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April 16, 2009

Video saves the newspaper star?

In the 1979 pop hit “Video Killed The Radio Star,” the Buggles sang about how television caused the death of radio. (“Pictures came and broke your heart . . .”)

These days, the talk in the media is about the potential death of newspapers. But is it possible that video could actually save newspapers? According to web consultants Brightcove, video streams from newspaper web sites increased dramatically last year, which represents good news for an industry struggling to keep afloat by finding ways of making more money online.

In a recent report using data from 187 newspaper partner websites, Brightcove says monthly uploads were up from 186 videos in 2007 to an average of 638 videos in 2008. Overall, total videos uploaded grew 1,500 percent in 2008.

The report also shows a 35 percent growth in video streams, and a 700 percent increase in player loads for 2008, which means that more papers are integrating video throughout their sites.

I bring this to your attention because I think we need to keep an eye on what’s happening in media and on web sites because it sets employee expectations about communication. So if employees are increasingly experiencing video as a way to get information on news (even newspaper) web sites, they’ll be looking for video on intranets as well.

And, in an era of increasingly reluctant readers, video is a more and more effective way to communicate.

As the Buggles sang, “We can’t rewind, we’ve gone too far.”

Posted by Alison Davis at April 16, 2009 08:06 AM