Commentary
Mobile Users Actually Loving Long-Form Content
- by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, April 4, 2016
In our age of seemingly short attention
spans and hair-trigger thumbs, it’s natural to assume that brevity is always best. Yet, at least when it comes to journalism, that’s not the case, according to recent research from the Brookings Institution.
“People [are] consuming journalism digitally like long stories … even on their mobile phones,” Tom Rosenstiel -- a nonresident senior fellow at Brookings, and executive director of the American Press Institute -- writes in the report.
In fact, “long form” stories -- those averaging 1,200 words -- drive 23% more engagement in the API’s new interest index. Additionally, longer stories lift various other metrics like page views (by 11%), sharing (by 45%) and reading time (by 36%).
Even on their handheld gadgets, “People like quality and depth, and will stick with a well-told story,” according to Rosenstiel.
Not so surprisingly, Rosenstiel and his colleagues found that pictures go a long way toward boosting engagement. Stories presented with a photo score 19% higher in engagement than stories without, while stories with multiple photos score 43% higher engagement levels.
Even more impressive, adding audio or video to stories correlates with 36% more overall engagement, 81% more views, and 84% more shares.
Music to marketers’ ears, “Video and audio also create new ad inventory and cross-platform ad opportunities,” Rosenstiel notes.
Gavin O'Malley edits MediaPost's Mobile Marketing Daily and MoBlog column. Follow him: @mp_gavin. You can reach Gavin at gavin@mediapost.com.
This is not really surprising. We hear all the time about short attention spans, and that even 15-second messages are too long. That's if you're selling crap, or selling in a crappy way. Because at the same time, consumer binge-watch years' worth of content in single, bleary-eyed sittings. And then brag about it.
Long-form, in-depth stories, well told, can hold viewers' attention. However, when I see things like, "new ad inventory and cross-platform ad opportunties," I shudder to think how these opportunities will get fucked up.