The 2024 US Presidential Election in the USA captivated the world. Although you had to be a US citizen to vote, the implications of the choice will influence people around the globe. As the state results poured in, publishers kept their readers and watchers in the loop.
Given the unprecedented reliance on online sources, there are some important lessons to be learned from the event.
As much research has proven, we live in a difficult time for news publishers. The rise of fake news, information fatigue, and shifting media consumption patterns, especially in younger generations, are among many concerns of publishers and editors. Reuters Institute published the annual “Digital News Report 2024”, stating the following issues shaping the media landscape.
As the 2024 US Presidential Elections approached, there were major concerns about the fairness and reliability of information available to the voters (and the general public worldwide). Fake news featuring immigrants eating house pets, mismanagement of disaster relief funds and fabricated “proofs” of candidates’ misconduct were available for everyone to see. At the same time, trust in news journalists was reaching an all-time low.
Now, as the dust has settled, we can take a look and see how news publishers fared during Election Day.
When we’re talking about the main news sources in the days leading up to the election, we can see a visible divide between generations of news users. According to the online survey was conducted as part of the Civic Health and Institutions Project:
As we’ve overseen the performance of web and mobile push notifications for our clients in the publishing business, some interesting patterns have emerged. The outcomes should be considered when news outlets plan their next moves and long-term strategies.
Both web and mobile push experienced traffic bumps during the vote count. The amount of interest gathered by outlets with mobile applications was far more significant.
Smartphone applications installed on users’ devices are a straightforward way of building user loyalty and ensuring they get the latest information directly and in real time. As the Guardian stated in a recent article, BBC News uses mobile push notifications to such an extent, that they’ve become a 21st-century equivalent of newspapers’ front page.
Source: PushPushGo analytical data
The first thing worth noticing is that many major news outlets made a wrong call in the days leading to the vote. They’d predicted that candidates would go head-to-head and the winner would be chosen by a small margin. The results were far from equal, with one candidate securing victories in the major states early in the reporting circle. Since these vote counts were not contested, the whole voting process can be called a tad uneventful.
Source: Digibump
This is why Digibump pointed out that the news publishers didn’t see the traffic bump they expected after the 2020 elections. As the results poured in, there was far less anxiety and uncertainty to report on.
News fatigue remains an issue. The days after the election were calm, compared to the period after the previous campaign in 2020. Still, important decisions were made, as the president-elect was picking the new members of his cabinet.
Source: PushPushGo analytical data on mobile push performance
The world is changing - but, as mentioned before, in the publishing world it’s business as usual with push CTRs returning to stable numbers. One might notice that publishers could have better used the exposure they got during the big day. Maybe there’s more to be done - especially in terms of bringing the younger audiences into the fold.
Editor and writer. She is interested in media and new technologies.
-3pf2xltbnb.webp)
-kzjq5bkqnz.webp)
-7qtlabfqyy.webp)