How audience engagement can build community, deepen loyalty, and boost the bottom line

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How Audience Engagement Can Build Community, Deepen Loyalty, and Boost the Bottom Line Research fellow (2013-14) Jake Batsell @jbatsell Associate professor Revenue Strategies Workshop Texas Center for Community Journalism Fredericksburg, Texas June 21, 2019

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Professional journalism career Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 • Metro, business, and politics reporter for The Seattle Times and The Dallas Morning News • Later became DMN Metro Desk’s “hybrid” print/video reporter

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Transition to academia Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 • Left DMN in 2008 to teach digital journalism and launch student newsroom at SMU • Effective Aug. 1, 2019, will be William O’Neil Chair of Business Journalism (interim)

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 • Experience launching site sparked intellectual interest in shifting business models

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Engagement, Loyalty and Revenue • @jbatsell • 6.11.14 • Based on visits to more than 25 news organizations in U.S./U.K. • 100+ interviews • Aimed at journalists, academics, students and anyone else interested in the future of news • Part of CJR Books series • More details: j.mp/engagedj ENGAGED JOURNALISM (Columbia University Press, Feb. ‘15)

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 What is engaged journalism? The degree to which a media organization actively considers and interacts with its audience in furtherance of its journalistic and financial mission. Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 Face-to-Face Engagement • News as Conversation • Mining Niche Communities • Search, Explore, Play • Measuring and Monetizing the Audience Relationship

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Texas Tribune / Knight Foundation Research Fellow Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 Is the model replicable? Yes and no. YES • Revenue diversity • Entrepreneurial creativity • Tireless champion • Shared sense of business/editorial mission NO • Concentrated corporate wealth in TX • Unique combination of founders

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Why does audience engagement matter to the bottom line? The ongoing crossover from ads to reader revenue. • New York Times: 2012 • Dallas Morning News: 2018 • Your publication: ?? Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Fostering digital habits that grow and keep subscribers is a matter of survival. Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 “What you’re talking about here in this research is really a paradigm shift. … ‘My customer is the consumer, and that’s where I get my revenue,’ as opposed to ‘my customer is the advertiser and I’m leveraging my readers to these advertisers.’ It’s a big shift, a huge kind of shift in mission.” — Tom Rosenstiel Executive Director, American Press Institute • Study of 13 terabytes of anonymous subscriber data from Chicago Tribune, Indianapolis Star and San Francisco Chronicle found that frequency of site visits is the single biggest predictor of retaining subscribers — more than stories read or time spent.

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Engagement is key to moving readers along the “subscription funnel” and path to conversion Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 Poynter’s funnel breakdown: • Awareness • Engagement • Conversion • Retention

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 Promising trends linking engagement with revenue: 1. Community experiences

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 Promising trends linking engagement with revenue: 2. Membership programs (even by for-profit publications)

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 Promising trends linking engagement with revenue: 3. Email newsletters & subscriptions for niche audiences Email newsletters are a daily habit. And Google data shows that email newsletters are “the single most effective way to get people to decide to subscribe,” Rosenstiel told Medill. But an engaging tone is key: “You don’t just throw a bunch of links in some automated, set-it-and-forget-it thing. Then it’s a machine talking to people and not a newsletter”

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19 Promising trends linking engagement with revenue: 4. More newsroom staffers are actively making the case to the public that good journalism costs money and is worth supporting.

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JEM 499 • @jbatsell • 10.7.14 Even more ideas: Here’s a free book! http://j.mp/mediainnov8 Revenue Strategies Workshop • 6.21.19

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Thanks! More info: j.mp/engagedj