Original version published on the Nieman Lab website on March 13, 2019.
Managing metrics isn't exactly what motivates journalists to enter the profession (“Statistics? You want me to do math?”). But that is precisely what newsrooms need to focus on.
What are the most interesting articles for readers? What kind of content encourages readers to subscribe? What indicators show that subscribers are contributing to the community? What kind of traffic aligns with the organization’s business and editorial goals? As newsrooms try to figure out how to build a stronger relationship of trust with their audience, they’re also wondering what the right questions to ask are. Hint: Many of these questions—and their answers—are likely hidden somewhere in your analytics dashboard.
A new report from the American Press Institute, written by Melody Kramer and Betsy O’Donovan, proposes metrics for newsrooms based on interviews with journalists and data analysts from 20 different organizations. One key takeaway:
It is indeed important to be able to recognize your own successes. When O’Donovan and Kramer asked their interviewees what might prompt them to pop the champagne, the number one answer was “when we win awards.”
Voici quelques exemples d’indicateurs clés de performance [KPI en anglais, pour Key Performance Indicators] utilisés dans différents types de rédaction, tirés du rapport :
- The Dallas Morning News, owned by the publicly traded company A. H. Belo: The organization as a whole focuses primarily on converting visitors into subscribers, but individual journalists are held accountable for metrics related to repeat readers and the length of time readers spend engaging with an article.
- WhereBy.Us, a parent company of startups specializing in local newsletters: the total weekly open rate for its newsletters became more important than the number of subscribers after the company realized “that we had more subscribers, but they weren’t adding as much value to the product or the community as we thought they were. “We were gaining more subscribers, but they weren’t interested in what we were doing,” explains Rebekah Monson, the company’s co-founder.
- Le Virginian-Pilot de Norfolk, récemment racheté par Tribune Publishing : la directrice de la stratégie numérique a identifié les éléments les plus précieux de ce que chaque service produit, ce qui a encouragé les journalistes à se concentrer sur la stratégie d’abonnement plutôt que sur le nombre de pages vues.
- My favorite is the one from the Anchorage Daily News: “No boring stuff”—at least when it comes to the angles used to cover the annual Iditarod dog sled race, based on an analysis of metrics from articles in recent years.
- Quartz’s (so pure) metric: “Love. How much are we loved by this or that reader—you know what I mean?” explains Sari Zeidler, Quartz’s director of growth. “We can see how often people come back and what their journey through the funnel looks like, but what we really want to know is whether they love us and what impact we have on them. That’s what journalism is all about: Have we made an impact on their lives? We can see that they open an email every day, but I want to better understand who this person is, why they love us, and how they love us. What makes them so attached?”
Another point from the report to keep in mind:
Here’s how Kramer and O’Donovan recommend putting this into practice by creating a culture that motivates your editorial team in a healthy way:
1. Define your organization’s overall objectives and key performance indicators. This is your organization’s growth plan. Share it widely. Encourage people to ask questions about the objectives, key performance indicators, and the health of your business at any time.
2. Link your organization’s overall goals to editorial activities: How does your company actually track its progress? There shouldn’t be any “secret” to success. If every member of the company is responsible for its “health,” every department in the company must know what that “health” looks like.
3. Establish the context and challenges for each person. When shifting from the level of the newsroom as a whole to that of the individual, we must ask the following question: What is each journalist’s role within the organization? What is each journalist’s role in the success of the entire organization? What metrics should they use to determine whether they are doing a good job? Do they have the tools to do so?
4. Provide guidance, especially at the beginning. Face-to-face conversations about how to get started and what the next steps are are the most effective way to introduce the topic of metrics and statistics.
5. Use dashboards and newsletters to foster continuous feedback. Dashboards provide team- or company-wide insights at a glance; newsletters can complement the data by adding context about what’s working, as well as specific ideas and recommendations.
6. Provide regular face-to-face feedback. Consistent, learning-focused feedback helps journalists adapt and thrive in a data-driven environment.
The full report, with more examples and explanations, is available here [in English]
