User needs have come up repeatedly in my conversations with publishers from all over the world. User needs identify the different reasons people consume news and are often bucketed into eight categories:

• Update me: What’s happened? What do I need to know?

• Educate me: Learn more about a certain topic or event.

• Give me perspective: These include analysis and opinion pieces.

• Divert me: This is meant to take your mind off things and is often light and entertaining.

• Inspire me: Designed to leave the reader with a good feeling.

• Help me: Action-driven, often service journalism.

• Connect me: Often around ideas and experiences.

• Keep me engaged: Be part of a conversation about a topic.

Renzo Veenstra, editor-in-chief at Dutch regional broadcaster Omroep Brabant, spoke during the recent INMA Media Subscriptons Summit about Omroep Brabant’s use of Smartocto’s user needs model 2.0. 

The insight that stuck with me: 70% of Omroep Brabant’s content fell into the “update me” category yet generated just 22% of their pageviews.

“We were neglecting the other user needs,” Veenstra said. “It was a real eye opener for us.”

The analysis showed readers were interested in more “educate me,” “inspire me,” and “give me perspective” stories. Omroep Brabant measures the success of its stories using a Content Performance Indicator, which has a scale of 1-1,000, calculated based on a variety of metrics. 

Prior to implementing the user needs model, almost all stories scored below 500, Veenstra said. But after, the average was consistently above 500, as seen in the slide below:

I asked Veenstra after the session how quickly the newsroom embraced the model. He said: “It took less than a year to get from skepticism to enthusiasm.”

The presentation also offered four considerations for applying user needs to coverage decisions:

1. Hard news isn’t enough to attract people regularly or engage them.

2. Commoditised news is everywhere — relevancy and engagement become the differentiator.

3. There is misalignment between what your audience wants and what it currently gets. Readers desire information but also understanding, inspiration, utility, and fun.

4. Growth comes when different user needs are addressed consistently, creatively, and strategically.

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