The New Media Smorgasbord
I’m a sampler by nature. Which is exactly why I love eating at buffets. I’m bored after three forkfuls of rice pilaf. It’s true of my media consumption habits too. Earlier this week I drove to Michigan and back with a large stack of audio books. About every 20 minutes or so I’d swap disks and listen to a new story. Terrible way to absorb Moby Dick I know, but it’s a system that works for me. Rarely do I listen to an entire song on my iPod. And don’t ask my wife how dangerous I can be with a TV remote in my hand.
I’m not alone in my preference to consume media in short bites. According to the latest Nielson research, television viewing is actually up per person. But so is online video usage, social networking, and mobile media viewing. Faced with endless choices, people tend not to stick around on any one channel for long. And research from TubeMogul found that 10% of web video viewers click away after ten seconds and 53% leave after just one minute.
All of this raises the question on how media driven organizations should be adjusting to these scatterbrained audience consumption habits. But before you throw up your hands (and hop over to another blog), here are a three quick thoughts that can help you navigate the new landscape.
1) Format your programs into tiny, bite sized segments. Instead of showing a talking head for 25 minutes straight, consider breaking up your show into several independent smaller chunks. This will also come in convenient when watching online. For example, when the PBS show American Experience posts their two hour documentaries on the web, they chop it up into dozens of 2-4 minute clips.
2) Consider how your content will be understood if a channel surfer jumps to your program halfway through your material. Will they be catching anything worth stopping on? CTVN president Ron Hembree once told me that the vast majority of Americans check out Christian television every month looking for some kind of answers. But very few find anything worth sticking around to watch.
3) Offer more options. Why offer one long 30 minute webcast per week when you could have multiple three minute programs that covers every day? Could you produce a Sunday service update show, a youth show, and a fun church news show all in one week? Choices!
The same principle applies for blogs (less content, greater frequency), church service media, audio podcasts, web magazines and any other media you create for today’s media samplers.
