What constitutes news for Gen Z and younger millennials?
Till about a decade back, news consumption was fairly predictable. You read the newspaper in the morning with your cup of tea or on your commute to work, in the event of a breaking story you checked out a news portal such as Indiatimes, Yahoo or Rediff at work and you ended the day watching prime time news on television at 9pm. The advent of social media, especially Facebook and Twitter changed all that. Younger audiences started getting news on their social feeds often recommended by friends in their network. News moments started getting scattered throughout the day and night, replacing the earlier fixed time bands. And what constitutes news also changed in the minds of younger consumers (aged 30 years and younger).
As one of the world’s largest news publishers, the Times group thankfully saw this change coming. So in 2014, I was given the responsibility to pivot Indiatimes.com (then a portal for all content from the Times group) to a snackable trending news site built for the social generation. Over a few months we reinvented how stories should be told to millennials. Our content became more conversational, shorter (to match attention spans and mobile phone distribution) yet not dumbed down, native to the platforms we were creating for and highly data & insight driven. It’s been over 5 years since we pivoted and over time we’ve learnt a thing or two about what younger millennials and Gen Z consider as news and what purpose it serves in their highly social lives. Here are a few of our learnings:
Young people don’t want news to be talked down to them
They don’t want to be told what they should know. They have a highly individualistic relationship with the news. For them news needs to useful and entertaining. It’s social currency that helps them stay ahead
News is glocal
News connects people’s individual world to the wider world. A user in Delhi may be more clued into President Trump’s impeachment proceeding than the political maneuvers in Maharashtra. Or a Tiktok video by an influencer from Meerut might suddenly start trending nationwide. The boundaries of what is local and what is global news is blurring.
Convenience is key to news consumption
Young people find traditional news distribution channels such as websites and news TV channels inconvenient to access. They prefer to consume their news on the social media channels they are already on. They also expect news formats to be native to these social media channels. Video is also increasingly being preferred over text stories as it requires less mental effort by the viewer. However while Gen Z and younger millennials want instant gratification from the news, they don’t want their news dumbed down.
Quality of reportage and news production matters to the youth
Over the last few years, the rise of fake news has made young people care about the brand from where they get their news. They are looking for authenticity, factual accuracy and perspective from news brands. They also want fresh and often multiple perspectives on a news story, so that they can eventually frame their own point of view.
Human interest stories are taking centre stage
In the old days such stories used to be relegated to the inside pages of a newspaper or to the end of a news bulletin. But to Gen Z and young millennials such stories matter the most. They want inspiring, positive stories of people who overcome adversity, who are building innovative businesses or leading a social movement
Woke issues are getting huge traction
Some of our most viewed and engaged stories on Indiatimes have not been the shenanigans of the residents of the Big Boss house or that Kareena doesn’t allow little Taimur to eat fries at birthday parties but rather stories such as the protests to protect the Aarey forest or how Indore has become a model city for managing garbage disposal.
Snackable news on social is the most popular way news is being consumed online by people under 30 years
They have less time, so they expect the news to be packed with easy to consume background details, visual illustrations, editorial perspective and “how is it relevant to my life” takeaways
The youth want to co-create the news and share stories that make them look good in their social network
News consumption is no longer passive. The youth are actively adding value to the stories they see online through their comments and perspective. The news they share is a validation of their identity and worldview and hence much thought and time goes into its curation.
