Quantifying Community Interest: A Study on the Role of Audience Metrics in Hyperlocal Journalism

This study examines how editors in Dutch hyperlocal newspapers use technologies for audience metrics in the news production process. As news organizations, especially small-scaled, low-budget ones, strive to engage and retain their readership, metrics analysis provides invaluable insights into audience preferences and behaviors. However, the use and misuse of audience metrics also risk increasing the dependency of small-budget newsrooms on media platforms and metrics technologies. Drawing from thirteen semi-structured interviews with ten editors and three managers from local news media conglomerates in South Holland, our findings reveal that editors and managers rely heavily on metrics such as clicks, views, and best-read stories to inform agenda-setting decisions. This reliance is further entrenched as these metrics are embedded in all-in-one editing suites, making them a constant presence and difficult to escape in the daily news production workflow. While editors in hyperlocal newsrooms display a generally positive attitude toward innovation and metrics adoption, they also demonstrate awareness of the risk of prioritizing “scoring” over “informing.” Although this article enhances our understanding of innovation in hyperlocal newsrooms and underscores the importance of audience metrics in shaping editorial choices, it also highlights the dependent position that small-scaled local newsrooms find themselves in.

本研究探讨荷兰超地方报纸（hyperlocal newspapers）的编辑在新闻生产流程中如何应用受众度量技术。鉴于新闻机构尤其是规模较小、预算有限的机构正致力于吸引并留存受众群体，受众度量分析可为洞悉受众偏好与行为模式提供极具价值的洞察，不过受众度量的使用与滥用，也会加剧小型预算新闻编辑部对媒体平台及度量技术的依赖风险。本研究对南荷兰省当地新闻媒体集团的10名编辑与3名管理者开展了13次半结构化访谈，结果显示，编辑与管理者高度依赖点击量、浏览量以及高阅读量报道等度量指标，以此指导议程设置（agenda-setting）决策；由于此类度量指标已嵌入一体化编辑套件（all-in-one editing suites），这种依赖进一步根深蒂固，使其在每日新闻生产流程中无处不在、难以规避。尽管超地方新闻编辑部的编辑普遍对创新实践与受众度量工具的应用持积极态度，但他们也意识到了将"追求流量得分"置于"传递信息"之上的风险。尽管本文既加深了学界对超地方新闻编辑部创新实践的理解，强调了受众度量在影响编辑决策中的重要性，同时也凸显了小型地方新闻编辑部所处的依附性处境。