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Рy23 March 2021
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How has the audience of international and regional media outlets changed due to pandemic-related challenges? How to maintain the public after its sharp increase? How to increase the audience in 2021 and how to monetize media outlets in an epoch when ‘the market stalled, and is now shrinking’? These are just a few of the topics, discussed at a training by representatives of the ten media outlets that reached the second stage of the small grant contest, organized under ‘Audience Understanding and Digital Support’ Project.
The training was organized by the Independent Journalism Center in an online format, during 9-10 February 2021, and the founder and editor-in-chief of CityDog.by from Minsk, Belarus, Serge Sakharau, was invited as an expert.
During two days, the participants discussed how the media market can increase its audience amidst the pandemic, the importance of quality editorial content for strengthening and keeping a loyal audience, the most important dissemination platforms in reaching as many readers as possible, and different ways for media outlets to earn money. The participants also learned how to analyze their audience and to instil loyalty, depending on their needs.
The journalist encouraged the participants not to be afraid and to experiment with different forms of content and distribution. ‘In the 21st century, Internet offers a broad range of possibilities to experiment and determine the audience, their preference and ways to maintain their interest permanently. Today, if you don’t experiment, you are literally non-existent in Internet. You can create a new section, monetize different formats, organize competitions, encourage the audience to contribute to content creation etc. It is for sure that media businesses require lots of creativity and a careful analysis of the obtained outcomes’, believes Serge Sakharau, recommending that participants use the ‘small steps’ technique in order to grow their audience.
The participants analyzed how Google Analytics works, how to ‘read’ the data about online audience, what are the key performance indicators of an information site and how to use analytical data for daily and long-term planning.
Ina Grejdeanu, IJC Director for Strategic Development, gave some suggestions to participants on how to successfully ‘package’ the project ideas so that they draw donors’ interest and have a bigger impact on the audience. ‘A successful project has clear goals and objectives, describes briefly the background situation and states concrete activities which, once implemented, will contribute to achieving a well-determined target. For sure, a project based on quantity only will never be appreciated. You should focus on quality, as well’, recommended Ina Grejdeanu.
During the training, some participants discovered new perspectives to increase their audience and new ways to monetize the media outlets, whereas others understood how important it is to change their audience growth strategy, to ‘conquer’ new audiences or diversify their information dissemination channels.
‘For analytical data to work for our benefit, they need to be analyzed carefully and used correctly. Nowadays, a site created two years ago can have a larger audience than a site present on the market for 25 years. Experience shows that we need to take into account the new trends and challenges in order to be read by our public’, said Andrei Bargan, editor-in-chief of Media TV Cimislia.
Until 17 February 2021, those ten media outlets are to send their detailed project proposals. The jury will select four outlets that will receive EUR 5,000 in grants to implement online audience development initiatives during six months (1 March – 31 August 2021).
The training was organized by the Independent Journalism Center in an online format, during 9-10 February 2021, and the founder and editor-in-chief of CityDog.by from Minsk, Belarus, Serge Sakharau, was invited as an expert.
During two days, the participants discussed how the media market can increase its audience amidst the pandemic, the importance of quality editorial content for strengthening and keeping a loyal audience, the most important dissemination platforms in reaching as many readers as possible, and different ways for media outlets to earn money. The participants also learned how to analyze their audience and to instil loyalty, depending on their needs.
The journalist encouraged the participants not to be afraid and to experiment with different forms of content and distribution. ‘In the 21st century, Internet offers a broad range of possibilities to experiment and determine the audience, their preference and ways to maintain their interest permanently. Today, if you don’t experiment, you are literally non-existent in Internet. You can create a new section, monetize different formats, organize competitions, encourage the audience to contribute to content creation etc. It is for sure that media businesses require lots of creativity and a careful analysis of the obtained outcomes’, believes Serge Sakharau, recommending that participants use the ‘small steps’ technique in order to grow their audience.
The participants analyzed how Google Analytics works, how to ‘read’ the data about online audience, what are the key performance indicators of an information site and how to use analytical data for daily and long-term planning.
Ina Grejdeanu, IJC Director for Strategic Development, gave some suggestions to participants on how to successfully ‘package’ the project ideas so that they draw donors’ interest and have a bigger impact on the audience. ‘A successful project has clear goals and objectives, describes briefly the background situation and states concrete activities which, once implemented, will contribute to achieving a well-determined target. For sure, a project based on quantity only will never be appreciated. You should focus on quality, as well’, recommended Ina Grejdeanu.
During the training, some participants discovered new perspectives to increase their audience and new ways to monetize the media outlets, whereas others understood how important it is to change their audience growth strategy, to ‘conquer’ new audiences or diversify their information dissemination channels.
‘For analytical data to work for our benefit, they need to be analyzed carefully and used correctly. Nowadays, a site created two years ago can have a larger audience than a site present on the market for 25 years. Experience shows that we need to take into account the new trends and challenges in order to be read by our public’, said Andrei Bargan, editor-in-chief of Media TV Cimislia.
Until 17 February 2021, those ten media outlets are to send their detailed project proposals. The jury will select four outlets that will receive EUR 5,000 in grants to implement online audience development initiatives during six months (1 March – 31 August 2021).
Alongside their activities, the media partners will be provided online consultations with the participation of two international experts and one local expert in areas such as audience analysis (Google Analytics, YouTube Analytics, etc.), content planning, advertising sales and online monetization.
The ‘Audience Understanding and Digital Support’ Project is implemented by the IJC with the support of Internews and it is financed by Sweden. The project aims at improving the quality of media content and the financial sustainability of media outlets through a better understanding of the audience needs.
