At The New York Times, the audience team is part of the newsroom and works closely with each of the desks, including politics. Hannah Poferl, assistant managing editor, chief data officer, and head of audience, said the audience team’s approach to elections doesn’t differ from its general approach — but it’s a top priority right now.

What does that look like?

• Maximise audience during key tentpole events like debates and conventions using engaging formats that bring readers in and hold their attention.

• Consistently publish diverse, engaging content — videos, news explainers, evergreen content, enterprise polling — that attract readers back to the coverage throughout the election cycle.

• Leverage platforms and product portfolio to draw in users and drive continued engagement.

“We’re trying to maximise the reach of our politics coverage. We’re trying to promote sharing of our politics coverage,” Poferl said. “We’re trying to put our biggest muscle and thinking in maximising tentpole events because that’s when the world tunes in.”

For tentpole events, Poferl said, planning is key — and the team sets audience targets in advance. She said The Times also has expanded its use of alternative format storytelling.

The day President Biden announced he was dropping out of the race, The Times was ready, and the audience team’s staffing had been shifted in anticipation of potential news, Poferl said.

“As soon as we had confirmation, it was on fire and we really swarmed,” Poferl said, noting The Times was watching Chartbeat for real-time data.

The Times also is investing more heavily into video this election cycle, and Poferl cited surveys showing readers want to have more direct relationships with Times’ journalists. That means reporters are front-and-center on video.

“It’s very big and very new for us because we’re not typically on camera, so we’re asking a lot of our reporters to make themselves available, but it’s getting the traction that we want,” she said.

An interesting insight: Like many other news executives, Poferl said she’s worried that all the effort on platforms like TikTok and Instagram won’t translate into people coming from those spaces to The Times.

“They’re so self-contained that it’s hard to drive readers back,” she said, “but I’ve been surveying people who have been coming into contact with our videos there, and the surveys suggest they’re more open and more willing to come to The Times in the future.”

Durable content — content with a longer shelf life — has been a huge opportunity for The Times around elections, as well. Those include explainers, FAQs, lists that update (such as which candidates were still running early in the cycle), and more. An essential component of making this effective is setting up a process to track and update that content, Poferl said.

“It’s nice because we’ve already done the hard work,” she said. “Right now, we’re using audience data to look at content we should update, but I’m hoping for a better tool and process as we move forward.”

Poferl offered a piece of advice for other publishers working to put audience first in their coverage: Success requires the right mindset of newsroom leadership and of audience editors.

“Our desk heads see the audience members as part of the team,” she said. “Everyone understands the mission of the team and the broader mission of The Times.”

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