Is your newsroom red people vs. blue people? Do you think you could motivate them to become Purple People? đź’ś
The biggest challenges we face in media are often people problems, not tech problems, but as Christopher Brennan says in our latest Redefining Engagement interview, “now that tech is about words”, could this be the perfect opportunity to get more red people on board with change?
Which industry is better at words than ours?
Christopher Co-founder & Chief Product Officer at Overtone, is an ex-reporter who turned to tech (Ie. the perfect purple person).
He shares his insights and here’s a sneak peek of 3 of our favourite bits:
1. The Purple People: Christopher champions the idea of "Content Scientists". Individuals who blend editorial smarts (the 'red' team) with tech and business acumen (the 'blue' team). Breaking down silos is about this vital new purple breed.
2. Audience engagement is to take responsibility for the people reading your article, and to be laser focused on your relationship with those people.
3. AI & Advertising for monetisation: Christopher explains how sophisticated language models can understand the nuance of content – how funny, happy, or in-depth it is. And that quality news CAN compete for advertising space at scale when its true value is highlighted.
Let’s look at an example:
You’re a brand.
Would you want to advertise next to Ryan Gosling being funny?
Of course you would.
What if the news article were about aliens?
Well then, no, of course not. It’s OBVIOUSLY a conspiracy theory story in that case… right?
Christopher shares a telling example of why nuanced understanding of content (like Ryan Gosling joking about aliens on SNL) is crucial for monetisation. Highly engaging news content will get blocked by advertisers if the wrong keywords appear when really, who wouldn’t want to be advertised next to Ryan Gosling?
🎧 Get your tech on this week and open your mind to a more Data and AI centric episode!
