The Memo Insights team is made up of data analysts responsible for digging into readership data for the latest news cycles, diving deeper into platform-wide readership trends (macro news trends), and answering some of our customers’ most pressing strategy questions.
Every quarter, we share some of our favorite findings, whether it be an interesting discovery or a fun topic. Here are our favorites from the last 3 months:
1. What’s the most-read moment during a product launch?
Nikki: One of our tech customers recently launched a new product and wanted to compare it to a competitor’s product launch. I broke down the coverage into key product moments: unveiling (initial announcement), pre-order, and release.
It became abundantly clear that unveiling the product before preorders and the release generated the highest readership and is the optimal time to leverage press. Following the initial announcement, both brands created anticipation and buzz through product reviews and comparisons leading up to the official release.
Key Takeaway: If you have an upcoming product launch, breaking up the announcement strategy can help you capture more sustained attention and build anticipation leading up to release.
2. Piggybacking on big industry news can help amplify product news.
Eva (me): We analyzed consumer tech product releases from Q1 to help one of our customers determine best practices for future launches. We compared competitor product announcement coverage at a big industry event (CES) compared to a similar announcement made at one of the brand’s own events.
It was interesting to see how clearly impactful it is to announce a product during a big industry event. CES announcements lead to more readership over a longer period of time compared to launching a product at their own event.
Key Takeaway: Piggybacking on industry events can really pay off so long as you find a way to break through the noise. See more data on product news in the 2024 State of Media & Readership Report.
3. Readers want to hear from top executives.
Eva (me): One of the tech companies we work with wanted to know how they could keep audiences engaged with the brand during slow news periods, when they have no big product updates or announcements. We analyzed coverage across different topics and found that the brand maximized its readership when it utilized its executive team–average readership was 4.4x higher when the CEO was mentioned in the headline.
Key Takeaway: Readers want to hear from executives. Utilize your leaders to grow readership during quiet moments or to communicate important messages to capture the most attention. If you want to dig into leadership angles that drive readership, we covered it in the 2024 State of Media & Readership Report.
4. Using readership can help support a larger business initiative success story.
Nikki: For a major retailer, I analyzed coverage related to gun violence at and around their stores to understand changes in readership trends over time. They’d been taking steps to improve store safety, and they wanted to see if it was making an impact from a press perspective.
Key Takeaway: Even when the best course of action from a PR perspective is to do less, you can still help demonstrate progress and positive outcomes through readership data.
5. Inserting yourself in a broad news cycle can help you make waves even if you’re not the biggest player.
Jaime: There are few hotter topics than AI right now. One of our tech customers wanted to better understand the AI media landscape and figure out a way to insert itself in the conversation even though they weren’t a major player. Comparing readership across publishers, topics, and their competitors allowed them to see where there were gaps in their coverage and opportunities to expand their positive narratives into broader, industry-level conversations.
Their media strategy, backed by data, resulted in a swarm of positive coverage that performed way-above the publisher benchmarks.
Key Takeaway: Even though you may not be the biggest player in the space, understanding where there’s room to make an impact gives you a clear path forward.
Stay tuned for more from the Insights Team in the next few weeks and for another rundown of our favorite findings at the end of the quarter! In the meantime, you can always find the latest research in our Resource Center.