My teams of DJ’s and news anchors host local shows on a national channel, Yle Radio Suomi.. Our target for radio is to reach Active Adults, in which we are doing a great job, having the highest weekly reach and listening share.

“Adult” is somewhat subjective, because physical age tells little about our preferences, views or emotions. Still, it is vital for us to constantly seek ways to be relevant especially to people under the age of 35, because otherwise our audiences will slowly but inevitably wither away.

How could Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning help public service companies to create relevant, personal and especially timely news content to young audiences? Researches show a disconnect to traditional news among young people. Instead of actively going to news sources, young people prefer news to come to them, in platforms they use for entertainment and networking.

To get attention, we “news dinosaurs” need to find the right moments during the day to offer news to young people, the so-called News Occasions. Could voice be the gateway to younger audiences? 

Almost everyone seems already to be wearing headphones wherever they go. All the more people are comfortable asking their smartphone’s assistance, and the sale of smart speakers is surging. Could AI/ML have a role in this, in finding out the right moments for the right content through personalization and behaviour detection, which is already embedded into many mobile operating systems?

I will spend this October at LSE Polis trying to figure these things out. I will welcome all of your ideas, you will find my contact information below. Looking forward to hearing from you!

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Ville Kinnunen  |  ville.kinnunen@yle.fi

Radio Producer, Finnish Broadcasting Company Yle