INNOVATION OF THE MONTH

Mcclatchy recently announced an addition to their audio strategy: a text-to-speech audio feature that will offer readers the option to listen to news content produced by its 30 newsrooms across the country.

According to a press release, Mcclatchy partnered with Trinity Audio for this initiative. The feature uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to generate an audio version of an article in seconds. A play button next to the words “Listen to this article now” can easily be found under every headline. The feature also inserts advertising on a revenue share basis.

“At a time when consumption of digital audio is stronger than ever, we’re excited to roll out this new audio feature to our customers to enhance their news experience and give them the ability to listen to local journalism where and when they want it,” said Jessica Gilbert, senior director of product and experience. “In addition, the integration of this technology across all of our sites will drive advertising revenue.”

The audio feature was first tested on the Sacramento Bee and News & Observer websites over a period of three months with positive feedback. The press release stated that results from both websites showed “an increase in user engagement online including a 168 percent increase in time spent on the news site, an 89 percent increase in story page views and a 95 percent increase in visits per user.”