Guide

Audience research tools with INN

November 2, 2023

The Audience Community of Practice hosted a discussion with Sam Cholke, Manager of Distribution and Audience Growth for the Institute for Nonprofit News (INN), and Allison Altshule, INN Audience Research Fellow, on Thursday, October 19.

INN recently released a suite of tools to help news organizations better understand their audience. Sam and Allison walked us through an annual audience survey process and shared INN’s helpful resources along the way. 

There are many different types of audience research tools, and you should be using more than one type of research. INN chose to focus on audience surveys because they can capture both qualitative and quantitative data and don’t necessarily require specialized software or expertise.

Surveys are a great tool for illuminating different subgroups within your audience, and they can also be helpful in collecting impact statements. However, surveys can’t do everything: they are not meant to predict the future or be used for iterative product testing.

You can access the full guide here, which includes survey questions, templates for solicitation emails, starting points for data analysis, and best practices for audience research.

INN audience survey template INN audience survey template

Audience Community of Practice

This resource is based on a session from The Lenfest Institute’s Audience Community of Practice, which supports audience development news professionals deepen relationships and expand their reach.

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