Era of the celebrity broadcaster fades on local TV

Era of the celebrity broadcaster fades on local TV

These quotes sum it up:

“The TV programs won’t be as personality-driven as they once were,” said Chet Curtis, who coanchored WCVB-TV (Channel 5) evening news as a powerhouse team with Natalie Jacobson, his former wife, and now works for NECN. “TV stations decided they could find reasonably attractive people and pay them less money and attract if not the same audience, in some cases, a larger audience.”

Moreover, media analysts said the increasingly fragmented media landscape makes it difficult to create local news celebrities and now stations are less willing to pay the six- and seven-figure salaries for top anchors.

“We’re in a totally different world in 2008,” said Philip S. Balboni, founder of New England Cable News and a former Channel 5 executive who in the early 1980s created the TV magazine show “Chronicle.” “It’s almost impossible to create a local news star today because viewership is so much reduced that no one gets the kind of exposure they did in the ’70s, ’80s, and early 1990s.”

Lobel, in an interview yesterday, said: “All the people that they were branding back when I was in the business – Liz [Walker], Jack [Williams], and Natalie [Jacobson] – all that is over. No one is branded anymore. The stations brand themselves. That’s just the way it is now.”

How To: Get Noticed by Video-Site Tastemakers

Web Video Report has an interesting Video 101 How-To for novices on getting videos noticed by “Video Site Tastemakers.” Some key points:

Save Money on Equipment … But Not Too Much
Don’t worry about buying a top-of-the-line professional camera to make your videos. Part of the charm of web-videos is their DIY charm. Having that said, most video sharing sites (ie. Dailymotion) are launching higher quality video, so you don’t want your videos to look TOO DIY … go with a mid-range video camera and you should be fine.

Find Your Own Voice
This is so important. Everyone is inspired by others, but make sure you’re taking inspiration and not copying. Viewers respond to originality, so do what comes naturally and don’t look back.

Keep It Short
Video shouldn’t drag on longer than 3-5 minutes. Users are one click away from distractions online, so the second a user gets bored, they will click away to something else.

Short Intros and Credits
Keep your intro simple and get your voice across in as few moments as possible. Your credits should fly by quickly, so save the fade-ins and dissolves for longer format films.

Dialogue
Once you’ve found your own, unique voice, let it be heard. Don’t be afraid to speak up and be yourself, but do make sure you have the proper microphone. Nothing kills a perfectly executed dialogue like the tin-can effect of a poor sound-recording job.

Music
Get your friend’s band to record something for you or lend you a track or two rather than ripping off Britney … or do something yourself. Besides, it’s illegal to use music that you don’t have the rights to, and who needs a lawsuit for using Metallica in the soundtrack to their freeboard blooper reel?

Edit Edit Edit
Trim the fat–the most viewed videos will flow uninterrupted by long breaks in action. Remember that viewers on the Web will click right away if they get bored by a long drawn-out sequence. Cut out unnecessary frames and keep the momentum for your viewer.

Use a Descriptive and Attention-Grabbing Title
Don’t include your profile/user name in the video title — use that space for a descriptive/funny/informative/attention-getting title.

Food & Fashion Companies Pursue Blog Reviews

Food & Fashion Companies Loving Blog Reviews

Candice Choi of the Associated Press reports on how food companies (and we assume every other major consumer goods products, luxury or not) are beginning to understand how much power is wielded by the food, fashion, and metro-regional city websites and blogs. No only do they realize it, they have now made this a major marketing strategy and treat the sites and writers like major journalists and New Media Tastemakers. With article titles like “Food Manufacturers Examine Food Blogs, An Emerging Marketing Tool,” the point is being made on a widespread basis.

In the SF Chronicle:

Food companies lap up blog mentions
Writers on every food group cook up free publicity
Obsessive Web sites evaluating the newest offerings have become must-reads for lovers of every type of food including frozen dinners, potato chips, candy bars and even energy drinks.

“Companies are paying attention to the concept of lots and lots of tiny little markets. Added up, it’s significant,” Weil said.

The single-minded focus of blogs may be in some ways more valuable than traditional marketing since it’s easier to target an audience, said Daniel Taylor, a senior analyst of digital advertising and marketing for the Yankee Group.

Speaker Bio: Lesley Scott-Silbergeld, FashionTribes

Lesley Scott-Silbergeld, FashionTribes

Fashion & lifestyle expert Lesley Scott is the New York City-based editor of Fashiontribes.com, one of the Top 10 fashion blogs.

Lesley was one of the first bloggers to cover New York Fashion Week as an accredited member of the press. An influential and respected member of the lifestyle blogging community, her expertise is regularly sought after by top New York public relations firms including Kaplow Communications and Marina Maher Communications, and she has appeared in Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, Women’s Wear Daily & USA Today. Most recently, she helped co-found the Fabbies, the first-ever blogger created awards dedicated to the fashion blogosphere.

Prior to Fashiontribes, Lesley covered New York style & trends as the Senior Editor for Coolhunt, a global trendspotting firm. Her byline as a Lifestyle Expert appeared regularly in countless international magazines about fashion, beauty, streetfashion, lifestyle, and pop culture – including Marie Claire in Asia, Jessica, 25 Ans, GQ Taiwan, and Elle Girl Korea.

Speaker Bio: Michael Chin, Kickapps

Speaker Bio: Michael Chin, Kickapps

Michael leads the company’s marketing and communications strategy and efforts to evangelize the market potential of social media and the KickApps platform for major brands, global media companies, independent publishers and professional web developers. He brings a broad background of experience in Internet and Web 2.0 technology, enterprise software, mobile entertainment and consumer electronics.

Before joining KickApps, Michael was a director at Bite Communications, a global communications consultancy serving both blue chip companies and emerging start-up brands. At Bite, he spearheaded the agency’s New York City expansion to establish its media and entertainment services portfolio. Prior to that, Michael was Director of Marketing at StormPlay Entertainment Systems and an Account Manager at Niehaus Ryan Wong. Michael has worked with numerous well-known brands, including Virgin Life Care, BEA Systems, VERITAS Software, Become.com, Creative Labs and Netscape.

Michael has a B.A. in Politics with certificates in Legal Studies and Peace & Justice Studies from the University of San Francisco.

The Truth Hurts – Video Series are Fantastic Marketing, Sometimes Poor Revenue Sources


You can only say that NewTeeVee’s posting on “How Not to Get Rich Quick; Create a Web Series” is a 100% accurate. Not many people know this but to make money on web video using standard practices is very, very difficult, even if you have millions of viewers. As they put it:

In a moment of rare (but appreciated) Internet candor about money, Yuri Baranovsky, creator of the hit web series Break a Leg, lays out exactly how much moolah his efforts over the past two years have yielded him. Short answer: bupkiss. Gawker quoted him as saying:

…until the Internet can produce any real amount of money for good creators, there’s no way it will ever be the future of TV as everyone in “new media” exclaims. The purpose of entertainment and art isn’t to get smaller, quicker and catchier; it’s to push the boundaries, to grow, to teach and to create. With no money and an endless stream of throw-away content made for a dime and worth about as much, the shows that can challenge network TV will eventually get grabbed up by those networks or they’ll just give up and go on to greener pastures – like carpentry and porn.

So, are we rich yet? Hardly. But we’re waiting for your call, Mr. Guffman.

There are some people making money on the web; the Ask a Ninja guys reportedly pulled in $100,000 a month for their show. But aspiring web creators should heed Yuri’s warning and hang onto their day jobs.

As Daisy Whitney of TVWeek adds:

Online video producers have a ways to go before they can support themselves on ad sales alone.

While advertisers are expected to pour $1.4 billion into online video this year—up from $775 million last year—that money isn’t yet trickling down in a meaningful way to episodic Web series, so online studios are either supplementing their income by providing production services or they’re riding the venture funding wave.

The bottom line: if you’re a New Media Tastemaker and you want to stay in the black — with or without video content — you’ve got to think long-term and way out of the box (or just have fun at what you’re doing regardless of the money).