Archive for the ‘Online’ Category

Anatomy of a news package

It’s Friday, and we thought maybe you’d need a funny video. From the BBC program “Newswipe,” this video breaks down what’s in a video news package… from the walking talking shot to the graphs and illustrations to grab viewer attention.

May contain some colorful British humor and language. Via TVByTheNumbers.com

CNN.com adds 360-degree Haiti feature

CNN.com has added a 360-degree view of Haiti. The unique part of this view is that it was taken from a vehicle driving down a street and users can pause or even pan around while the clip is still moving.

It’s an interesting application that’s does do a good job of “placing” the user at the scene of the news, but could benefit from a bit more information. One possible improvement would be “hot spots” where users can click or hover over to get more details. For example, perhaps a location where a rescue took place.

Check out the interactive clip here.

MSNBC.com adds ad options to video player

MSNBC.com has added advertising preferences to some of its online video clips, giving users the option to see fewer ads or shorter ads, as shown above.

(more…)

AP finally activates Twitter, Facebook to help cover Haiti quake

The Associated Press has finally hopped on the social media bandwagon, flipping the switch on its Facebook and Twitter profiles to aid in covering the devastating earthquakes in Haiti.

As of this morning, the Twitter account was at about 3,600 followers, while the Facebook page had just over 1,000 fans.

It’s interesting to note the timing of the launches — was AP planning to launch these around this time already and decided to use this big story as a good jumping off point? Or maybe AP management was waiting for a “big” news story? It’s also worth noting the launches come on the heels of the end of Google’s hosting of AP stories.

The NewsMarket acquires Mediaseed

Medialink, the parent company of Mediaseed, has been acquired by The NewsMarket.

Medialink was recently acquired by The NewsMarket, the leading online distribution platform used by the world’s media.  By combining services, we can now bring you one of the most comprehensive online libraries of multimedia content to support your newsgathering efforts.  Now you will have access to content from hundreds of global organizations, in streaming, broadcast, and HD-quality, that is free for your editorial use.

We profiled Mediaseed during our coverage of NAB 2008. The service allowed users to quickly find and download video clips for use on air and online through a variety of formats.

The new partnership will combine resources of the two operations and provide more content for free to news organizations.

New CNN.com boasts more traffic

Broadcasting & Cable has the traffic numbers for CNN.com since the redesign:

Early numbers are in following CNN.com’s major redesign in late October, and the results look promising.

In November 2009, CNN.com served 89.1 million video streams, a 6% increase over last year. CNN says that beat no. 2 MSNBC digital by 2.6 million streams and no.3 Yahoo! news by 36.9 million streams.

In terms of time spent watching video, CNN Digital brought in 215.5 million minutes that month.

Read More on B&C

Google launches ‘living stories’ project

Google has launched an experimental new site that offers up “living story” pages as a partnership between it and newspaper publishers.

(more…)

Rhode Island station launches six hyperlocal sites

WLNE-TV, the ABC affiliate serving Providence, R.I., has taken the wraps off six neighborhood Web sites.

The blog-style sites include news updates as well as business directories and local information.

The hyperlocal Web site model has been increasing popular lately. Belo unveiled 43 sites in the Seattle area earlier this year and MSNBC.com purchased neighborhood news site EveryBlock.

Stations eye app revenue

Broadcasting & Cable has an interesting story on the rise of smart phone applications at local TV stations.

“Stations’ forays into the app space seem to resemble their efforts to launch Websites a decade or two ago: build the beachhead, and buy oneself time to figure out the revenue model,” the article reads.

The article mentions that while 2009 was a key year on launching these products, 2010 will be the year for monetizing them. Stations have already begun to experiment with free apps that have built-in advertising and paid apps, such as a hurricane tracking tool in Tampa that sold 3,000 copies at $3.99 a pop.

Market experts say a mid-size station could bring in $25,000 to $50,000 in advertising revenue if the product is promoted well and gains a following.

Meanwhile, Gray television says 50,000 users download apps from its stations in the 30 to 45 days since the group launched them.

PBS relaunches ‘NewsHour’ Web site

As it prepares to relaunch its flagship news program, PBS has unveiled a new online look for the soon-to-be-renamed “NewsHour” program.

PBS has said the site relaunch is a key part of the overall new direction for “NewsHour,” the broadcast side of which debuts Monday.

(more…)

MSNBC adds social media toolbar to some stories

We noticed MSNBC.com has added a floating social media sharing toolbar to some story pages.

The toolbar provides one-click access to share content via Newsvine (an MSNBC-owned property), Facebook, Twitter and via e-mail.

MSNBC upgrades online video player

MSNBC has unveiled some upgrades and a new look to the embedding and sharing portions of its online video player.

The new tools allow users to embed video clips at different sizes and adds integrated Twitter, Facebook and Newsvine sharing tools. Users can also trim clips to custom lengths using sliders similar to those seen on Hulu.

The size options provide a good level of flexibility for bloggers and other online publishers who may require a certain size to fit their layouts.

(more…)