How to Engage Young Audiences

In the field of journalism, expertise is respected; or at least, it should be. Everyone is hungry to know what experts know and news organizations target clusters of readers to cultivate and retain readership.

Young audiences represent the future of the news industry. Yet, engaging young readers is a challenging feat, mainly because the youth market is demanding and quite elusive. Having at their disposal a multitude of media choices, young people prefer the Internet, mobile and TV over the newspapers. Besides, young people find political news passive and less engaging, and they focus more on entertainment and celebrity news as well as video games and reality TV. Although some argue that this entertainment culture has turned young audiences incapable of exploring complex issues, in effect, it has enhanced their problem-solving skills. As a result, young people who are entertaining themselves with complex interactive activities, look for news that may be delivered in an interactive, or even convergent way.

Typically, young readers prefer multiple sources of information and not just one. This results not only in spending less time with traditional media, but also in familiarizing themselves with digital media. In the era of digital age, young audiences want to be well-informed and always look for the best sources of information. Social networking websites have increasingly altered the meaning of communication enabling both personal and business relations. This observation shows that the biggest competition for news organizations in relation to the youth market comes from social networking websites.

One of the factors that play a key role in engaging young audiences is to understand what readers need. Younger audiences do not expect from a news channel the same content their parents do. Similarly, older audiences expect the traditional type of information they are used to receive over the last twenty years. News organizations need to reshape the format of their content to attract new readers while sustaining the high standards of the core value of their information. In doing so, they will appeal to younger demographics with an aim to convert them to daily readers while upholding the cluster of loyal readers.

The strategies of news organizations to reach the youth market vary around the globe. Editors and publishers adjust their approaches to understand the needs and wants of young audiences and develop young reader programs to meet their objectives. Many news organizations create publications that are strictly targeted to the youth market, offering to young readers a forum in print and online to address the important issues of our society while participating in a dialogue with the news channels in an interactive way. This shows that the existence of a paradigm shift from traditional media towards online media. Young audiences require opportunities for interaction through citizen journalism, participation, blogging and social networking.

News organizations craft and implement a variety of reader strategies to capture the imagination of young audience and reinvigorate young audiences' preferences for traditional media, converting them from an elusive market to a more tangible market segment. However, more than first class journalism and reliable information, what is required is journalism from the heart to have an appeal on young readers.

Young people are rebels; sensitive; idealists; they have a different approach to the world and to their future. If news organizations want to attract them, they have to see themselves as producers of a broad range of information that is able to reach diverse audiences with the same effectiveness.

To that end, news organizations:

(1) Make their content highly relevant to young readers

(2) Focus on providing their young audiences the chance to contribute real journalism through credible ways on media channels of their preference, and

(3) Initiate a multi-platform approach to publishing that is preferable by young readers in online media

Conclusively, youth market offers a great potential to news organizations for further expansion and larger readership opportunities. By offering a specialized point of view and gaining high standing on the journalism map, news organizations become able to attract young audiences and provide them with the right information, through the right channel, at the right moment. This creates credibility and generates a chain reaction of loyal followers, who contribute to journalism through interaction and dialogue.