Brooke Erin Duffy
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- April 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780252037962
- eISBN:
- 9780252095221
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Illinois Press
- DOI:
- 10.5406/illinois/9780252037962.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
This chapter examines how the transformations associated with digitization are reshaping the ways in which publishers of women's magazines think about readership by focusing on their constructions of ...
More
This chapter examines how the transformations associated with digitization are reshaping the ways in which publishers of women's magazines think about readership by focusing on their constructions of audiences. Editors and publishers of women's magazines have long targeted narrowly defined segments of the female populace based upon demographic factors (age, household income, marital status, educational level, and sometimes even race) as well as lifestyle traits and behaviors. They draw upon surveys and other measurement techniques to understand these segments and craft detailed profiles of their “ideal reader.” This chapter considers women's magazines' shape-shifting approaches to audiences, particularly between producers for the print and digital products. It discusses the magazine industry's progress in terms of providing advertisers with more precise and timely audience metrics, as well as magazines' understanding of audience demographics. It also explores recent developments in online tracking and consumer analytics and how they have inspired a new series of approaches to researching media audiences, including search engine optimization, content syndication and aggregation, and web traffic generation.Less
This chapter examines how the transformations associated with digitization are reshaping the ways in which publishers of women's magazines think about readership by focusing on their constructions of audiences. Editors and publishers of women's magazines have long targeted narrowly defined segments of the female populace based upon demographic factors (age, household income, marital status, educational level, and sometimes even race) as well as lifestyle traits and behaviors. They draw upon surveys and other measurement techniques to understand these segments and craft detailed profiles of their “ideal reader.” This chapter considers women's magazines' shape-shifting approaches to audiences, particularly between producers for the print and digital products. It discusses the magazine industry's progress in terms of providing advertisers with more precise and timely audience metrics, as well as magazines' understanding of audience demographics. It also explores recent developments in online tracking and consumer analytics and how they have inspired a new series of approaches to researching media audiences, including search engine optimization, content syndication and aggregation, and web traffic generation.
Angele Christin
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- January 2021
- ISBN:
- 9780691175232
- eISBN:
- 9780691200002
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691175232.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Media Studies
When the news moved online, journalists suddenly learned what their audiences actually liked, through algorithmic technologies that scrutinize web traffic and activity. Has this advent of audience ...
More
When the news moved online, journalists suddenly learned what their audiences actually liked, through algorithmic technologies that scrutinize web traffic and activity. Has this advent of audience metrics changed journalists' work practices and professional identities? This book documents the ways that journalists grapple with audience data in the form of clicks, and analyzes how new forms of clickbait journalism travel across national borders. Drawing on four years of fieldwork in web newsrooms in the United States and France, including more than one hundred interviews with journalists, the book reveals many similarities among the media groups examined—their editorial goals, technological tools, and even office furniture. Yet the book uncovers crucial and paradoxical differences in how American and French journalists understand audience analytics and how these affect the news produced in each country. American journalists routinely disregard traffic numbers and primarily rely on the opinion of their peers to define journalistic quality. Meanwhile, French journalists fixate on internet traffic and view these numbers as a sign of their resonance in the public sphere. The book offers cultural and historical explanations for these disparities, arguing that distinct journalistic traditions structure how journalists make sense of digital measurements in the two countries. Contrary to the popular belief that analytics and algorithms are globally homogenizing forces, the book shows that computational technologies can have surprisingly divergent ramifications for work and organizations worldwide.Less
When the news moved online, journalists suddenly learned what their audiences actually liked, through algorithmic technologies that scrutinize web traffic and activity. Has this advent of audience metrics changed journalists' work practices and professional identities? This book documents the ways that journalists grapple with audience data in the form of clicks, and analyzes how new forms of clickbait journalism travel across national borders. Drawing on four years of fieldwork in web newsrooms in the United States and France, including more than one hundred interviews with journalists, the book reveals many similarities among the media groups examined—their editorial goals, technological tools, and even office furniture. Yet the book uncovers crucial and paradoxical differences in how American and French journalists understand audience analytics and how these affect the news produced in each country. American journalists routinely disregard traffic numbers and primarily rely on the opinion of their peers to define journalistic quality. Meanwhile, French journalists fixate on internet traffic and view these numbers as a sign of their resonance in the public sphere. The book offers cultural and historical explanations for these disparities, arguing that distinct journalistic traditions structure how journalists make sense of digital measurements in the two countries. Contrary to the popular belief that analytics and algorithms are globally homogenizing forces, the book shows that computational technologies can have surprisingly divergent ramifications for work and organizations worldwide.
José van
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- October 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780190889760
- eISBN:
- 9780190889807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190889760.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Film, Media, and Cultural Studies
This chapter examines how the advent of data-driven publishers, such as BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post, as well as the rise of the Big Five platforms, have shaken the news sector’s economic, ...
More
This chapter examines how the advent of data-driven publishers, such as BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post, as well as the rise of the Big Five platforms, have shaken the news sector’s economic, technical, and social foundations. The proliferation of online audience metrics and algorithmic filtering, promoting the personalization of news and advertisements, has fundamentally transformed how news is produced, circulated, and monetized. The triangular content–audiences–advertising configuration that constituted the legacy news industry is unbundled and rebundled through online platforms. As a consequence, the professional practices and institutional standards once set by legacy news organizations are seriously challenged. Key public values, such as journalistic independence and the trustworthiness of news, have come under scrutiny as new online players in this sector reconfigure the conditions of production and distribution.Less
This chapter examines how the advent of data-driven publishers, such as BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post, as well as the rise of the Big Five platforms, have shaken the news sector’s economic, technical, and social foundations. The proliferation of online audience metrics and algorithmic filtering, promoting the personalization of news and advertisements, has fundamentally transformed how news is produced, circulated, and monetized. The triangular content–audiences–advertising configuration that constituted the legacy news industry is unbundled and rebundled through online platforms. As a consequence, the professional practices and institutional standards once set by legacy news organizations are seriously challenged. Key public values, such as journalistic independence and the trustworthiness of news, have come under scrutiny as new online players in this sector reconfigure the conditions of production and distribution.
