I remember when Lady Gaga performed at the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show. She started with a pre-recorded jump that gave viewers the feeling she had just leaped into the stadium. The moment went viral.

Bad Bunny’s performance last Sunday is going equally viral. Yet from a journalistic perspective, I notice a major difference between the coverage then and now. 

In 2017, it was much more about sharing moments on social media — partly because storytelling tools on Instagram were simpler back then. Reels, for example, weren’t introduced until 2020.

In Bad Bunny’s case, the morning after in Europe, audiences didn’t just get clips or snapshots. They got immediate explainers breaking down individual scenes and establishing political connections.

The Gen-Z account impact created a carousel translating song lyrics and explaining references. Brut America focused on the couple who got married during the show. The NewsMovement highlighted the difference between the halftime show and Turning Point’s “All American Halftime Show.”

One content, multiple modes 

A report just published by FT Strategies and the Knight Lab gives us a framework to understand what’s happening here. They identified seven distinct “Modes of Engagement” — ways audiences discover and consume news.

Here’s the shift in one image: In 2017, the Lady Gaga moment stayed in Scroll mode (you saw it in your feed, maybe liked it, kept scrolling). In 2025, Bad Bunny content moves through multiple modes:

• Scroll: The clip appears in your feed.

• Study: You watch the explainer carousel to understand the references.

• Sensemake: You read about why the political message matters.

• Socialise: You send it to your group chat.

The same piece of content, multiple modes. That’s what accounts like impact and Brut America understand so well.

Or, to quote the report: “To succeed, producers must invest heavily in new distribution capabilities. The ability to reach and engage audiences is no longer a downstream function of good journalism; it is a core creative and strategic competency.”

The report also confirms what we’re seeing: Next-gen audiences don’t separate “news” from “what everyone is talking about.” They define news as:

• Civic information (political references in the performance).

• Personal impact (music and culture that matters to them).

• What everyone is talking about (the viral moment itself).

• Entertaining and non-fiction (a real event, entertainingly explained).

Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance is all four. That’s why explainer content performed. It met audiences in their Scroll mode, then served their Study and Sensemake needs without forcing them to leave the platform.

Which mode are you designing for?

Because if you’re still thinking “how do we get this story on our Web site,” you’re designing for a mode your audience isn’t in. They’re on TikTok, in Scroll mode. Can you meet them there and guide them deeper — or are you still waiting for them to come to you?

If you’d like to subscribe to my bi-weekly newsletter, INMA members can do so here.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .