What kind of online news consumption patterns do ‘legacy’ and ‘native’ news brands have and how do they differ? Ángel Arrese and Jürg Kaufmann of the University of Navarra studied five legacy and five native brands in Spain.

The study used a survey to find out whether online audiences of these groups of news brands differ in their behaviour regarding specific characteristics of journalism, payments, demography, socioeconomic profiles and opinions on credibility and journalistic values. There is some divergence between the use of legacy and native brands, but also at the same time a high degree of similarity in the types of readers and reading behavior.

There is some difference in news consumption exists around characteristics of online journalism and the value of journalistic brand values. The authors conclude that news brands must be able to offer clearly differentiated and unique brand value. The news consumption of legacy brands is not so much tied to particular demographics, but more on how the editorial content fits the brand their audience appreciates.

The article “Legacy and Native News Brands Online” was published in International Journal on Media Management and is available online (free abstract).

Pictures: Population density in Spain by Susana Freixeiro, license CC BY-SA 3.0 and Kids, Adults and Computers at Hack4Kids by Alexandre Dulaunoy, license CC BY-SA 2.0