Video: The Struggle for Newspapers & Magazines

The sirens for having more video content on newspaper and magazine websites have been blaring for years now. Except investment and implementation of video remains low and according to Publishing Executive research, remains at the bottom of the list. Why?
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It’s fairly simple; it remains expensive to produce and time consuming to implement. A lot of gear, editing expertise and storytelling brilliance remains expensive and thus elusive. Even if you have the latest iPhone.
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This is a bit of an oxymoron, since many a publisher is investing in analytics, which often indicates more video is demand by consumers. But there’s also evidence that the way consumers are consuming video is changing, including watching less and preferring shorter video.
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There’s another factor to consider and one which is incredibly important; data fees on mobile and YouTube. Many publishers feel creating a YouTube channel will take traffic away from their sites. Such fear is hurting their revenues more than helping. The other side is that consumers mostly watch videos on mobile devices, thus data costs become a concern for consumers unless they’re in a WiFi area. Audio and text remain cheaper and faster.
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So what’s a publisher to do?

Video is a core component of content. Most every publisher has some form of a video strategy and it has likely shifted and evolved over the years. And likely remains a point of contention.
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The short answer is that there is no one single solution that fits all publishers. But newspapers are finding ways, such as La Pulla out of Colombia’s El Espectador which mostly targets a young audience, but has been extremely effective.
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The biggest trouble spot we see is newspapers, less so with magazines, being afraid to really take advantage of YouTube. Newspapers have always been fiercely independent and this approach doesn’t work so well in the digital world. It’s kind of like saying you’re not going to drive a car because you don’t like that someone else paves them. Newspapers have to get over this. Done right, YouTube offers significant revenue opportunities and reduces costs for publishers.
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For any publisher, a video strategy is one that needs a lot of experimentation. Though that does mean cost, it doesn’t have to be expensive done right. You can move quickly and leverage a lot of existing in-house resources.
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Unsure? Give us a ring. We might be able to help. Or point you in the right direction.