Use digital to innovate – but be patient to reap the benefits
Digital is the space for innovation and experimentation for local news, but station groups need to be patient to get their return on investment. That’s the key message from a US TV news veteran.
In the next episode of the Making the Media Podcast, host Craig Wilson talks with Gary Brown, former Senior VP with Meredith Local Media Group about the state of the local news market and the challenges facing stations throughout the USA.
On the podcast, Gary discusses the difficulty of resourcing an “always on” operation while continuing to provide high quality programs for TV.
“Where we are now is a realization that we have to be real time all the time on digital. But we still haven't figured fully all the mechanics yet because how many people are going to resource just for that? And what does that take away from your linear product? Because, let's face it, there aren't many people that are saying here's 10 more bodies for the news department, go make them a digital team that's just generating content, and that's where I go back to the ROI just isn't there yet. It can get there, but again, there's going to be patience, and it may never be the ROI like you would get adding in an hour long newscast on TV.”
Gary also talks about how the cloud can enable greater sharing of content between linked channels, discusses the continuing consolidation of station groups, and how technology needs to adapt to the needs of the modern newsroom.
He says that teams need to maximize the value of their content across all platforms in the most efficient way possible. “Let's not ask you to do additional things. Let's ask you about all the great things you do. How can you strip the audio for audio services? Or, how can you, if you were doing audio only, how can you add video to then give that a place on an app.”
Find out more on the next episode of the podcast, available on all major podcast platforms on Monday, February 7.
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Craig Wilson
Craig Wilson is a newsroom specialist with over thirty years of experience in the broadcast industry. Craig has held various roles with Avid and is now the Global Media and Cloud Product Evangelist and host of the Making the Media podcast.