“The spirit is here” says host Cain Slobbe, the young DJ and Radio Producer from the Netherlands, in the opening of the Youth Summit’s session “Engaging formats: Best Practices for creating content that clicks with young audiences”. This session gave a deep insight into how to capture the attention of young audiences and make content that motivates, drives and interests them, through live examples.
Starting off the session, Kevin Khuong Nguyen, Journalist and Producer, and Zara Cecilie Leite, Podcast Host and Influencer, from Norway presented the example of NKR’s unique podcast “Baksnakk”, which is famous among young people in Norway. According to them, there are some matters to consider when it comes to creating attention-drawing content that inspires their identification.
First, it is essential to keep up with the current trends appearing on social media platforms, to track down what is considered appealing by the young users, “what’s in and out” as Zara mentioned, before they become last-week interests, due to their rapid change. In this way, the trends will enter the podcast production field and make it more fun to attend.
Preferences and interests are something to take into account when creating content for that target group. Those are easily acknowledged by scrolling down on social media, given that younger generations are most of the time online. “You can’t get a clear insight of their interests in detail, but you need to see the bigger picture” as Kevin said, by checking their likes, what they care about, or even meeting and interviewing them in person.
It is important to create that sense of community and pay attention to their needs and interests, by creating a free space where they can communicate, message and interact with the podcast’s producers, in a way to be more included in the process of content creating and agenda forming. To capture their attention, though, to that process for long enough, it needs to be fun and gamified, as Cain did during the session testing if we understand the language of Gen Z through a game.
According to the Triple j’s Hot 100 Radio Station’s statistics in Australia, 70% of the listeners and voters are under 30 years old, since they have the chance to be included in a process that identifies with their feelings and interests at the moment, having a wide cultural impact and attention capture. “We don’t have the privilege of time anymore”, so work smart and make it fun!
