Audience Metrics: Operationalizing News Value for the Digital Newsroom

The past three decades have seen rapid development in the field of audience measurements in media companies. From once relying on measures of exposure such as circulation numbers and readership, technological developments have made present day media companies and journalists capable of understanding audience preferences in new and advanced ways. As a result, journalists are often strongly encouraged to take audience preferences into account when selecting and prioritizing journalistic content. This study uses participant observation to examine the process of implementing an audience analytics strategy for the digital newsrooms of a Danish regional daily and its sister publications. It focuses on the process of operationalizing and negotiating editorial and commercial goals through quantitative measures and discusses which news values are reflected in the chosen combination of web metrics made visible to the journalists on newsroom dashboards and in daily performance emails. The study suggests that “expected reception” should be included as a news value significant to journalism in the digital age.