Five low-cost ways to incorporate video on local media sites
An article by Ken Sands posted on Poynter.org pointed out the problems newspaper sites are having with video content. Most of the angst centers around the cost to produce and edit quality video. He offers a summary of these conclusions from the vj’s he interviewed:
- It’s very easy to produce amateurish video, but difficult to sell advertising into it.
- As a result, video often is the first thing cut from downsizing newsrooms.
This may be true; however, broadly speaking there seem to be some real successes in the video when the Newspaper Next “jobs to do” model is followed. And these initiatives are not always expensive to produce, and one thing is sure: there is pent-up demand for video from advertisers and news site visitors.
Here are five ways to use video that are cheap and profitable, even if not as sexy as a full-blown TV “show”:
1. Add video content to directories and other landing pages. There are number of suppliers in this site’s vendor directory including BieMedia a quickie production shop and Everyscape, which uses one 360-panoramic shot (hard to get wrong) of each advertising merchant. Boston Phoenix used Everscape technology to create cute “Look around” buttons on its listings and reviews for neighborhood restaurants; click on the button and get a video tour.
2. Use video to create better guides and online “Best of” products. McGraw-Hill sold video to winners of its readers choice contests (called the A-list and created on CityVoter’s Platform) and created a marketing program that accumulated 100 new advertisers within six months for its three local tv stations. The video itself was priced at just $450, and produced as a simple interview of business owners with the questions edited out. However promotions like “A-list TV” that compiled the video spots and register to win contests allowed the reps to sell data collection services, a year long advertising buy.
3. Sports channels are a natural. A number of partnerships are available to show games and other stats from home town teams with the ability to sell pre-rolls. There is also video content available for channels such as heath and finance from NewsProNet. VMix also helps in creating and distributing local content, including its own health care channels.
4. Rethink how to add video to news. All news reporters should have a iPhone or a Flip video recording device they carry with them. Some companies hand these devices to all employees, vasty expanding the news creation team. These videos can be transferred to a Mac in seconds. Inserting 30 seconds of video into an article for “contiguity” is an inexpensive sure-fire method to enhace content. Short videos inside articles act like “photos on steroids” as Curt Chandler put it in his comments to the Sands article. What about man-on-the-street interviews on a topic? Easy to do.
5. User-generated video content is also working for some applications. The best use of YouNewsTV style technology that allows viewers to post clips is creating contests. “Best baby” and “Cutest pet” have delivered huge traffic (think seven digits) for some large newspapers sites, but the most successful invent new contests so there is always one running. Also, having the channel in place has helped in coverage of emergencies, driving hundreds of user-posted videos and millions of visitors.
TV sites are more aggressive than newspaper sites since they deliver all the news through video and comfortable with the language, however, they are also cautious about creating expensive programming.
The author, Alisa Cromer is publisher of a variety of online media, including LocalMediaInsider and MediaExecsTech, developed while on a fellowship with the Reynolds Journalism Institute and which has evolved into a leading marketing company for media technology start-ups. In 2017 she founded Worldstir.com, an online magazine, to showcases perspectives from around the world on new topic each month, translated from and to the top five languages in the world.
