With digital platforms from the major news brands eagerly consumed by their readership, investment is increasing to better understand what people want.

This research is extending to  print as well as online, as cross-platform delivery has been viewed as becoming more important.

One item of particular note to come out of recent studies has been the success that newspapers and other news providers have made of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This has also been seen by advertisers, with responses to newspaper ads on devices provoking a good return.

<h2>Cross-platform readers have better recall</h2>

Research into how people access their news today showed that there is not any one preferred way to do this, although there are trends developing.

The findings show that some people will read a print newspaper only a couple of days a week, while others will subscribe during the entire week. Meanwhile, some will switch between print and digital versions throughout the day, while others limit themselves to digital only.

Research has also found that people accessing their news digitally through a tablet are reading more and more often. It also discovered that those accessing digital versions are more likely to be loyal to their choice of media outlet.

The most interesting and actionable point for digital marketers, however, was that the readers accessing their news through both platforms had the best memory recall. This is something that could also be exploited by those creating optimised content.

<h2>Get image conscious</h2>

Further research into memory recall and how memories are created needs to be understood but, essentially, creating engaging and memorable content should always be the aim. Complimenting this with images, known to be processed more quickly by the human brain, is also a vein to be tapped.

For content being designed, engineered and delivered on mobile devices, engaging quickly and memorably will likely have increased resonance and importance in the coming years.

Steven Morris