Text In The Morning, PDF On The Way Home

The highlight of an Independent article that more or less poo-poos the idea of mainstream media using new media like podcasts and blogs is the insight into how Will Lewis, the editor of the UK’s Daily Telegraph, sees an expected shift of consumption habits by the newspaper’s ‘readers’:

[Will] Lewis drove the new strategy, insisting that Telegraph readers want text in the morning, video at lunchtime and audio in the afternoon, and that they crave “click and carry” pdf documents for the commute home and blogs in the evening… Lewis drove the new strategy, insisting that Telegraph readers want text in the morning, video at lunchtime and audio in the afternoon, and that they crave “click and carry” pdf documents for the commute home and blogs in the evening… Lewis’s logic is that Telegraph traditionalists misunderstand their readers. They are not Bufton-Tuftons, retired colonel types who cannot distinguish between a computer and a microwave oven, but rich and web-savvy. Telegraph journalists have not let their editor down. Today’s multimedia online presence includes news, comment and analysis delivered as text, interactive blogs, audio podcasts, video and automated gadgetry.

…There is grudging industry-wide acceptance that Lewis’s team has designed a good website and packed it with technology that works. Video and podcasts play smoothly at the first click of the mouse. News coverage is updated promptly. “They are hitting one key demographic,” says the editor of a competing website. “Advertisers appear to find the multimedia Telegraph attractive.” Gregory says: “We are getting the numbers through and we are bringing the advertising community with us.” The assertion is unverifiable. It is already clear that Telegraph readers appreciate web coverage that emulates the content of a traditional newspaper.

So, how many podcasts did you download today? - Independent Online Edition > Media