Television broadcast news is still a trusted source of news in America. However, viewership has been steadily dropping for years, especially when you look at changing demographics. The monthly reach for television news to viewers 38+ years old is a whopping 90%, but for viewers between 21 and 37 years old, this number drops to 61%.
Simply put, millennials aren’t watching television news (except for breaking news). Add it to the list of industries being destroyed by the oft-maligned generation.
That said, it’s not as if millennials are not consuming news content; it’s just a matter of how. Adults ages 21 to 37 are digitally-focused, with 36% of consumers in this age group using solely digital means to consume their news (compared with only 9% for consumers aged 38 and above).
And now that 58% of adults get their news on mobile—a figure that has tripled since 2013—the path forward for media organizations is clearly digitally-focused.
In order to stay relevant, broadcast news organizations must embrace a seamless customer experience across all channels available to their audiences, from personalized emails and mobile preference centers to individualized promotions and premium subscription incentives.
Many other news providers have made digital transformations with varying degrees of success. We had to see for ourselves if the American broadcast affiliates are effectively adapting in the world of cross-channel customer engagement.
User Engagement Teardown: U.S. Broadcast News
In our latest User Engagement Teardown, we take a look at three leading U.S. broadcast news organizations: Fox News, CBS News, and NBC News. We wanted to understand how each publication curated the news according to user preferences and incentivized subscriptions through promotional campaigns.
Our research consisted of subscribing to each publication’s email and mobile messaging for a three-week span at the end of June 2019.
During these three weeks, we registered for an account on each site and increased our level of activity. We completed our profiles, downloaded their mobile apps, signed up for various newsletters, and abandoned shopping carts when signing up for premium subscriptions.
After analyzing the content of all messages received, we identified what these organizations are doing well and what areas could use improvement.
(Note: if you can’t see the embedded SlideShare, make sure to turn off any ad blockers!)
Note: Fox News, CBS News, and NBC News are not Iterable customers.
You can also see our past comparative teardowns (including a look at leading U.S. newspapers and a Black Friday retail showdown) on our Resources page.
