Digital media are constantly trying to provide attractive and useful content to their users. They have to do it with caution, in order to respect the identity of the publications and their business strategy. This implies constant editorial decision-making. To support these critical decisions, the most widespread tools today, those that allow a better analysis of audiences, are digital metrics. The metrics provide key performance indicators, generally named as KPIs, chosen according to the type of data required: quantitative or qualitative. Based on a qualitative study through questionnaires and interviews with journalists from seven native digital media in Latin America, this chapter analyzes to what extent and with what effects are metrics being used by digital media in this region to make strategic decisions. The results indicate that the adoption of metrics as criteria to guide the supply of news is still moderate in the region. However, a growing incidence of these analytical systems in newswork is detected, at least among digital native media.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, Latin American media panorama is undergoing deep transformations. As in other regions of the world, an increasingly influential actor is emerging in the market: digital native publications. This chapter explores the increasing importance of digital native news media in Central America. Based on the analysis of a sample of 88 such publications, this study puts together the origins, current features and performance of the digital native media in the six Spanish-speaking countries of this area: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. The study concludes that, although the main part of the audience and the business remains in the hands of the legacy media, digital native publications are reshaping the media landscape of Central America. Thus, this chapter provides a comprehensive analysis of a phenomenon that is transforming the media within those countries, helping to better understand the present and possible future impacts of these new media actors in the public sphere of this region.