NAB: Tear Up Your Website
By Michael Malone -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/18/2007 3:18:00 AM
Hire web-specific people to redo your station Website, and keep the TV people away from the project. That was the message from the guys behind the popular Lost Remote blog in their RTNDA session “‘Redesign’ Your Web Content With the Lost Remote Guys.”
The presenters, Cory Bergman of KING Seattle, Steve Safran of AR&D and Stephen Warley of 602 Communications, repeatedly asserted that the television approach was not working online for stations. “If your Website was a hotel brochure, you wouldn’t stay there,” said Safran. They stressed treating the Web much differently, such as tapping into niche departments like real estate and community events.
“Advancing page views is a terrible strategy,” said Safran, who in fact spent much of the session heavily criticizing station managers’ online efforts. “It’s niche, not numbers.”
The presenters stated that newspapers, despite their well-publicized online struggles, were doing a much better job of grabbing local business. A recent study they shared showed that newspapers scored $81 million in online video ad revenue, ahead of local television’s $32 million. That newspapers were beating television at its own game, they found particularly galling.
Bergman mentioned his surprise that, on the resume board outside the ballroom, only 15-20% of the posted C.V.s mentioned online experience. He suggested stations begin with small innovations online, and build upon the successes. “Start with little experiments,” he said. “If it doesn’t work, you can take it down.”
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I'd like to address a different angle and that is noncommercial use of web video, using it for education, entertainment and community building without the burden of selling or counting eyeballs. At uvu.channel2.org,
we are attempting to “Start with little experiments†and hopefully create a space for online video with a mission in contrast to the commercial models.
Neal Hecker - 4/19/2007 6:46:00 PM EDT -
Whoa whoa. Slow down. As it stands, no particular media''s jump to the web can be seen as a big positive or big failure as of yet.
-TV vs. Newspaper Video Success: TV stations have a very solid platform to sell from and the online commercial advertising on the web is still young. For the most part commercial time online or sponsor web presence or sponsorship is often given away because of the station''s focus on the sale of TV air, as well as the fact that leverage deals are made to give away web sponsorship or online commercial time for the buying of onair commercial schedules. That is still the bread and butter of the industry.
Newspapers are just that, newspaper, a format that is/ has been sinking for quite awhile. Gasping for breath, they are jumping ship immediately and reaching for $$$ while their is still time to make some. TV on the other hand, while the boat has been rocked a few times, has a much better grasp on the formats and is way ahead of newspaper in the sound and visual delivery of content.
We are currently in the midst of TV & Web convergence, with the availability of network and local television stations LIVEStreaming their newcasts online, as well as network programming featured online. Once the process of scheduling commercial time to the web is created much like that which is done for onair scheduleing, watch out. Newspapers will be foundering in TV/WebTV''s wake.
Biff P. - 4/18/2007 4:43:00 PM EDT
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