The ecosystem in which we live is constantly evolving, rapidly transforming, and every day opening up to new vistas that mark different parameters, shift horizons, offer opportunities, and challenge the status quo.
This race for change affecting every industry and also the communications industry, more specifically PR, must take into account new scenarios that are reshaping the media industry.
While media such as TV, newspapers, and trade magazines continue to maintain an important influence, especially as they are able to diversify their offerings, embrace new languages, and reach their audiences through multiple online and offline channels, new independent media (such as podcasts, creators, popularizers, and industry experts) are increasingly gaining public opinion, opening up new possibilities for companies and charting new paths for traditional media to follow, creating a more decentralized and fragmented ecosystem.
Compared with traditional media, new media are characterized by their dynamism, accessibility and bidirectionality, enabling users not only to consume content but also to interact with it directly and immediately.
(This category includes outreach websites, blogs, social media, podcasts, newsletters, streaming platforms, and all forms of digital native communication.)
The needs of "content consumers" are changing
Data emerged from recent reports-such as the Digital News Report 2024 of the Reuters Institute, the State of the Media 2024 by Cision and Statista's study of the information sector in Italy-confirm a clear trend: traditional media audiences continue to shrink, while interest is growing in content that is fast, accessible and seamlessly integrated with digital and social platforms.
This change does not represent a decline in journalism, but a transformation requiring a rethinking of formats and distribution strategies. Audiences are increasingly fragmented and with diverse expectations, requiring a delicate balance between depth, accuracy and immediacy.
The information sector is thus evolving toward a model that combines speed and personalization, facing new challenges but also seizing unseen opportunities. The focus remains on the ability to offer "information products" capable of truly responding to users' needs.
As pointed out in the Reuters Institute Digital News Report 2024: "The three main information needs globally are to stay up-to-date ("update me"), to deepen a topic ("educate me"), and to get diversified perspectives ("give me perspective")."
These elements outline the future of information, which can no longer rely solely on traditional models, but must integrate precisely innovative formats, agile languages and multiplatform strategies to maintain relevance in a constantly changing environment.
New media have transformed and are transforming the information and communication landscape, and this is mainly because readers are increasingly seeking authentic information, providing different perspectives that are sometimes more searching, sometimes more empathetic, or more "freeing."
In any case, new media give room for building stories and relationships with greater scope.
The democratization of the media, moreover, has thus brought so many opportunities that influence the choices not only of journalists, but also of companies and PR people when they have to structure strategies that are effective.
A theme that we also brought up in an episode of our podcast "Beyond the Headline," in which guest Virginia Giammaria - Media and Policy Campaigns Manager - highlighted how language and platforms have changed, and that this has caused journalistic information to be more massively distributed: for example, creators are often more widely followed than traditional journalists, and although the latter have expertise and quality information, they do not always have strong sounding boards, thus not allowing them to stand out. Therefore, it is important for publishers to integrate these innovative aspects to print journalism.
A challenge, however, that also puts non-traditional media on a corner, which, despite having a strong following, must find new models of economic sustainability that keep pace with their growth.
New media within a PR strategy.
Returning to PR, how do new media fit within a PR strategy? Most importantly, are they always effective? How should they be selected?
First of all, it is necessary to keep in mind that in the face of such a vast and varied scenario, selection is imperative.
Each media outlet has a specific target audience, and some independent media outlets target narrow niches with a specific tone of voice and thus may not align with the company's objective:
- one wants to position oneself in the market with authority? Then perhaps it is best to select industry newsletters or a vertical podcast on the relevant topic
- Do you want to increase your relationship with your audience? In this case, collaborations with creators or with industry social pages that with their strong communities can help build the company's reputation might work better
- do you want to reach more or less young audiences? Depending on the answer, media that target the relevant generations should be evaluated to be sure to communicate in a timely manner
The goals for which one communicates are many, as are the "rules" of each media outlet, the certain thing is that when one deals with independent and professional media such as creators or popularizers, the dynamics change and it is therefore necessary, even here, a strong preparation and such transversality, to be able to adapt the news to the various needs so as to create a right balanced mix between the various platforms.
