July 10, 2009

Advance news organization changing video to match market

No longer daily, no longer read and rip and now grabbing an audience so says Neiman Lab of Ledger Live, the video show that started out as a daily, noontime video show. (The first one is still up.)

To be honest, I figured it died when John Hassell moved out the Star-Ledger into Advance Internet. Neiman explains that the smaller staff that resulted from the 200 or so buyouts is partially to explain for the irregularity and focus change.

Head to the lab for details on lessons learned:
“People want to watch two, three, four minutes of video on the topic they’re interested in,” host Brian Donohue said. “They don’t watch it in the linear fashion they watch on TV.”

The production drew mixed reviews when it first came out last July. Andy Dickinson asked July 29, 2008, if Ledger Live could save "newspaper video." He didn't really answer the question, but he did link to many of the others talking about the show, including:
Even as the effort was beginning, Rosenblum said change would be necessary:
"We’re gonna find out because newspapers like the Star Ledger and others are going to try and try and try again as they fine tune it and really invent it on the fly."
"At about 2:40 into this one, which is good and fun, and has personality and life to it, even if there’s some desk-sitting involved in the process, Brian Donohue takes a typical crackpot reader comment about immigration and does the fricking reporting."
  • DOUG FISHER on Commonsense Journalism called the snarking a shootout. and giving what I still think is good advice for video on the web:
    • Aim at a mobile audience
    • Be tight but newsy and have some attitude (translate: make me smile, make me growl, give me something to think and talk about while you're also bringing me up to date)
    • Stay fresh - update two or three times a day (the "we're airing this at noon and we'll update it tomorrow" is not going to cut it)
    • Have good visuals but remember your audience likely is to be mutitasking and so can't necessarily stay focused on your little screen.
John wrote 10 times about the show, including:
Video is becoming a growing part of the New Jersey experience. Neiman reminds us that some Star-Ledger video content will be making that transition soon: the newspaper recently announced a partnership with Verizon FIOS in which it will provide high school sports video on a hyperlocal station for FIOS subscribers.

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