DNA2008: Newspaper video will die in 2008
Posted on April 2, 2008
NewspaperVideo: DNA2008: Newspaper Video Will Die in 2008
Says Fadely: "… publishers need to think about the back end before handing gear to staffers — content management systems that can embed video with stories, servers that work, players that don’t piss off viewers, and tagging that Google can find. It sounds easy but very few papers are doing even these basics.
AT&T to debut mobile TV in May
Posted on March 31, 2008
AT&T to debut mobile TV in May
"AT&T plans to deliver full-length programming from networks including CBS Mobile, Fox Mobile, Comedy Central, ESPN Mobile TV, and MTV. The service will debut on two new handsets, the LG Vu and the Samsung Access. It will also add a pair of exclusive channels yet to be named.”
Saks adds streaming video to online catalog
Posted on March 25, 2008
Saks adds streaming video to online catalog
"We’ve been thinking about how to take catalogs to the next level," said Denise Incandela, president of Saks Direct. "People have been seeing a deterioration in direct mail catalogs, and so we put a lot of thought to how we can combine our catalogs with the Internet, and make it much more like interactive TV.”"
Four types of Web video watchers
Posted on February 15, 2008
Media Contacts (part of Havas Media — an international communications consulting group) has identified four key types of Web video watchers to help guide media planning efforts (with the data from a comScore study), reports MediaPost (ack … that’s a whole lotta sourcing!).
I thought this might be useful information for planning video viewing. In the rush to slap as much video online as possible, it doesn’t seem to me that many newspapers have researched enough how their readers access their videos and why.
* Content Explorers: These are viewers 35 to 54 who are platform-agnostic and as willing to watch reality shows, daytime soaps and news programs online as on TV. They tend to have household incomes of more than $100,000.
* On Demanders: More likely to be heavy video users, with three-quarters using a DVR and/or a video-on-demand service. These 18- to-34-year-olds are also the most likely to have watched full-length videos online.
* Sight & Sounders: The 55-and-over crowd makes up about one-third of the online video audience, but much prefers TV. That may change over time as high-quality video comes online in more user-friendly form.
* Television Devotees: This group skews more heavily toward women, and would rather watch their favorite shows on TV but will turn to network Web sites to catch up on missed episodes.
Being an interactive multimedia video journalist
Posted on November 28, 2007
Viewmagazine.tv’s creator David Dunkley Gyimah created this trailer for the “Mi6 Videojournalist Manifesto.”
He also put together this video: “Multimedia journalism - what is it?”
Is narrative video worth the time it takes to produce it?
Posted on November 27, 2007
Charles Layton has written a comprehensive summary of “The Video Explosion” for the American Journalism Review. It’s a very good read.
Many newspaper Web sites think video is what readers what, which would then generate increased page views, which would then generate increased advertising opportunities. Consequently, as we know, demand for video and videographers is on the rise.
Says Layton:
The recent rush to Internet video is difficult to quantify. Lauren Hertel, who teaches at the University of Florida and does training in newsrooms and at conferences, says that many small and medium-size papers “don’t seem to think long-form videos are worth the effort.” But, she adds, this is her impression based on anecdotal evidence only. “There hasn’t been much research done on it.”
We can say with certainty, however, that many of the papers that are going for video are going for it all-out.
And that means, during this time of cutbacks, papers need to either employ more people or get photographers and reporters to multitask (and we know this type of multitasking is very challenging).
Plus, depending on what type of video you want to do, taping and editing takes A LOT of time. To do a narrative, says Chuck Fadely:
Video requires roughly 10 times more work on an assignment as [still photography] and then 100 times more work as you’re editing it. Imagine filling a 16-page special section with a hundred pictures–out of a routine city hall meeting assignment. That’s shooting video. You have to shoot every detail in the room, every angle, every expression–just to get a few seconds of video to put on top of the few seconds of audio that you’ve edited down from two hours of tape.
How do newspapers get all this done? Evelio Contreras of the Roanoke Times shares his work schedule:
It’s a time-consuming job, one that keeps Contreras at his computer from 8:30 a.m. until 10 some nights. In addition, he and several colleagues update the Web site each morning, on a rotating basis, from 4:30 to 7. “I go home, take a nap, then come back,” he says.
Certainly, narrative isn’t the only way to produce video. Says Howard Owens:
Video can take as little or as much time as you want it to take. There is no reason that you can’t shoot, edit and post a video in under 30 minutes, if not under 20 minutes (not counting commute time, talk with the editor time, gossip with a co-work time, etc.).
We’ve uncovered several different ways of using video, ranging from a 30-minute “show” such as the TimesCast to a “documentary” such as Detroit Free Press’ “Band of Brothers” to a TV clips such as CNN.com’s “Boy impaled by antler” to breaking news clips such as Washingtonpost.com/AP’s “Redskins Owner, Coach Remember Player.” (Hmmm. Which one takes the least amount of time and which one are you most likely to click on?)
So with this much work on narrative video, will there be enough return on all that investment? (Lucas Grindley came up with a formula for figuring this all out awhile ago.)
The most expensive type of ads for online videos–the so-called “pre-roll” ads that play for a few seconds before the video starts–are unpopular with viewers. Brian Haven, a senior analyst for Forrester Research, has written that 82 percent of consumers find such ads “annoying.”
The REAL Daily Prophet?
Posted on November 1, 2007
Countdown clocks, going green … and lots of Anderson Cooper
Posted on October 21, 2007
I was watching CNN Friday and noticed the station’s logo has turned green. I figured that it had to do with their new “Planet in Peril” series that at the time was scheduled to run in 100 hours, 30 minutes and 08 seconds.
Yes, they actually had a countdown clock for this show four days ahead of time. I wish I had snapped a photo of the TV — but you can see one over on this blog. Interestingly, the PIP promo now only says “Tuesday 9 PM.”
Here’s what they said about the color change:
WHITFIELD: All right. Well, how about this? You may have noticed something a little different about what you’re seeing on TV.
See that little green logo down there? Well, CNN is going green because we’re digging deeper on environmental issues, covering stories that affect all of us from the air we breathe to the fuel we use. It all coincides with the premiere of “Planet in Peril,” a special report from Anderson Cooper, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Animal Planet ’s Jeff Corwin.
That is next Tuesday and Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
What they failed to mention on TV is that they have a “Planet in Peril” section on their Web site, too.
And they’re advertising it just as heavily online. “Planet in Peril” is now a part of the masthead, minus a green CNN logo. Come on … at least be consistent in your gimmickry!
Anyway, the section is flashy at first glance, and I like the rotating globe as a navigation tool (except when I have to wait for it to turn to get to a new link). But the site is a letdown once you start clicking around because it’s clearly a commercial for the TV show.
It’s FULL of links that take you outside of this pretty section, videos set on autoplay, headlines to older stories, fuzzy sneak peek videos and trailers, outtakes with penis jokes and journalists forgetting their lines, and photos of Anderson Cooper modeling.
Can’t get enough of McStudly? You can even download those pictures and post them on your very own computer as wallpaper …
Good reads for 10.13.07
Posted on October 13, 2007
>> That’s a wrap for Roanoke.com’s TimesCast. Lots of comments about the end of its era going on out there:
The official Roanoke.com announcement says: “We learned a lot of lessons in the two years since the work on the TimesCast began. We’ve applied those lessons to other Webcasts and to broader video efforts. It’s because of those Webcasts and our plans to do more with video produced in the field that we’ve decided to move beyond the TimesCast.”
Former producer and on-air talent Patrick Beeson reflects on the experience and how it affected the newsroom and the entire industry. He also speculates why it may have ended.
Lucas Grindley was never a fan and is only surprised it took so long for them to throw in the towel.
Bryan Murley disagrees and says two years isn’t too far off of the yardstick.
Mindy McAdams wasn’t a fan either. She does, however, give a nod to Roanoke.com for it’s cutting-edge idea, and says: “Maybe this move is a (good) sign of things to come — maybe a lot of other news organizations will realize that the television people have already failed at this, and there’s no earthly reason for newspapers to make the same mistakes.”
>> Online producer = journalist. Really. If we EVER want our news organizations to survive, we have to stop this us vs. them outlook. Meranda Watling says one of the reasons the online department at her newspaper isn’t in the newsroom is “because the online people are more techies and personalities don’t mesh with the word folks in the newsroom.” (Words of others at her paper, not hers.)
>> Need some design resources, tips and samples? Check out Smashing Magazine. I’ve referenced their stories several times. Danny Sanchez provides some reasons why the site is so great .
>> More reasons to Facebook. Steve Outing provides a very nice argument as to why your newspaper should seriously think about spending resources on developing Facebook apps.
Outing writes: “Facebook users are experiencing social interactions on the site, and “you don’t have to jump too far” to go from a Facebook user interacting with his/her friends to the user interacting with content from an organization that he/she trusts, Stutzman says. The key is to understand that the Facebook experience (and of course this extends to other social networks) is about connections. And this can apply nicely to news.”
What are you waiting for? Go make some apps.
>> ABC is reproducing the Evening News for the Web. Says The New York Times: “ABC is the only major broadcast network that is using the staff of its evening newscast to produce a separate and distinct daily program for a Web audience. The 15-minute Webcast often features Mr. Gibson in the anchor chair, but the similarities end there: the segments can run long, and they purposely look raw and personal, as if they were made for MTV rather than ABC.”
Only thing missing from the story is a link to the Webcast. Unfortunately, it was difficult to find on ABC’s page, even. You can watch it here.
Take that, NFL
Posted on October 4, 2007
So we all know by now that the NFL has limited video clips to no more than 45 seconds per day. In case you need a reminder, here’s what the Washington Post reported in June:
In a move designed to protect the Internet operations of its 32 teams, the pro football league has told news organizations that it will no longer permit them to carry unlimited online video clips of players, coaches or other officials, including video that the news organizations gather themselves on a team’s premises. News organizations can post no more than 45 seconds per day of video shot at a team’s facilities, including news conferences, interviews and practice-field reports.
Well, the Associated Press Photo Managers reports that Indianapolis Star photographers have found a loophole by creating video-like multimedia that they’re calling audio slideshows. You can see them here:
>> Colts’ fans in Houston
>> Colts’ fans in Nashville
It’s an innovative resolution, but it quickly gives me a headache. I could barely sit through both and was grateful for the still-photo intermissions. Readers who aren’t familiar with the ruling or simply don’t care may tire of the new format. But the newspaper says they’re more popular than the videos.
There isn’t any discussion on the APPM forum yet. Too bad. I’m quite curious about what others think.
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