NEVER MISS A STORY. FACEBOOK NEWS FEED CHANGES IN THE NETHERLANDS WHAT HAPPENED AND WHAT SHOULD YOU DO? Table of CONTENTS UNDERSTANDING FACEBOOK NEWS FEED CHANGES 3 EFFECTS OF THE NEWS FEED CHANGES IN THE NETHERLANDS 4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NEWSROOMS 11 METRICS USED IN THIS REPORT 12 ABOUT THIS STUDY 13 CONTACT 13 Information for News Publishers 3 Understanding Facebook News Feed Changes FACEBOOK IS Improving user experience and spread REDEFINING ITS of reliable news. ENGAGEMENT LOGIC As of May 2018, most publishers on Facebook have lost engagement. Publishers most affected: FACEBOOK Large tabloid and viral pages. ENGAGEMENT IS SHRINKING FOR ALMOST EVERYBODY Content type most affected: Video. Local news pages defy the trend and have seen some growth. FACEBOOK’S PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS Facebook made a big announcement OF ALGORITHM in January. CHANGES DO NOT MATCH UP Changes to algorithm are ongoing WITH CHANGES IN and require monitoring. PRACTICE 4 Facebook News Feed changes in the Netherlands EFFECTS OF THE NEWS FEED CHANGES IN THE NETHERLANDS Facebook engagement Viral and tabloid types Link content remains on Dutch news pages of publishers are most steadier than video dropped 36% on affected across Europe average over 6 months Video engagement Who grows: Algorithm changes dropped Smaller television and appear to be ongoing radio pages during Q1 and Q2 2018 Information for News Publishers 5 Dutch news Publishers’ Facebook engagement dropped by 36% on average in 6 months SELECTED MAJOR NEWS PUBLISHERS IN THE NETHERLANDS AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT PER DAY 15 NOVEMBER 2017 - 15 MAY 2018 de Volkskrant 35 000 RTL Nieuws 30 000 Omroep Brabant 25 000 NU.nl 20 000 NOS 15 000 Metro Holland 10 000 LINDAnieuws Hart van Nederland 5 000 De Telegraaf 0 AD.nl Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 6 Facebook News Feed changes in the Netherlands Biggest Publishers pages dropped, while some smaller pages grew SELECTED MAJOR NEWS PUBLISHERS IN THE NETHERLANDS ENGAGEMENT PERCENTAGE CHANGE 15 NOVEMBER 2017 - 15 MAY 2018 10% 10 0 -10 -9% -20 -20% -30 -29% -29% -40 -42% -50 -60 -57% -55% -70 -69% -65% -80 NOS NU.nl AD.nl RTL Nieuws LINDAnieuws De Telegraaf de Volkskrant Metro Holland Omroep Brabant Hart van Nederland Information for News Publishers 7 Dutch Broadcasters’ Facebook engagement dropped SELECTED MAJOR BROADCASTERS IN THE NETHERLANDS AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT PER DAY 15 NOVEMBER 2017 - 15 MAY 2018 Shownieuws 35 000 Radar 30 000 WNL 25 000 PowNed 20 000 Hart van Nederland 15 000 NOS 10 000 RTL Nieuws 5 000 Omroep Brabant 0 De Gelderlander Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Omroep Gelderland 8 Facebook News Feed changes in the Netherlands Some smaller Publishers grew SELECTED MAJOR NEWS PUBLISHERS IN THE NETHERLANDS AVERAGE FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT PER DAY 15 NOVEMBER 2017 - 15 MAY 2018 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 NOS WNL Radar PowNed RTL Nieuws Shownieuws De Gelderlander Omroep Brabant Hart van Nederland Omroep Gelderland Nov 2017 May 2018 Information for News Publishers 9 Video engagement for Broadcasters has dropped during 2018 BROADCASTERS IN THE NETHERLANDS AVERAGE ENGAGEMENT BY CONTENT TYPE 15 NOVEMBER 2017 - 15 MAY 2018 80 000 70 000 60 000 50 000 40 000 30 000 20 000 10 000 0 Dec-17 Jan-18 Feb-18 Mar-18 Apr-18 May-18 Photo Video Link 10 Facebook News Feed changes in the Netherlands Smaller pages grew during News Feed changes NEWS PUBLISHERS IN THE NETHERLANDS ENGAGEMENT PERCENTAGE CHANGE 15 NOVEMBER 2017 - 15 MAY 2018 193% 200 178% 157% 146% 150 130% 126% 125% 123% 122% 113% 106% 106% 100% 100 84% 83% 50 0 Mindfck Radio 538 op Zoom Sterren NL KRO-NCRV Venlo Nieuws RTL Boulevard SpuitenSlikken De Loermeeuw Tilburg.Nieuws.nl Rijswijks Dagblad Indebuurt Bergen Opsporing Verzocht Indebuurt Nijmegen oosterhout.nieuws.nl Indebuurt Doetinchem i Local News, Broadcasters, Television & Radio Pages Went Up Information for News Publishers 11 Recommendations for Newsrooms FOLLOW DATA METHODICALLY. 1 » Make data available daily. » Observe the trends. » Recognise changes. » Investigate anomalies. » Share your findings. USE DATA AND FACTS TO HELP FINE-TUNE YOUR CONTENT 2 STRATEGY. ASK US QUESTIONS. 3 » We are here to help! DON’T GET CAUGHT BY SURPRISE. 4 » Data informed newsrooms need never panic. AUTOMATE YOUR NEWS GATHERING AND POSTING FREQUENCY 5 WHERE POSSIBLE. » Ability to cover and publish relevant stories still matters a lot. » Being fast in news publishing is still very important. 12 Facebook News Feed changes in the Netherlands Metrics used in this report » Publisher We look at each publisher’s main page (typically their major news page) on Facebook. » Engagement Sum of reactions, comments, and shares on posts on publishers’ Facebook page (on-post engagement) per day. » Trend 30 day average (sum of engagement for 30 days divided by 30). » Percentage Change Average daily engagement on first vs. last 30 days over a period. » Content type Content type of Facebook post (Link, Video, Photo). Video includes both video and live video if not specified otherwise. We look at average engagement per post for different content types. » Category Categorisation in EzyInsights Realtime and SoMe Index (e.g. News, Tabloids, Broadcasters, Radio, Magazines). » Date range The reports cover a 6 month period. ABOUT THIS STUDY THIS STUDY HAS BEEN CONDUCTED BY EZYINSIGHTS - THE FASTEST NEWS GATHERING TOOL FOR NEWSROOMS AND JOURNALISTS. 01 EFFICIENT NEWS GATHERING WE HELP 02 TOPIC RESEARCH AND CURATION PUBLISHERS KNOW WHEN TO POST ON SOCIAL BASED IMPROVE THEIR 03 ON DATA AND AI EDITORIAL PERFORMANCE METRICS FOR SOCIAL AND 04 DIGITAL WORKFLOW BENCHMARK YOUR PERFORMANCE WITH 05 COMPETITORS CONTACT WWW.EZYINSIGHTS.COM [email protected] MANNERHEIMINTIE 15 B B 2ND FLOOR 00260 HELSINKI FINLAND NEVER MISS A STORY. TO LEARN WHAT EZYINSIGHTS CAN DO FOR YOUR BUSINESS REQUEST A DEMO or email [email protected].