"The future of news is not an article," Alexis Lloyd wrote in 2015.

The then creative director of The New York Times R&D Lab argued that news organizations needed to rethink what content should look like in a thoroughly digital media environment. Today, media companies are experimenting with a wide range of innovative formats that are easily consumed, effortlessly shared and are mobile-friendly.

But one of the greatest challenges to publishers today is the loss of control over distribution in the online world. Content is now consumed almost exclusively through social platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Content is consumed in very short bursts on these platforms. The research group dscout found the average smartphone user spends about 2.5 hours daily on their device spread over 76 sessions, averaging just under 2 minutes per session. And while a compelling image or headline can catch a user's attention, linking that social post to pages of text can quickly lose that attention.