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One of her top stories this year — about a couple who met on a plane to London — is typical: Assigned the last seat on the plane, our protagonist ends up sitting next to an attractive man, and they hit it off. However, he’s British and she’s American, with work and family commitments on two continents. Will it all work out? (Yes, of course it will.)
The popularity of Street’s work suggests that — despite the challenges posed by the internet era — some constants remain: Readers still enjoy what were once referred to as “human-interest” stories, said Angèle Christin, an associate professor of communication at Stanford University.
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Stories about romantic relationships, often the scandalous kind, were a staple of the penny press of the late 19th century, Christin said. The difference today is that Chartbeat and other digital tools can precisely measure how many people are clicking on the stories and how long they stay to read them.
Despite Street’s prominence on the Chartbeat list, human-interest tales make up only a small portion of the most-engaging topics. The list also confirms the public's fascination with several familiar journalistic themes and subjects: news about celebrities (especially their deaths), natural and man-made disasters, and crime.
The single most-engaging story of the year, according to Chartbeat, was the Los Angeles Times’ report on the death of “Friends” co-star Matthew Perry in late October. Five other news stories about Perry’s death also made the annual list, as did individual stories about the passing of Henry Kissinger, Rosalynn Carter, Sinéad O’Connor, and Lisa Marie Presley.
However, the most engaging topic overall was the implosion of the Titan submarine in June: Nine stories about the submarine — spanning various news sources such as People magazine, CBS News, NPR, and Fox News — ranked among Chartbeat’s most engaging.
Other news topics that appeared multiple times were those about mass shootings in Nashville, Monterey Park, Calif., and Lewiston, Maine; and natural disasters in Maui, California, South Carolina, and Canada.
The most captivating journalist in the English-speaking world is a 29-year-old reporter who resides in London and works for CNN.com. Francesca Street’s articles entice millions of readers. Moreover, millions of readers continue reading her stories once they've begun.
The "most captivating" designation isn't a subjective evaluation; it doesn't speak to the charm of her stories, although numerous readers have indeed been charmed. Chartbeat, a company that measures digital readership, monitors how much time readers spend on a specific story. Recently, they surveyed 39 million stories published by approximately 10,000 websites to rank the most captivating reads of 2023.
No other reporter appeared on the list more than twice as a sole author—except for Street, whose name appeared five times. Last year, two of her stories were ranked among the most captivating.
Street doesn't delve into weighty subjects such as wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the economy, the presidential campaign, or any of the topics that typically dominate homepages and front pages.
Instead, Street's greatest achievements revolve around true romance. Specifically, her stories revolve around travelers who have fallen in love on their journeys, then lost and regained their significant others.
In an interview from London, Street mentioned that since she started writing her "Chance Encounters" stories two years ago, she has sought a variety of relationships to feature. She actively looks for stories involving people of different ages, backgrounds, and sexualities. Often, couples reach out to her through a callout box on CNN's website.
The "Chance Encounters" stories typically have a two-sentence headline that begins with a pronoun and ends with a cliffhanger. Examples include:
♥ "She ended her relationship and moved in with a man she had known for 3 weeks. Here's what happened next" (This was the third most captivating story of 2023, according to Chartbeat.)
♥ "They had a teenage summer romance. Here's what happened when they reunited years later" (It ranked No. 51.)
♥ "They met while hiking and fell in love. Two months later, she was diagnosed with cancer" (The 53rd most captivating story of the year, not to be confused with the 72nd-ranking story: "They fell in love backpacking through Europe then lost each other. Here's how they ended up married for 24 years".)
Street doesn't focus on celebrity relationships. "I believe people see themselves in these stories," she said. "They can relate to them."
Another crucial aspect: all of Street's stories have a happy ending. (Spoiler alert: The young woman diagnosed with cancer is now in remission.) The couples may face difficulties or separation, but ultimately, love triumphs. Street describes her stories as "cinematic in scope but grounded in reality."
Many readers discover Street's work because it's published by CNN.com, which is one of the most visited news sites globally. Last month, it recorded 116 million unique visitors, more than twice the traffic of The Washington Post's site and triple that of the Wall Street Journal's, according to ComScore. (The latter two sites require a subscription.)
However, "engagement" is a distinct measure from mere visits or page views, says Jill Nicholson, who oversees Chartbeat's annual list. Stories about significant news events—shootings, election results, celebrity scandals, political drama, war, and catastrophe—often generate substantial traffic, but those readers frequently skim through a few paragraphs before moving on within seconds.
This is why stories that engage readers for even a few minutes have become crucial to the commercial ecosystem of media. Publishers desire "engagement" from readers because it might encourage them to subscribe. Sponsors appreciate it because it means people are more likely to see the ads accompanying a story.
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