The Weather Channel branches into ‘weather adjacent’ content
The Weather Channel branches into ‘weather adjacent’ content
Sure, the Weather Channel still covers the traditional three to five day forecasts. But now, the company that has been on air since 1982 they also include anything that is “weather adjacent” to their content, says Claire Suddath, who wrote a piece about it called “The Weather Channel’s Secret: Less Weather, More Clickbait” for Bloomberg Businessweek.
“They refer to anything as nature, the outdoors, and climate – anything where you might be outside – that is part of what they consider weather now and they cover it,” says Suddath.“People are already coming to weather.com and using their app, but they need to get them to stay,” says Suddath.
In an interview with Kai Ryssdal, Suddath says it’s working. The Weather Channel app is popular with its users, and people no longer check the weather just in the morning – in fact, some of us are checking the weather up to 40 times a day.
“That means that what we’re looking for out of the forecast has changed,” says Suddath. “Instead of the three day, five day outlook – which we do still use – we’re really looking for what are the next 15 minutes like, or the next few hours.”
Listen to the full conversation in the audio player above.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
