“Video is here. That’s how most people are consuming content every day on their phone,” said Mike Beaudet, a WCVB investigative reporter and Northeastern journalism professor who leads the project, in an interview. “It’s a little bit of a leap of faith for TV stations, but what choice do they have? Do nothing, and literally lose your entire audience, or try to evolve with an audience and find a younger audience.”
The report builds on the project’s year-long fellowship, launched in 2023, that placed digital content producers at WCVB in Boston, WCBS-TV in New York, and WLS-TV in Chicago. The guide defines these producers as digital-first multimedia journalists who can both gather and produce stories aimed at younger audiences, while also helping coordinate digital strategy across the newsroom.
When WCVB hired Leanna Scachetti for its one-year fellowship, the station saw its audiences across TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram significantly increase. Following the fellowship, WCVB hired Scachetti for a full-time job as a digital content producer, and WCBS made the same move with its fellow.
“I think every newsroom in America needs a position like this one,” Scachetti said in the report. “We need somebody who has the time and the resources to really tap into what our audiences are consuming on digital platforms, how we can show up in those platforms, and continue to serve our communities.”
In tandem with the fellowship program, the team at Northeastern partnered with the research company SmithGeiger Group to conduct a nationwide study of media habits among people ages 18-34. The results, released in last week’s report, found that 75 percent of social media users surveyed were engaging with their preferred news source every day, but only 19 percent said TV was the right medium to get news from local stations.
Additionally, the survey found that 96 percent of social video viewers were engaging further after watching, including seeking out other videos, sharing or liking content, or even turning on the TV.
Those findings supported the report’s recommendations to pivot to a digital-first strategy, but also underscored that TV news stations might be better equipped to meet the demand for video content online given their expertise in the medium. It also signaled a possibility for additional revenue streams — though stations have yet to find ways to generate significant income with social video.
“A lot of it is brand building,” Beaudet said. “Until we figure out monetization better, it really has to be looked at as part of your strategy, and getting your content in front of an audience that is not seeing it otherwise.”
While the guide offers a path forward for newsrooms, there are pitfalls. Media outlets two decades ago chased lucrative traffic on social media platforms such as Twitter (now X) and Facebook that brought audiences to their sites, but those platforms later changed their algorithms in ways that cut off engagement. The traffic decline has only accelerated thanks to the adoption of AI summaries by Google, which are throttling news outlets’ search traffic.
And in local TV news, many are already struggling. As advertising revenue dwindles and corporate owners seek to cut costs, many TV journalists have been laid off or have left the business entirely due to burnout, leaving existing staff with heavier workloads and further fueling the burnout cycle.
Beaudet recognizes that emphasizing social video isn’t a fail-safe and that hiring an additional employee or adding responsibilities to staffs that are already stretched thin may be challenging.
But for the future of news, he believes it is necessary, as well as a ripe opportunity. A digital approach can give fatigued reporters new opportunities for storytelling beyond crime and traffic reports, and local news is still among the most trusted sources for information.
“Despite all the challenges that the industry is facing, this needs to be a priority,” he said. “For long-term sustainability, you really have to shift the structure.”
Aidan Ryan can be reached at aidan.ryan@globe.com. Follow him @aidanfitzryan.