Radio stations are taking steps in the direction of local TV sites. Last week 140 CBS stations signed up for WorldNow’s video system. See the player on the homepage of WCBS-AM.
CBS RADIO says that “rethinking and evolving business has led us to this transformation and in the very near future every station will have a major video component transforming radio from a purely audio medium to a visual one as well”.
Debuting on the websites of four of the company’s New York stations (www.fresh1027.com, www.wcbs880.com, www.923krock.com and www.wfan.com), the launch of CBS Radios means they will be allowed to create individual and personalized branded video players, which will permit them to feature station content, syndicate video both internally and externally, share and distribute videos to multiple destinations and embed video clips to share with other via social networking sites.
This technology also creates advertising and specialized sponsorship opportunities for CBS’s clients, including branded players and content, studio imaging, advertorials and in-video advertising.
“From a content perspective, no one is better positioned than radio to take advantage of online video with literally thousands of hours of original programming being produced every week. Previously you could only hear that material on-air or online. Now audiences will be able to see what happens at their favorite radio station and interact with our brands and personalities in an entirely different way, and we’ll be able to extend our reach through the distribution capabilities the new player affords us,” says CBS Radio.
In addition to broadcast simulcasts, live concert performances, in-studio interviews, breaking news and original programming exclusively for the web, the new player will also spotlight content provided by the audience and solicited by the station. Effortless upload functionality will facilitate an immediate dialogue between the station and its listeners via videos emphasizing developing news stories, current event, entertainment or comedy.
More and more new mobile sites
Newspapers need to become mobile, and develop local services around it. Some Media outlet like Associated Press has decided to invest on start-up companies.
They invested $3 million in mobile news services start up Verve Wireless, whose mission is to save the local paper by making it mobile. This company powered AP’s recently announced Mobile News Network.
Besides the AP, Verve is helping build about 4,000 mobile sites and working with more than 60 media companies, including San Diego Tribune and the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Verve had previously raised $2.5 million in first round of investors.
Newspapers’ webcast are up
More and more newspapers launch their webcast. The last one is New Jersey’s main newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark.
Their video news show is hosted and produced by a veteran reporter, and is focused on New Jersey stories. It averages 5 minutes in length, and features video stories done by reporters, photographers, graphic artists and editors.
The Star-Ledger has trained 20 people across all departments in newsroom. Each is to produce one video story a week as part of their regular duties on the 300-person news staff. See behind the scene video. (Truth be told, the webcast is boring, and is far away –from now- from TV standards).
The webcast stream live at noon and is available at any time at nj.com. It is offered in an embeddable player.
Widgets, a low-cost distribution option to engage fragmented audiences
Increasingly, content providers view widgets –a small chunks of HTML code that create a container into which content can be continuously pushed- as a low-cost opportunity to dynamically distribute content to opted-in audiences. Similarly, advertisers look at widget advertising as an opportunity to reach targeted, engaged audiences.
One of the latest successful examples is EgoTV, a broadband content startup who is distributing its “Malibu U” program through Clearspring's widget platform. EgoTv explains that about 50,000-75,000 unique visitors/day can now see his widget. They are able to track video traffic across all places the widget is embedded and when they push a new episode, users are automatically notified. (See how it works for example on a Facebook page).
Widget ads can work in all kinds of ways, including banners, pre/mid/post-rolls and overlays. Clearspring’s shown ad has in the upper right corner a little peel-back flap (similarly VideoEgg’s new AdFrames uses the same approach).
Clearspring’s play is to create a “Widget Ad Network” by aggregating the content flowing through its widgets. With 4 billion pieces of content server through its widgets each month and working with many of the top 100 publishers, they are able to offer targeted inventory to media buyers who want to tap into the web 2.0 world.
Widgets have gained widespread popularity with the rise of web 2.0 social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, as users can select different widgets for embedding in their personal pages. A user can also embed widgets in personal content sites using iGoogle, PageFlakes, or others, or can use widgets right on their desktop.
CBS HD gallery
CBS.com has launched an HD video section. Here CBS features full-length shows like CSI, Survivor and Big Brother in 720p, sponsored exclusively by Intel. The site is called CBS HD Gallery.
Innovative archive video site
KXLY.com, an ABC affiliate, has launched a new video archive site. The site has more than 10,000 video clips dating back several years. You can stream or embed any of the video for free at video.kxly.com.
All of the video is available for download –for a fee.
New JibJab 2008 Election Video
The JibJab guys have released their last cartoon focused on the current presidential election. In addition, they have created a new “Sendables” feature, which allow users to upload their picture and be a part of the video too.
