as being ‘the reason why your phone falls on your face reading ‘one last thing’ before going to sleep.’
She recognised though that it’s not always the snappy and sexy that should be to the fore and that one of the biggest challenges is accommodating the ‘broccoli journalism’ that you might not like but which is good for you.
Kehoe might bristle at the idea of Broccoli, if not as much as that of Netflix, but he does contend that niche media has a big future. “We know what we are and what we cover,” is a sentiment that we at Sport for Business would echo.
It was an entertaining morning, and all will have gone away with some fresh perspective on how we can cater for you our readers and still walk away with a living wage.
It has to be said though that while we were talking and the sun was rising there were probably patents being filed in California or China that will change the game again by the time we are getting close to getting it right.
Don’t miss Digital Sport and Sponsorship 2014 which takes place at Bewley’s Hotel in Dublin on November 27th and will feature keynote discussions around four key areas of digital engagement. Speakers confirmed so far include Edelman, RTÉ Digital, Procter and Gamble, the GAA and Heineken. Book your place here.
