Posts for 'Newspapers'

Kurt Andersen's piece in New York magazine, You Must be Streaming, is getting a lot of viral activity today. It's the first mainstream media piece about the seriousness with which newspapers are going after broadband video and what this may mean for broadcasters.

Of course, last spring we released our report on how the top 40 U.S. newspapers are pursuing broadband video. Based on our analysis, it was clear that a high-stakes battle was on the horizon, as newspapers began to extend their brands and skills into the broadband video arena. This battle is only going to intensify as more newspapers realize that video is well within their reach and there's a whole lot of new revenue to be had by offering traditional and new advertisers the opportunity to run video ads adjacent to their budding video initiatives.

LA Times is reporting a full-on integration of its print and online news efforts is now happening, as the paper is in "a fight to recoup threatened revenue that finances our news gathering," as Times Editor James O'Shea put it. Hurray for them. We took a long look at newspapers' broadband video efforts in our Q2 '06 industry report and found that separate news operations was a key impediment to newspapers realizing their web/broadband opportunities.

At Broadband Directions, one of the mantras is that open broadband access allows all kinds of traditional media companies with no video heritage to get into the video business. Newspapers are a perfect example. Since our report last summer on the top 40 U.S. newspapers, I’ve been closely tracking their progress in broadband video.

Reading WSJ Online’s coverage of the NBC-News Corp deal I was very impressed with their approach. If you have an online subscription, the page is available by clicking here. Part way into the story, there were 2 video windows displayed, each with a caption describing the video. Clicking the play button resulted in an in-line, high-quality video. One with reporter Martin Peers, and the other an interview with S&P analyst Tuna Amobi. Both with unobtrusive 5 second pre-roll ads. Truly a “multimedia” experience. I thought it was a great example of how far at least one newspaper has come in incorporating video into their presentation of the news. A real user experience win.

Coicidentally, I’m going to have Bob Leverone, VP of Video at Dow Jones (who oversees WSJ.com video, among other properties) on my Cable Show ’07 panel in Las Vegas on May 9^th.

I think it will be a great opportunity for attendees to hear how yet another competitor is moving into video.