With print news gradually on its way out of our lives forever, digital news outlets are finding innovative ways of reporting thanks to the way so many users are now consuming content—through their mobile tablets and smartphones.
Although media executives acknowledge that there are plenty of challenges to address in terms of how to generate adequate revenue through mobile-driven content, it has become obvious in the industry this is is the future of news delivery—at least that’s how it appears now.
There are a number of reasons why this could very well be the case.
Collaboration and instant reporting
With the rise of new technology and applications, long-time media standbys like the New York Times can collaborate with much newer tech companies and media establishments in ways they could not before the proliferation of mobile. There are plenty of opportunities on platforms like Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook to help bring news to the masses.
Due in large part to this technology, reporters are delivering news to audiences in real time—a far cry from the days when people had to wait for the newspapers to arrive in the morning to find out what happened the day before.
Twitter, for example, has become a major source of breaking news. Media companies that are able to capitalize on this idea of instant, live news are more likely to be successful when it comes to mobile content.
Greater flexibility with video content
At this time, video content drives more engagement than any other form of content on the web—on both mobile and desktop devices. News outlets can take advantage of this by creating video clips to upload to mobile platforms. In fact, newspaper reporters now regularly take video cameras with them when covering stories, posting interviews online with their written articles.
Fewer barriers to advertising
The advertising industry has not quite caught up with making sure their content gets seen on mobile platforms—and neither has the ad blocking industry. Out of all people who use mobile devices, only about .3 percent have ad-blocking apps on their devices, while some experts estimate that approximately 20 percent of Americans use ad blockers on their desktop browsers.
Brands who have become frustrated with ad blockers on desktop can still see advertising benefits on mobile, which poses opportunities for media companies in need of more ad revenue.
The New York Times has already been at the forefront of digital evolution within the news industry, even going as far as to announce that it would begin posting articles directly to Facebook so that its followers wouldn’t have to make extra clicks to gain access to their content.
The digital media world is in state of constant evolution, and news media outlets and content marketers alike need to stay up to date on the nearly day-to-day changes happening.
On the other hand, Apple or Samsung could come up with an entirely new type of device tomorrow—and we’ll all have to start from scratch.