Engaging Generation Z: Strategies for newsrooms to capture shorter attention spans
Photo: AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star.
KUALA LUMPUR: Newsrooms need to recognise that the younger generation has a shorter attention span, with many showing a declining interest in news, says Co-founder of The Daily Australia, Sam Koslowski.
Koslowski, during the WAN-IFRA Digital Media Asia 2025, said that acknowledging the problem is the first step to successfully engaging Generation Z news readership.
'We need to realise that in a world where truth is less certain than ever, we have a bigger responsibility to do better and to understand our processes a lot more,' he said during the 'Audience Engagement Strategies as Alternatives to Social Media Platform' plenary session at WAN-IFRA Digital Media Asia (DMA) 2025 here on Wednesday (April 23).
The session was moderated by Star Media Group (SMG) chief content officer Datin Paduka Esther Ng.
'As social media platforms like Meta and X show growing disinterest in news, what are alternatives that can help media companies stay engaged with the audience, especially with the younger ones?
'This session delves into new trends and suggests platforms and ideas that can help you grow your audience,' she said in her introductory remarks.
Koslowski said it was not on the reader, especially the young consumers, to trust news presented to them instantly.
'We have to prove that to them. And the way that we do that is really hard work, and it's often not instantly rewarding.
'We need to be thinking about long-term quality,' he said.
During his presentation, Koslowski said young people have low levels of trust in media and consume information differently and use social media as their primary platform.
His media company has pioneered social-first news delivery in Australia, and now has global aspirations, leveraging new and captivating ways of delivering newsletters.
Laura Crimmons, the head of growth management and audience development at Ringier, said that the challenge in reaching a digital audience lies in the increasing number of digital channels, which is exacerbated by limited resources.
She said that in Ringier, automation of digital content in the newsroom was introduced to improve reach and efficiency.
'We introduced automation step by step and with the newsletters, we showed the data how the automation can improve in terms of clicks and when we take out the boring parts, we have time for the fun and creative parts,' she said, when responding to a question on the challenge to introduce automation in the newsroom.
This 2025 edition of DMA, the premier event for the news media industry in the Asia-Pacific region, is a two-day gathering in the Malaysian capital starting on Tuesday (April 22).
Organised by the World Association of News Publishers (WAN-IFRA), the event has been a pivotal platform for transformation in the news media industry since its inception in 2009.
This year, it returns, bringing global media leaders to share innovations in digital revenue, AI, and newsroom technology.
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