The ‘video-in-print’ (VIP) ads in the September 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly will feature samples from upcoming shows broadcast by CBS, the North American television network.
The VIP ads will be limited to copies distributed in New York and Los Angeles.
Video from Wired’s YouTube channel below:
Journalism.co.uk feels like its gone back in time today – specifically to autumn last year when regional newspaper groups, unions and industry bodies were voicing unanimous opposition to the BBC’s plans to increase its local video news content.
Well, another year, another video plan – and more opposition.
Yesterday the corporation announced an agreement to share news video from four subject areas with the Guardian, Telegraph, Daily Mail and Independent websites. The clips will appear in a BBC-branded player and run alongside the papers’ own news coverage.
In the announcement, the corporation suggested it would extend the plans to other newspaper websites – and asked third parties to register their interest.
The reaction
Welcomed by its launch partners (The Telegraph described the deal as ‘a step in the right direction’) – the plans were quickly denounced by commercial rivals ITN:
“The BBC’s plans to offer free video content to newspaper websites risk undermining the demand for content from independent news providers, potentially undercutting a very important revenue stream,” said ITN CEO John Hardie in a release.
“The pressure on commercial news suppliers has never been greater which is why ITN has led the way in opening up valuable new lines of business, and the BBC’s latest move risks pulling the rug from under us.”
According to a MediaGuardian report, News International says the arrangement is far from a ‘free deal’ for the papers, but rather free marketing for the BBC, which will lead to less diffentiated content on newspaper websites in the UK.
Meanwhile the Press Association said it had spoken with the BBC Trust about the plans before they were announced and was hoping for a market impact assessment – a process it says cannot now be completed because of yesterday’s launch. In a statement given to both Press Gazette and MediaGuardian, a spokeswoman for the PA said there were other ways for the BBC to work with commercial rivals, such as by sharing facilities.
The PA launched its own video newswire for newspapers earlier this year and has said the BBC’s plans undermine investment in video by commercial players.
The questions
Arguably, providing a pool of news video for diary events/supplementary content could free up the titles’ staff to cover original content and produce more multimedia of their own. A similar argument to the PA’s recent announcement of a ‘public service reporting’ trial.
One question that should be asked – hinted at in Alick Mighall’s blog post on the matter – how will the commercial details be hammered out? Will the BBC add pre-roll ads for BBC programming to the clips; and what if a pay wall is erected in front of the video players?
It’s now four years – give or take a few weeks – since broadband Britain reached its tipping point.
Halfway through 2005 there were finally more homes connected to the internet via high speed broadband than via achingly slow dial-up. Video on the web suddenly made a lot more sense.
And given that we’re still in the early stages of this particular media evolution, it’s not surprising that we are are still learning.
Here are five such moments from the last seven days:
1. If you build it they will come…
…provided you build something elegant and easy to use. And then market it like crazy.
This was the week that we learned how the hugely successful BBC iPlayer has overtaken MySpace to become the 20th most visited website in the UK . The iPlayer is now comfortably the second most popular video site even if its 13 per cent share is still dwarfed by YouTube’s 65 per cent.
If you want more evidence of success just look at the BBC’s terrestrial rivals. ITV, Five and even Channel 4 – which had a year’s head start over the BBC – are now aping the look, feel and functionality of the corporation’s efforts. No hefty applets to download – just click and play.
Of course, this model – a different player for each network – will look anachronistic within a few years. Maybe less. Hulu arrives on these shores soon.
2. Don’t do video unless you’re adding value
If you are going to put moving pictures on your newspaper website it’s a good idea to ask why? And the answer should be that it adds something to your storytelling.
Last week the Independent completed a deal that sees the Press Association providing more than 100 90-second clips a week, each focusing on a single news item.
Nothing wrong with the quality or content of the video that the Indy is getting, but where’s the added value? Unless the video has some killer footage or a must-see interview, why would a reader of a 500-word news article click play? I’m not sure they would.
As someone eloquently put it on my blog:
If it’s visual, it needs pictures and maybe video. If it’s verbal, sound will do. For everything else, words are cheaper for the producer and quicker for the consumer.
3. You can’t control the message
Singer Chris Brown chose YouTube as the medium to deliver his first public pronouncements following February’s assault on his now ex-girlfriend Rihanna.
He plumped for the video-sharing site rather than a TV or newspaper interview presumably so he could control the message – no out-of-context editing of his words and no awkward follow-up questions.
To some extent he got his wish. Within 24 hours of posting his 120-second, unmediated mea culpa, it had been viewed nearly half-a-million times.
More significantly, however, the video had received over 12,000 comments and most were hostile.
4. Brands love YouTube
In an oddly defensive post on its YouTube Biz Blog, the people behind Google’s file-sharing site set about busting what it claims are five popular myths.
Putting ‘Myth 4’ to rest – namely that ‘Advertisers are afraid of YouTube’ – the post asserted:
Over 70 per cent of Ad Age Top 100 marketers ran campaigns on YouTube in 2008. They’re buying our homepage, Promoted Videos, overlays, and in-stream ads. Many are organizing contests that encourage the uploading of user videos to their brand channels, or running advertising exclusively on popular user partner content.
We wait, breathlessly, for a follow-up post so we can discover how many of these elite brands made a return on their YouTube investment.
5. Death becomes you
Nearly a month after his passing, Michael Jackson’s life is still being celebrated online. Eight out of this week’s viral video top 20 are either Jackson originals or owe their inspiration to the singer.
A case of the long tail occupying the head. For a few weeks at least.
Jon Bernstein is former multimedia editor of Channel 4 News. This is part of a series of regular columns for Journalism.co.uk. You can read his personal blog at this link.
Angela Grant, videojournalism trainer, commentator and blogger at News Videographer, is making a last call for survey participants.
Grant is running an online study on pay for solo videojournalists.
It’s only 10 questions long, so why not help her out.
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YouTube is offering news outlets featured in Google News the opportunity to become an official partner of the site – with an aim to increase video views on both YouTube and Google News.
According to a post on the Google News Blog, a partnership will offer the chance of prominent placement of a news organisation’s videos on YouTube’s news page; and, if the videos are embeddable, the opportunity to appear as a featured video on Google News.
News outlets can apply to be part of the YouTube Partner Program, which will also include an advertising revenue share program – as explained by the program’s ‘partner benefits’ page:
Meanwhile, as reported by MediaWeek, Bauer and IPC Media have become two of the first magazine publishers to sell ads around their YouTube content on the site. They follow Channel 4, which struck a deal with the video-sharing site last month.
Google News Blog: A Call to News Publishers: How to Share Your Video.
Reuters’ global community editor Mark Jones offers a useful round-up and guide of how to cover major breaking news stories, such as the recent events in Iran.
“The challenge here is to match what TV stations can do when they switch between news bulletins to rolling 24 hour coverage. Only the web ought to be able to do so much more given its scope for interactivity,” he writes.
Jones looks at how liveblogs and reporters logs are being used by news organisations, in addition to ‘aggregating validated citizen journalists’.
[Journalism.co.uk has its round-up of pro-am news site Demotix is covering the Iranian elections story and you can read the comments of BBC global news director Richard Sambrook here]
It’s been an exciting week for digital media: so much to follow with Digital Britain, Iran elections, Suzanne Breen, MPs’ expenses, and the unmasking of NightJack.
The Guardian’s Media Talk podcast, presented by Stephen Brook, takes on the first four topics in a ‘special-ish’ edition.
“The panel dissect the long-awaited Digital Britain report: a blueprint for the future, or a 21st century fudge? Plus, Twitter in Iran; victory for Suzanne Breen; and a parting shot from Peter Sissons, the grumpiest newsreader of them all.”
BBC technology correspondent Rory Cellan-Jones asks: ‘How has mobile technology changed the life of a BBC reporter?’ Full post at this link. Screeb grab below:
Inspired by PBS MediaShift’s Mark Glazier, Courtney French looks at multimedia done badly, illustrated by a variety of examples.
“Most reporters today have been told in newsrooms and in journalism schools that they need to incorporate audio and video into their storytelling. And with the help of graphic and web designers they can put together some really amazing stuff. But reaching the ‘smart multimedia’ point can be tough, especially since the line between too little multimedia and multimedia overkill is so subjective.”
As plans in the UK for greater sharing of resources between ITV, the BBC and other agencies are developed, here are some pointers from across the pond on the pros and cons of sharing news video.
A benefit, suggests Deborah Potter:
A negative:
In a time of strapped resources, will news video sharing become the norm and could it help to boost local news on TV and the web?