If a durable position in users’ routines is the goal, the practical question is how to earn it.

Academic research suggests you need to satisfy unmet needs and fit unclaimed moments of target audiences’ day.

What the research says

New formats, products, and distribution channels do not acquire audiences abstractly. Understanding how publishers can earn that position is where a growing body of academic research becomes practically useful.

• Studies find people add sources, platforms, and formats to their repertoires for a handful of reasons. The most common is a desire for a fuller picture.

• Users who feel their existing sources are insufficient seek additional ones to compare narratives and verify claims.

• Interest in politics and public affairs pushes users into broader, more diverse consumption. Some even deliberately seek out sources that challenge their views.

• Complementarity — filling perceived gaps in someone’s repertoire (my daily crossword, my football app) — is a reliable driver, as are relative advantages (faster, richer, cheaper).

• Practical fit matters: New sources enter a routine when they match an existing moment in the day.

Think of a newsletter that arrives before breakfast, a mobile game that works on a commute, a podcast that fits a morning run, or a video feed that helps someone relax late at night.

The investment logic of newsletters, mobile apps, and podcasts becomes clearer through the lens of user needs. New products that ignore the fit with user needs and existing routines are unlikely to stick.

It takes, on average, 66 days of repetition to adopt a new daily habit. Yet most news Web sites see 70% of users visit only once a month. If a habit needs repetition and most users never repeat, a new habit never forms.

Winning breaking news

Research also finds that big news events — elections, economic shocks, and major sporting events — reliably expand repertoires.

Major events push people to seek more information and turn to additional sources, often the best-known and most accessible brands they had not previously used regularly.

This helps explain the repeated traffic surges publishers observe during high-news periods. The COVID outbreak, the U.S. elections, and Russia’s attack on Ukraine are all clearly visible in the online traffic of INMA members across the world.

The window for winning inclusion opens during moments of high need. Whether that inclusion endures depends on what happens next.

Publishers who have built a reputation for breaking news coverage are most likely to capture a spike in traffic. Those who have built follow mechanisms and onboarding for new followers are best positioned to translate a spike into long-term relationships.

Greg’s Readers First newsletter is a public face of a revenue and media subscriptions initiative by INMA, outlined here. INMA members can subscribe here.

Banner photo: Adobe Stock By Andrey Popov.

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