The average human attention span has reduced to a mere nine seconds since 2000, which means news outlets only have that much time to reel readers in. And how do they expect to do that without an aesthetically pleasing layout?
Most of us know about the vital influence of clickbait -- it's what draws the eye first and foremost, through a striking image, an intriguing title, what have you. But then there's the trick of getting the reader to stay.
If a website is poorly designed -- to the point where it takes an inordinate amount of time to load, or the content is smothered in ads or it's difficult to find my way around -- then I am unlikely to stay on that page and read the rest of the article, no matter how much it initially intrigued me.
The same goes for news sources outside the internet.
Most newspapers and magazines nowadays contain more advertisements than stories, and that in and of itself is unfortunate, but if kept neat and tidy then it isn't distracting. If a magazine had a messy layout like the Buzzfeed home page, where the articles are all jumbled together, then I am less likely to pick up that magazine. (In Buzzfeed's defense, their app layout is much cleaner than their website; which actually makes sense considering most people view Buzzfeed on their phone rather than on a computer.)
An assault of unavoidable advertisements is likely to chase readers away and doubt your site's legitimacy, but if placed in such a way that the layout remains pleasing to the eye, easy to navigate and overall balanced, then all that's left to traverse is getting them to click the link.
~ Stay Salty ~
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