Michael P. Smith, managing director of the Media Management Center, has been at the forefront of Generation Y’s media usage habits. He has also worked with the Center’s Readership Institute, which has produced numerous studies on newspaper usage. Here he answers questions about the Chicago Tribune’s new daily newspaper for young adults called RedEye.

What aspects of the Readership Institute research do you see reflected in RedEye?
The first thing is that the Tribune has recognized that this is a generation that needs and wants its own newspaper. That in itself is a bold and innovative move. It’s not as innovative as Col. McCormick entering radio or launching a TV station, but it probably is on the level of launching CLTV, because it is a new generation of what The Tribune is already doing.

Beyond that, much of the Readership Institute research indicates that all newspapers can do several things much better. I did see a prototype of the new newspaper and it will clearly be an easy to read newspaper — it is organized well, it is written well, it is designed well. Stories are digestible without being too short. The ad content seems to be relevant to the age group. These things are important to all readers, but even more important to Gen Y.

Which newspaper do you think this will hurt the most — the Sun-Times or The Reader?
In all honesty, neither. Both are good brands, but not compelling brands to young adults. Young people admire the Sun-Times as being a complete paper, but unless they are young men heavy into sports, they don’t read the Sun-Times on a regular basis. From what I have seen, RedEye will be most attractive to a large number of people who do not read either daily paper or The Reader. I’m sure that there may be some duplication in readership, but that is understandable, because Gen Y is used to using a variety of media.

Isn’t this USA Today lite?
That’s a good quip, but RedEye is fairly deep in information. Try writing a complex story in 10 inches — that’s a tough job. RedEye will be making a mistake if it tries to produce long stories in the style of The Reader. Or if it tries to compete with the Sun-Times for sports readers. Someone should devise an “L test” to see how much of each issue gets read on the ride to work in the morning.

Is there any evidence that people between 18 and 34 will read newspapers?
They already do — just not with the frequency that previous generations read. I saw that Jim Kirk’s story about RedEye used the 18-to-34 age range. I assume that the Trib is using those age brackets because advertisers think in those terms. In reality, I think RedEye will be most successful if they think in terms of 18 to 24. That’s the real target. And it is truly Generation Y. From the research and my own experience, a 24-year-old is much different from a 34-year-old. But to answer your question about evidence: No there is no evidence, but I hope that this will give us some.

How much do you think they should charge for a copy?
I know that there are all kinds of economic theories. At the Media Management Center, we have a philosophy based upon our journalistic roots — we do not believe that you should give away anything of value. Journalism is valuable. From what I have seen in the focus groups, young people are willing to pay for something that they think is of value to them. I know that they value the Metromix brand, which is part of this newspaper, so I would argue that they need to charge something minimal. I have heard a quarter. That seems great to me, but I am not the target.

What do you think the name means?
Have I mentioned that I am not the target? To me — a Baby Boomer who goes to bed at 10 p.m. — it has only one meaning: An overnight flight. In the focus groups, to some people, it had a “morning after” implication. If it works for them, great. It is going to be hard for we Boomers to realize we are not the largest generation anymore. There may be a lot of things done for Gen Y that we don’t understand.

Is the Tribune’s long-term hope that RedEye readers will eventually graduate to the Tribune, or will the RedEye age with its audience, as you imply The Reader has with its audience?
I don’t know the Tribune’s specific strategy, but here is some speculation based upon what we know already. Generation Y is the perfect multi-tasking generation. This is even more true in its media usage. They use a variety of media for news and entertainment — radio, television, cellular phones, the Internet, magazines and newspapers. They tend to give newspapers the benefit of the doubt. So my guess is that they will read a variety of newspapers. A great strategy for the Tribune would be to give Gen Yers RedEye during the week and then promote the heck out of the weekend papers. Thirty-nine percent of Gen Yers already read a newspaper, and they are most likely to read on Sunday.

Will the RedEye be a completely independent product, or will it be an edition of the Tribune?
It will be independently edited, but it is clearly labeled as an edition of the Tribune.

Does being affiliated with the Tribune bring any negative baggage to the RedEye for the target audience?
My guess is that there will be some who want an anti-Tribune. But this is a very media savvy generation. They know what newspapers are and what newspapers do. That’s why The Onion is such a big success — it is a parody of newspapers. In order to understand the parody, you have to understand newspapers. I think the positive aspects of being affiliated with the Tribune outweigh any negative. The positive aspects are the strength of the Tribune brand as a credible source of information and the strength of the Metromix brand as signal that it understands the generation.

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