How Fusion aims to reach a young, diverse audience

"If you want to reach a diverse demographic you need a diverse newsroom," is the mindset behind cross-platform media outlet Fusion, and chief executive Isaac Lee is keen to spread the word.

"If you want to reach young people, you better have some young people producing the content."

Fusion, launched by Univison and Disney in 2013, aims to tackle subjects the younger generation cares about, from justice and feminism, to pop culture and technology.

Speaking at the Digital Media Strategies conference in London yesterday, Lee said Fusion's job is to create stories for "a completely new psychographic rather than a demographic", thinking about audience preferences and habits as opposed to just their age or location.

And this younger audience tends to get their stories on the platforms "where they live", like WhatsApp and YouTube, rather than go directly to media companies.

#DMs15 @isaacleep of @Thisisfusion on where millennials are consuming content: 'Pay attention.' pic.twitter.com/dHt284FHOb

— Francois Nel (@francoisnel) March 11, 2015

So fusion has created special teams to produce content for all the different platforms young people are using, such as Instagram, Vine, and Snapchat.

The media outlet is included in the international version of Snapchat's Discover project, where it publishes daily editions specifically designed to be read or watched in the app.

One experiment Fusion has launched on Snapchat is a series called Outpost.

"[And] from Snaphcat we are moving to web, and from web we're moving to television," explained Lee.

"So by the time we get to launch this on television we will have a community and an audience that will be familiar with Outpost."

Today on Fusion @Snapchat: the latest episode of Outpost, the epic return of @carlyraejepsen, and more! #DMS15 pic.twitter.com/cA4dSYWzT1

— Fusion on Snapchat (@FusionSnaps) March 11, 2015

The series uses original music, and Lee said there is no need to sacrifice quality when producing video in short form.

Data received from Discover has revealed Fusion is building an audience in Brazil and France, which the team then decided to serve by producing stories in Portuguese and French the following week.

Other publishers on Snapchat Discover have been using the platform to experiment with different storytelling styles, including long-form videos.

As a multimedia company operating on different platforms, Fusion has also been experimenting with a mix of events, videos and songs released on iTunes for its Rise Up project tackling youth issues.

"It was a way to approach a project and to tackle it knowing that the audience doesn't live in one place, that we are not about cable television or social media or video or a live event or a documentary, we are about all of that."

Lee admitted having Univision and Disney as parent companies gives Fusion an advantage that other media organisations might not have, as the outlet is able to experiment and take risks. "We're not fighting for survival", he said.

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