We see video in your future

A confluence of trends is making online video more important, and, in many respects, easier to do…

Candidates "broadcasting themselves" — and their opponnents — by now seems like old hat. And it is. This fall, Web video is part of virtually every big campaign's toolbelt. With political spots spreading across the net like stink bugs, it's easy to forget that this is just the second midterm of the YouTube era.

That's right, four years ago online video as we know it — fueled by Flash compression and broadband adoption — was just beginning to hit its stride. If Web video was only getting going then, there's no telling what it will look four years from now. The five trends outlined below, however, offer some clues:

Internet TV

It looks like the gamechanger that is the marriage of the Web and television sets might finally be upon us. The new Google TV, a revamped Apple TV, their competitors and next-generation video game consoles promise to finally deliver true Internet TV, possibly as soon as this fall. Consider this your save the date.

Mobile video

Web video on family room bigscreens promises to be, um, big, but so does video on the smallscreens in our pockets and purses. Mobile video is "exploding," and should grow even faster as more 4G networks come online, ReadWriteWeb reports. Meanwhile, tablets, another technology that appears to be finally living up to its hype, are creating a brand new market for longer-form, higher production value Web video.

Social video

Even the least social media savvy among us probably knows the term "viral video." Yes, as Rick Astley, Kevin Heinz and Jill Peterson and Antoine Dodson know all too well, videos are the most spreadable of spreadable media. Videos also promote the stickiness, or prolonged engagement, advertisers covet. All of this makes video likely to be a big part of any social network's growth strategy, as we're seeing with the #NewTwitter. Twitter's biggest update since its 2006 launch allows users to view video and other media embedded in tweets without leaving the service.

Broadband expansion

One out of every three American adults does not have high-speed Internet in his or her home. Watching video, tedious on dial-up, is impossible, obviously, for the 80 million Americans with no home Internet access of any kind. The federal government and corporate projects like Google Fiber are making earnest efforts to bring highspeed into more households. This, in addition to providing residents with a service some countries have deemed a human right, will increase demand for Web video.

Production and distribution advances

As demand for online video increases, it's, fortunately, becoming easier to fulfill thanks to technological advances in video acquisition, editing and distribution.

Bursting onto the market three years ago, super portable, super easy to use Flip video cameras turn anyone holding one into a potential videojournalist. By offering similar functionality plus live-streaming ability on a device users are already carrying around, video camera-equipped smart phones could displace Flips and similar cameras as quickly as they arrived, some predict.

The rise of cloud computing, meanwhile, both simplifies storage of this data-heavy medium and creates exciting collaboration opportunities, as video editing community Stroome demonstrates.

Finally, HTML5, in addition to enabling some real nifty interactivity, eliminates the need for video plugins, making life easier for developers and providing users a consistent experience across platforms.

…Yet, few news orgs excel at it

Newspapers and television stations should excel in online video. However, the results have proved spotty for a number of reasons: the news industry has seen massive layoffs in the past few years, resulting in fewer individuals who may have the skills to create videos and less money to devote to new projects; journalists are crunched for time, so creating quality videos becomes a challenge; and repurposing video content on an ever-evolving news cycle makes for another huge challenge.

What to do, what to do? Our advice? Baby steps. First, let’s take a look at some examples of how some news organizations use video.

60 Minutes

This journalistic giant uses video incredibly well. Of course, it helps that its main medium is television, but notice how all the big pieces are chunked into shorter videos, a better fit for an online audience. They have longer stories, like this one on football players coming from the island of American Samoa. But notice the shorter clips featured as well. Viewers have a choice as to how they want to consume that content.

The New York Times

The Times has a nice, visual, browsable video page, complete with a variety of content. This includes a daily news briefing and even simpler photo-driven stories. What works best here is the design. That’s not video-related, but you’d be hard-pressed not to click on more than one video story on this page.

The Roanoke Times

This Southwest Virginia paper has found success with its high school football video coverage, and that makes sense, since football is popular in many areas, especially the South. The Times also launched a multimedia investigative series on Interstate 81 crashes. It has a number of interactive features, but video drives the content, with several shorter videos that help weave a larger narrative.

The Shelby Star

This smaller newspaper in North Carolina has a specialized SUV, equipped with a dash-cam. Web users can watch the camera live if a reporter covers an event with the Star Car. This approach delivers such immediacy to Web users, and gives them that “I was there” feeling in the most convincing way.

Tips for better online video

If you want to start diving more into video, check out this resource from the Newspaper Association of America on online video. It’s two years old, but much of the advice still proves relevant. Next, dive into five simple tips that will help you make better online video for your news organization:
  • Aim for short. Two to five minutes still seems to be best practice in terms of video length. We would say, if you plan to go longer than two minutes, you better have a good story to tell.
  • Follow the basics of storytelling. You’ll want to make sure you gather footage that will set the scene and establish your characters. This footage is often called B-roll, and extends beyond the interviews you conduct. For example, if you’re shooting a high school football game, make sure you get close-ups of players, crowd reactions, action shots of cheerleaders and band members, scenic shots of helmets, stadium and signs and anything else that’s visually appealing.
  • If you nail only one thing, make sure you have excellent audio. Without solid audio, no one will stick around for the entirety of your videos — guaranteed.
  • Speaking of basics: use a tripod. Nothing screams amateur louder than shaky shot after shaky shot. You can shoot without a tripod, but make sure you have plenty of stable footage before you go it on your own.
  • Think outside the box and embrace simplicity. This video thing doesn’t have to be complicated. Perhaps behind the scenes footage of your newsroom planning sessions are just want your audience wants. And hey, you know you could just ask them what they want using social media.
Posted on Wednesday, Sep 29, 2010 by