Six Uses of Analytics: Digital Editors' Perceptions of Audience Analytics in the Newsroom

This article investigates how digital news editors perceive the uses and implications of audience analytics in contemporary digital newsrooms. Based on 21 interviews with digital news editors at 11 Belgian news organisations, including 7 national newspapers, one news magazine, one public and one commercial broadcaster, and one digital-born news medium, the study shows how audience analytics have become normalised in these digital newsrooms and how, in the perception of those who use them, tools for capturing audience behaviour data inform and shape their daily work practices and organisational strategies. Combining insights from literature with empirical findings, the study distinguishes six uses of audience analytics: Not only do analytics inform editorial decisions on (1) story placement, (2) story packaging, (3) story planning and (4) story imitation, but they can also serve as instruments for (5) performance evaluation and (6) audience conception. Overall, the digital news editors are convinced that audience analytics support rather than harm their journalism.