(Editor’s Note: This is the last in a three-part series on local online news video, summarizing the findings of a thesis study that examined the Minnesota media market and their use of online video. Part one looked at content and part two examined design and usability. Love to hear feedback in the comments below.)

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It is clear that the economy has damaged efforts to expand and improve online video. Many local news sites have had to cut staff, and they are working to produce content in survival mode. However, video advertising is expected to have the largest growth out of any sectors in online advertising. In December, eMarketer released predictions for video ad spending, saying that it would rise by 45 percent in 2009 to reach $850 million. Though ad spending has slowed a bit, video advertising remains strong. The opportunities are tremendous. However, half of the local news sites have yet to implement or even sell a video advertisement.

Taking advantage of the expected growth and monetizing video content:

1. Internal hosting: It provides more opportunity to monetize videos. News sites with a significant interest in monetizing video content should move away from hosting content on sites like YouTube, which provide little opportunity for profit from revenue sharing.
2. Pre-roll advertising: It has proven the most effective thus far. Half of the local sites included pre-roll advertisements, while the rest did not incorporate advertisements in videos at all. The Star Tribune uses an effective system based on length of content, rather than a number of videos, before showing a pre-roll ad. This seems to be the best balance in incorporating advertising within videos without ruining the reader’s experience. WCCO’s Daenzer said post-roll ads are not attractive to clients because viewers rarely stick around to watch them. With pre-rolls, on the other hand, viewers already have an interest in watching the video and are more willing to sit through a short advertisement, Daenzer said.
3. Complementing ad forms: Incorporating a banner ad that complements the video ad provides more exposure on the page and is usually more attractive to advertisers.
4. A 15 second rule: None of the five news organizations that displayed ads used ones that were more than 15 seconds long. Because the attention span of online video viewers is lower than that of television, advertisements longer than 15 seconds are likely to lose a viewer, Daenzer said. Hulu and other sites have had some great success with offering longer ads to be able to watch shows ad free, but it is hard to tell whether a similar practice for news webcasts would be acceptable with viewers and appealing to advertisers.
5. Search: Search advertising is expected to grow as well, and news sites could take advantage of the revenue that Google search has been making money off of for years. If local news sites incorporate specific video searches, they could sell sponsored links to appear at the top.
6. Producing advertisements: According to Gordon Borrell, CEO of Borrell Associates, news companies need to create a separate staff with divergent ideas that will sell online advertising. As the economy recovers, local news sites should seek to hire specialized video advertising producers and online sales staff to tap into the online market. Video ads are still only a small piece of advertising. It totals only 5 percent of website revenues for newspapers and 10 percent for television websites.

More importantly, in all aspects, to expand and improve video, the local news sites will have to focus more efforts and resources online to decrease the gap difference in online versus print or on-air advertising. The need for quality, innovative approaches to online news video are greater than ever.

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Sites studied:

• Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) – Daily Metro Newspaper
• Pioneer Press (www.twincities.com) – Daily Metro Newspaper
• Minnpost (www.minnpost.com) – Online-only News Website
• The Minnesota Daily (www.mndaily.com) – College Newspaper, 4-days a week. (Disclosure: I have served as editor at this paper)
• WCCO (www.wcco.com) – Metro TV station
• KSTP (www.kstp.com) – Metro TV station
• KARE 11 (www.kare11.com) – Metro TV station
• FOX 9 (www.myfoxtwincities.com) – Metro TV station
• Minnesota Public Radio (www.mpr.org) – Public Radio station
• Minnesota Sun Newspapers (mnsun.com) – Community Newspapers (Most papers are weeklies).

(Editor’s Note: This is the second in a three-part series on local online news video, summarizing the findings of a thesis study that examined the Minnesota media market and their use of online video. The second focuses on design and usability. Tomorrow’s part three will explore advertising. Love to hear feedback in the comments below.)
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In addition to yesterday’s look at what’s working and what’s not in online video content, local news sites have a long way to go in reaching usability standards for video players, including location, presentation, buttons, hosting and more. Many news sites simply don’t have the resources for a redesign, especially at smaller organizations.

Corey Anderson, Web editor at the online-only Minnpost, said as a result of time and budget constraints, Minnpost.com has not been able to organize and showcase its video on the website. Clonts from the Pioneer Press had a similar sentiment, saying that the current focus is to develop a strategy in content and then build a strategically-designed multimedia page.

Usability improvements that should be made:

1. Location: The majority of the sites featured video content on the front page of the site. TV news sites especially did a great job in featuring its video players prominently on the front page. However, only two of the 10 sites featured the video player above the fold of the site. If news organizations are serious about exposing readers to its video content, the location of the player is very important. Furthermore, news organizations that place its player in the right sidebar should consider a re-design, since research shows readers viewing the first dominant image on the left side of the site first. John Daenzer, director of new media at WCCO, said he thinks having a player in the sidebar, above the fold, devalues the lead story at the center of the page.
   

   Presentation:	Number of sites (out of 10)	Specific sites (or exceptions)
   Embedded in articles	5	Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, Minnpost.com, KSTP, FOX 9
   Right column of story (sidebar)	2	KARE 11 and WCCO
   Link/thumbnail in article to video page	2	Star Tribune, The Minnesota Daily
   Independent on its own page	9	All except Minnpost.com
   Pop-out player	2	Star Tribune, WCCO

2. Connecting, embedding: Only half of the 10 sites connected readers between print and video stories that were related. Evidence shows that readers are much more likely to watch videos that are related to a print story. Anderson of Minnpost said that judging by the page views, videos seem to work better on the site when used with a story to enhance the readers’ understanding of the subject matter. The Star Tribune did a good job of connecting readers to its video content through multiple levels, something that other sites might take note on. Star Tribune’s site showcased video individually, embedded, on the front page and video page. This gives the viewer more possibilities to be exposed to the content. Durkin, senior Web producer at FOX 9, said not only is it beneficial for the design of the site and usability of the user to embed the player with related text stories, but it also keeps video content in context.
3. Navigation: It also plays a key role in exposing viewers to video and makes it easy for them to find video content. Sites such as the Pioneer Press and MPR did not include links to video content in its navigation bar, a poor example of providing useful navigation for viewers. This not only makes it more difficult for users to find video content, but likely contributes to fewer video plays.
4. Sharing and Buttons: The local news sites are still working to develop the technological platform that provides users with tools to better use and share the content. Some of the sites are still lacking fundamental buttons that should be included with all players. For example, KARE 11 does not include a volume button on its player. Only five of the ten sites included an embeddable player or link/HTML buttons. These options could increase the exposure of the videos by being embedded within external blogs and being linked from other websites.

Things to be considered in design and usability:

1. Button options: Because there is still very little research on the topic, news sites will have to conduct their own testing to determine which button options are truly helpful to readers. While players like that of Minnpost are simple in design, making it easy for a viewer to use, the readers also lose out on options to control the player’s functions and how they view video. However, a player that has complex options such as that of KARE 11 or WCCO may be overwhelming for the viewer, despite providing many options to control the functions of the player. The goal is to find a balance. WCCO’s Daenzer said the strategy behind the design of its player is easy usability by readers, which is why the player has a “pop-out” option that gives readers the ability to let the video load in an independent window as they browse the site. The news sites should look at the frequency use in each specific button and determine whether users truly find it helpful.
2. Hosting content: Where to host content is a question that is yet to be answered. While sites like MPR are posting their video content onto YouTube, other news organizations such as MN Sun are implementing their own video players and moving away from hosting content externally. Though posting videos onto YouTube may provide more exposure on that site, hosting content externally poses navigation issues from the internal site. For example, users navigating MPR’s website are not effectively directed to MPR’s YouTube channel. Furthermore, it requires readers to go elsewhere to view your content.
3. Mobile video: Similar to live video, mobile video is said to be the next big innovation in Web video. Providing readers with more ways to consume the content has become more important. As smart phones become more affordable, more readers will likely begin viewing content through handheld devices, and news organizations need to be prepared to meet that demand.
4. Categorization: It allows users to better interact and navigate through video content available. Most of the sites categorized content in the video section page, but editors may also consider placing content-specific videos within coverage sections (business, sports, etc.). For example, the business section would only include business-related videos. The concept is an expanded version of the principle of embedding related content. It is more likely to get played.

Tomorrow’s piece will look at how local online news video is incorporating advertising in an effort to monetize the content. I appreciate the feedback thus far. I will not for clarity that this study was done between January 2009 and was completed in May. Some of the sites have made changes since then and there is plenty more to investigate beyond this study, as noted in this thorough response and reflection on the study. There is still very little research out there and I hope that this will spur some discussion on the topic of online news video and whether news organizations should truly be investing their time into producing it. Perhaps the reward in ad revenue will justify an investment. Come back tomorrow for more on advertising.

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Sites studied:

• Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) – Daily Metro Newspaper
• Pioneer Press (www.twincities.com) – Daily Metro Newspaper
• Minnpost (www.minnpost.com) – Online-only News Website
• The Minnesota Daily (www.mndaily.com) – College Newspaper, 4-days a week. (Disclosure: I have served as editor at this paper)
• WCCO (www.wcco.com) – Metro TV station
• KSTP (www.kstp.com) – Metro TV station
• KARE 11 (www.kare11.com) – Metro TV station
• FOX 9 (www.myfoxtwincities.com) – Metro TV station
• Minnesota Public Radio (www.mpr.org) – Public Radio station
• Minnesota Sun Newspapers (mnsun.com) – Community Newspapers (Most papers are weeklies).

(Editor’s Note: This is the first in a three-part series on local online news video. The first focuses on content. Tomorrow’s part two will explore design and usability and part three will take a look at advertising.)

Though local news sites have expanded their production of content and made great strides in technological advances on their video platforms, they haven’t exactly reached the next threshold or industry standard in online video. In many cases, this “standard” is being set by media giants like CNN and user-generated social media sites like YouTube. In fact, a recent study shows that watching online video is more popular than Facebook or Twitter. The trend is continuing in that direction and the time spent watching online video has increased as well. And with YouTube now getting into the local news business with its News Near You feature that will grab news clips from sources that are 100 miles from your computer’s IP address, local news organizations should worry.

Many of the local news sites are still experimenting and beginning to define the type of video content they would like to produce. Below are lessons learned from a thesis study that examined how 10 local news sites in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA market used online video. The conclusions made here, are also gathered through interviews of editors at the respective organizations (Note: Several did not want or could not appear for publication as a result of organizational policies). The full study can be found here (beware it is about 60 pages in length). Below are the sites studied. However, I will also note that the study did not include TheUpTake, which actually provided a lot of online video content for many of the sites below and has had led some great innovations in online video.

• Star Tribune (www.startribune.com) – Daily Metro Newspaper
• Pioneer Press (www.twincities.com) – Daily Metro Newspaper
• Minnpost (www.minnpost.com) – Online-only News Website
• The Minnesota Daily (www.mndaily.com) – College Newspaper, 4-days a week. (Disclosure: I have served as editor at this paper)
• WCCO (www.wcco.com) – Metro TV station
• KSTP (www.kstp.com) – Metro TV station
• KARE 11 (www.kare11.com) – Metro TV station
• FOX 9 (www.myfoxtwincities.com) – Metro TV station
• Minnesota Public Radio (www.mpr.org) – Public Radio station
• Minnesota Sun Newspapers (mnsun.com) – Community Newspapers (Most papers are weeklies).

Here’s what’s working in content:

1. Feature news: Evidence points to most local news sites using video to cover feature stories. That is mostly because these types of stories have visual elements that lend themselves well to video footage.
2. Breaking news: It comes in second place for most produced video and works well. Even if it is raw, most editors agree that breaking news footage can really complement a story and drive a lot of traffic. Videos of the Fargo floods were among the most popular for the Star Tribune, many of them shot as news unfolded. Expanding breaking news video coverage will become less challenging, as more reporters become trained in shooting video. Corey Anderson, online editor at Minnpost.com, said that the veteran reporters at the organization have embraced the possibilities of new media and how video can further enhance their stories. As the technology gets cheaper and economy gets better, Anderson said Minnpost hopes to include video cameras in the journalists reporting “tool kit”.
3. Local video: Local coverage may be the golden rule. Most of the editors noted that local coverage received a more significant amount of traffic for its local videos. It is what viewers want and expect, said Mike Durkin, senior Web producer for Fox 9.

Content news organizations could do without or needs improvement:

1. Limited national news: It’s not ideal, but because local news videos are in higher demand, national videos are not. At least not for these local news sites, or not to the extent that the investment is worth the gain. Local news organizations that currently pay for Associated Press content may want to invest that money into funding more local coverage from its reporters.
2. Talking-head: News organizations should use talking-head video sparingly, if at all. Because users on the Web are easily distracted, this type of video content does not work well.
3. Engaging, shorter pieces: In general, news organizations that are new to video, such as the Pioneer Press, will need to extensively train their videographers in shooting quality video. Beyond the quality, news organizations need to better adapt their video content to Web users who expect shorter and more engaging content. The attention span threshold that most agree on and studies have shown is roughly 3 minutes, though it is expanding with the trend toward watching online TV shows on Hulu, etc. Chris Clonts, Web editor at the Pioneer Press, said his staff aims for 2-minute videos, but is still working on transitioning to the shorter style. “We need to do a better job of picking our subjects, but that is the goal of the attention span we are going after,” Clonts said. Here is the breakdown of average video length based on the 10 most recent videos:

Content that needs more exploring:

1. User-generated content: It could build a strong sense of community on a website. Most of the editors expressed interest in expanding or implementing user-generated content. Durkin from Fox 9 said he thinks user-generated video will be the next big development in online video for many news sites. Currently, out of the list of 10 local sites, only four sites (Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, MPR and MN Sun Newspapers) include user-generated videos. However, the question is whether users will continue to use platforms such as YouTube, rather than going to a news site. Regardless of how successful the user-generated content becomes, it is a low-cost way for a news organization to increase content and traffic with almost no cost in staffing.
2. Live online video: It’s expected to be the next big step in online news video. Some TV stations, like KARE 11 and FOX 9, have done a good job in using live video, but expanding it will be the key in driving traffic through video viewership. Online users expect immediacy, something that online live video will provide. Live video could also increase online competition. For example, newspaper websites may now be able to compete with TV stations in covering live events through a Web stream. Also, live video could be the spark that makes “talking-head” video more interesting and relevant. Live video can bring webcasts, like the Star Tribune’s “News Break”, to life by providing immediacy and an element of surprise to the content.

Tomorrow’s piece will take a look at usability and design and will also include comments from John Daenzer, new media director from WCCO. What’s working for you? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.