Our Stories

The Future of News – What Do Audiences Want?


The Future of News – What Do Audiences Want?

A few of us at Gard attended a recent event at the University Club in downtown Portland, “The Future of News,” featuring Richard Meeker and Mark Katches. Meeker was the long-time publisher of Willamette Week and current president of City of Roses Newspaper Company; Katches is editor of The Oregonian and OregonLive.

Despite having different cultures and views on the news industry, shared questions arose:

  • How long will newspapers be viable sources of information?

  • How are millennials impacting the ways news organizations reach their audiences?

  • How do news organizations manage internal competition between digital and traditional sources of information?

An unlikely trend also emerged:

Oregonians still value long-form journalism because we want to be informed.gard on twitter

Although the national trend favors shorter, more succinct sources of information, both Meeker and Katches claimed their longer articles are often most viewed and valued by readers. For example, some of the Willamette Week’s most viewed videos are raw footage of candidate debates – sometimes 30 or 45 minutes long.

Here at Gard, we’re all about exploring the latest ways to utilize the media to reach our clients’ audiences. And there are new ways to measure what audiences prefer. Check out Quantcast, a website dedicated to measuring and analyzing trends among online audiences: which outlets viewers are responding to, and in what format — mobile or desktop?

With more diversification in the media than ever before, we’re excited to be a part of the conversation in the coming years. Thanks to Richard and Mark for sharing their thoughts on the future of news and engaging in such a useful conversation.