Capturing the attention of Gen-Z presents a significant challenge for many business sectors, not just the media industry. Indeed, a study by Microsoft revealed that the attention span of Gen-Z individuals was about eight seconds, highlighting the need for immediate, engaging media experiences. One solution? Gamification. Hanna Bernard, writing for Yoof Agency, explains all…
Introduction
For over a century, crosswords, puzzles, and quizzes have been present in newspapers. The advent of digital journalism has only accelerated the integration of game elements in news media, often blurring the traditional boundaries between news and games. Fast forward to today and gamification now offers a powerful solution to one of the media industry’s key challenges: cultivating audience engagement and loyalty among Gen-Z.
The rise of interactive and gamified experiences
Gamification consists of the integration of game mechanics into non-game contexts to enhance engagement. The goal of gamification in journalism is to increase participation, engagement with the media, and loyalty, particularly among Gen-Z users.
However, the reception of gamification is controversial, with contrasting perceptions. While some view it as a form of play, behavioural psychology, and a means of fostering long-term engagement, others associate it with superficial point-gathering, fleeting activity and subsequent disinterest.
As noted by investigative journalist Juliana Ruhfus, gamification presents a unique opportunity to integrate game elements into storytelling, creating immersive experiences where the game format becomes part of the narrative.
The adoption of gamification has surged across various domains in recent years, spanning marketing, applications, and media. One standout example is Duolingo. Its creators have leveraged gamification into a key motivator to drive user engagement. Learners are incentivized withs streaks and experiences points, compete with others and progress through levels, encouraging them to form a daily learning habit. The tactic can be deemed successful as Duolingo has been for the most part of a decade the most downloaded and used education app in the world.
Notably, even entertainment giants like Netflix have embraced gamified experiences. The interactive film “Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” released in 2018, epitomizes this trend, enabling viewers to dictate the protagonist’s choices and thus immerse themselves in the storyline, the movie’s main appeal resulting from the audience ‘being a part of the story’.
Startups within the media landscape
Entrepreneurs have ventured into gamification within traditional media formats, seeking to revolutionize news consumption. Among these ventures was Artifact, conceived by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, the minds behind Instagram. Artifact aimed to harness artificial intelligence to curate news and lifestyle articles, offering personalized recommendations to users while actively combating the formation of ‘filter bubbles’ by also promoting content that may challenge previously held views. Despite the company’s closure in 2024 due to a lack of market opportunity, the acquisition of Artifact by Yahoo keeps alive the potential for its revival.
In parallel Opinary emerged as a Berlin-based startup in 2016, pioneering the use of polls in online content. With over 120 newspapers, predominantly in Germany but also extending to the UK and the US, Opinary has garnered significant user engagement. In September 2021, they reached 98 million users and 10.2 million people voted in at least one of Opinary’s polls. By leveraging polls, the platform empowers users to voice their opinions, fostering deeper reader understanding and thereby enhancing loyalty.
Meanwhile, the 2018 launch of Crux by co-founders Barak Ronen, a former journalist, and Roie Amir, a technologist, heralded a novel approach bridging news consumption and education. Crux introduced the Knowledge Tracker, employing algorithms to assess users’ knowledge on specific news topics and prompting further exploration through article consumption. As for Artifact the creators have attempted to avoid echo-chambers, the algorithm guiding the user towards key strands of the conversation they might not have fully explored, promoting discovery and diversification in content consumption.
What about the legacy media?
As highlighted in Anna Thulin’s report on The gamification of journalism, legacy media outlets have been proactive in adapting to the evolving landscape of digital storytelling techniques.
In 2012 the New York Times’ broke ground with its six-part story, Snow Fall: The Avalanche at Tunnel Creek (2012), which has often been hailed as ‘a revolution of digital storytelling’. The story was not a ‘game’ as such but was interwoven with interactive graphics, animated simulations and aerial video. The immersive narrative was awarded a Pulitzer Prize and initiated a global shift towards the integration of more interactive forms of journalistic storytelling. More recently the New York Times has experimented with several game-inspired stories, notably during its coverage of the pandemic, where they created a 3D simulation demonstrating the importance of social distancing and how the guidelines apply in daily life.
Similarly, The Financial Times embraced gamification with its introduction of ‘News games’ or ‘Interactive experiences’ exploring various topics such as the gig economy and the US-China trade war.
One notable game, “The Uber Game,” received considerable praise, placing users in the role of an Uber driver and testing their ability to navigate the complexities of the gig economy. The game’s positive reception, with approximately half a million people engaging for an average of 20 minutes, surpassed typical readership engagement for conventional Financial Times articles. Additionally, Uber drivers themselves noted the resemblance of the interface to the gamified elements of their work environment within Uber for which they need to complete challenges under time limits.
Pioneering a new approach to investigative journalism, British reporter and filmmaker Juliana Ruhfus challenged the conventional narrative by presenting results of her in-depth investigations as gamified interactive experiences. Recognizing the dryness often associated with investigative journalism, Ruhfus sought to engage broader audiences with her award-winning investigations. She subsequently created two of Al Jazeera’s award-winning investigations: Pirate Fishing and Hacked – Syria’s Electronic Armies. For the latter, Ruhfus and Al-Jazeera created a web-app immersing the user in Syria’s cyberwar. Assuming the role of an investigative journalist, the user pressed for time needs to find as much reliable information as possible in the shortest amount of time, giving an overview of the situation and dilemmas faced by many journalists on a daily basis, for example when in war zones.
One of the aspects most emphasized by journalists and scholars when it comes to news gamification is the reality of the situations and the investigative journalism behind the interactive game, debunking the idea that fun format has to equate ‘fun’ content. For this purpose, in most cases, once the user has completed the game, they land on an article detailing the investigation which has led to the game in the first place.
Personalisation and Interactivity of the media experience
In response to users’ desire to become active participants in storytelling, media professor David O. Dowling, author of The Gamification of Digital Journalism: Innovation in Journalistic Storytelling, underscores the importance for media outlets to adopt a personalised approach. This shift in journalism is propelled not only by technological advancements but also by evolving audience expectations. The contemporary reader or viewer is no longer content with passive consumption of facts; they seek immersive experiences. They want to engage with narratives, witness events firsthand, and deepen their understanding of the world.
Personalization in media consumption revolves around tailoring content to individual preferences and behaviors, thereby enhancing user experience and fostering engagement. A prime example of successful personalisation is Spotify’s “Discover Weekly” and “Release Radar” playlists, which leverage user listening habits and preferences to curate customised music recommendations. By delivering tailored content directly to users, Spotify cultivates loyalty and enhances user satisfaction. In terms of media this personalisation was explored by start-ups such as Artifact.
Scrollytelling, a technique employed by media outlets like The New York Times and Politiken, offers another avenue for interactive media experiences. The combination of data-driven charts, maps, infographics, and illustrations with interactive scrolling text enables scrollytelling to guide readers through dynamic narratives in an engaging and immersive manner. The BBC’s investigative report, ‘The Lost Tablet and the Secret Documents’ exemplifies the effectiveness of scrollytelling in captivating audiences. Losing nothing of its content, the report gains a playful feeling, through a blend of interactive maps, satellite imagery, and text, drawing the readers into the world of a clandestine Russian mercenary group, uncovering crucial insights from an abandoned military tablet.
Future of interactive media with tech
Evolving with the needs and wishes, news agencies are now exploring new and innovative ways to tell stories that are more immersive, engaging, and impactful. Technologies such as 360-degree videos and interactive augmented reality (AR) experiences are revolutionizing journalism, offering audiences unprecedented levels of immersion and engagement. Virtual reality (VR) and AR technologies, in particular, hold immense potential for enhancing storytelling by transporting viewers to otherwise inaccessible locations and events, such as war zones or disaster areas. These technologies enable journalists to create interactive experiences that provide audiences with a deeper understanding of complex issues.
For instance, The New York Times’ Virtual Reality documentary ‘The Displaced’ immerses viewers in the lives of three children displaced by war and conflict. Through VR technology, audiences can experience the struggles and emotions of these children, fostering empathy and understanding. The use of these technologies could contribute to making investigative journalism more impactful than simply reading or watching the news.
Challenges
However, alongside the potential benefits of gamified experiences, there are also ethical implications to consider. Collecting user data through gamification raises privacy concerns, especially as media outlets frequently partner with other firms to create gamified content. Media outlets need to be transparent about what data is collected, who collects it and how it is intended to be used.
There is additionally a need for journalistic organizations to uphold ethical standards and refrain from using gamification for sensationalism or manipulation.
Besides these ethical quandaries, one of the main challenges faced by media outlets is the resource-intensive nature of gamification and immersive storytelling. Developing engaging gamified content requires both time and expertise, posing a barrier for many news organizations. Furthermore, while immersive storytelling holds promise, it remains inaccessible to a large portion of the audience, as not everyone has access to smartphones capable of running augmented reality apps.
Ideas for innovation
Integrating gamification, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) into reporting presents exciting opportunities for media outlets. However, to ensure that the additional technologies are relevant to journalism, it is crucial for media organisations to carefully consider the purpose of these technologies and how they enhance the news offering compared to other methods.
Once this is established, media outlets can explore various strategies to incorporate gamification and personalisation into their web experiences:
- Interactive Puzzles: Drawing inspiration from legacy media outlets that have successfully integrated interactive puzzles into their platforms. From the New York Times’ Wordle to the Financial Times’ introduction of weekly quizzes, interactive puzzles can engage users and add an element of fun to the news consumption experience. Following the Financial Time’s and Crux’s example media outlets could create interactive quizzes related to current events or popular topics. Rewards or badges for completing quizzes or achieving certain scores, could encourage users to engage with the content and test their knowledge.
- The implementation of gamification features in comment sections has the potential to incentivise meaningful engagement and discourage trolling or spamming. Such features could include upvoting/downvoting systems, badges for top commenters, or leaderboards for most active users.
- Personalized Content Recommendations: Leverage algorithms to analyze user preferences, and subsequently provide personalized content recommendations based on their interests. This could include suggested articles, videos, or podcasts tailored to each user’s preferences, enhancing their overall browsing experience.
- Personalised content can also be used for newsletters. Offering personalised newsletters based on user interests and preferences and allowing users to customise their newsletter subscriptions based on topics, formats, or frequency ensures that they receive relevant and engaging content directly to their inbox. The Economist has begun to explore this format – they offer a wide variety of newsletters on any topics a user might want to read about, with varying frequencies.
- While this option might require a little more investment, the use of augmented reality (AR) experiences could be a great opportunity for media outlets. Developing AR features could bring news stories to life in a more visually engaging way. This could for example encompass the creation of interactive maps, 3D visualisations or immersive tours of pivotal locations, which would provide users with a distinctive and memorable viewing experience.
- Gamified Social Sharing: Encourage social sharing and engagement by implementing gamification features such as challenges, contests, or rewards for sharing content on social media platforms. This can help expand the media outlet’s reach and foster a sense of community among users.
- Test that new idea and user-test it. Collect feedback and engagement metrics from users to continuously improve and refine the gamification and personalization features. Use data analytics to track user behavior, preferences, and satisfaction levels, then iterate on the web experience based on these insights.
Written by Hanna Bernard
Produced by Yoof Agency
About: Yoof is a creative agency assisting publishers create products, campaigns & ideas that the youth really want to see. The Yoof is a global team is a mix of innovative and creative mindsets, allowing our customers to get the best insights and ideas to reach Gen-Z.
