For years now the news industry has been questioning the place for video in its online publications. Indeed smh.com.au and news.com.au have been trying to justify the place for this expensive, revenue-lacking and resource-sapping medium for almost a decade now, and it seems those sites that stuck with it are finally seeing the benefits; namely increased time on site and engaging viewers in a way traditional text media cannot.
A great case study in this was recently presented by the Miami Herald. Last year, MiamiHerald.com saw a 25 percent growth in video traffic, making it the second biggest traffic driver behind articles. The strategies in achieving this are nothing new, but what the Miami Herald has done is commit to its video content and tailored its output to suit the community it serves.
Audience Insights:
- Breaking news and sports videos generate the most views, in sync with their text content.
- The number one video on MiamiHerald.com last year got about 26,000 views and was a feature on how to handle frozen iguanas.
- The top videos were tied to breaking news and sports stories about a Playboy model who was murdered; five teenagers who were found dead in a hotel; and the construction of the Marlins’ new ballpark.
What we see here is a need for content to have a defined audience and exist in a space where that audience is already consuming content. This is the philosophy of Radical Love's "Social Video" concept, where video needs to have socially engaging qualities or it will not stand out from the noise of the internet's increasingly video-saturated digital ecosystem.
Content Insights:
- Shorter is better.
- Completion rates indicate popularity and engagement.
- Search optimisation is still problematic.
The Miami Herald originally tried to emulate the television news model of two-minute video pieces, but quickly found these drive limited and weak traffic. Online news is about being an insider to the action and recreating the experience of the event for the viewer. It's about being raw, immediate and compelling, and packaging that up in the shortest time possible.
Increase in video completion (which is over 50% on MiamiHerald.com) also has the benefit of reducing bounce rates across the site.
In terms of making the content, the Miami Herald employs two full-time videographers and two part-time videographers/photographers. This is essential in a small-staff environment as attempts at multi-skilling journalists lead to a decrease in quality across video and print media. It also fostered frustration from the workforce who didn't understand how to utilise communication in the visual medium.
Today, the Miami Herald produces 14 videos a week but struggles to offset costs with advertising revenue. Pre-roll advertising still isn't anywhere near covering the cost of production (despite the growing popularity of video), but sponsorship deals (especially in sport) for studio production are helping to close the gap.
Another strategy is cross-promotion of brand, with the Miami Herald sharing its 70-odd videos each month with television partners in the area. This increases the brand reach and drives more interest in the site. They also repost all their content to YouTube, which often gets thousands more views than the website itself.
Another strategy is cross-promotion of brand, with the Miami Herald sharing its 70-odd videos each month with television partners in the area. This increases the brand reach and drives more interest in the site. They also repost all their content to YouTube, which often gets thousands more views than the website itself.
Regarding innovation, the Miami Herald has been experimenting in longer-form documentary filmmaking. They recently produced a one-hour video on Haiti in partnership with public broadcasters and independent filmmakers. Knowing their was an appetite for the subject within their audience, the longer format worked with over 1 million hits contributed to it alone last January (an impressive 13% of all hits for all video content last year).
This is a format the Miami Herald is keen to continue. The cross-promotion with broadcast coupled to the longevity of the content popularity beyond the short-term news cycle are good reasons for the model to be further explored.
In regards to third-party video (such as content produced by the Associate Press), I think it's important to find a balance between local content and world events. Ensuring that news websites have the capacity to produce timely localised content will become increasingly important as geo-location applications become more ubiquitous in society.
Originally, many news providers were hesitant to feature national or international news video on their websites. What the Miami Herald has learned is that these bigger stories can draw audiences into their network and even provide localised opinion on bigger issues.
The future of video content online is clear, even if the financial models surrounding it are not. In an ever-increasing world of mobile screens and a growing demand for immediacy in information, news providers must ensure they are at the forefront of localised video content. Those that stick with a willingness to produce will see reward, so long as they stay true to their audience and devlop content that feeds their niche or market segment.
