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Part Two: Thriving in the “Me” era

The the producers of popular American television shows such as South Park, The Daily Show and the Colbert Report realised early on that their shows were not just hits on the air, but also on the web. Their shows, both in the form of clips and full episodes, regularly appeared on video sharing platforms like YouTube, often generating hundreds of thousands of views.

Although their network, Comedy Central, is owned by Viacom, which is currently embroiled in the famous billion dollar YouTube lawsuit, they decided to take a different approach. Rather than demanding removal of the online videos, they decided to post the videos themselves. They created their own sites, including South Park Studios, which allows viewers to watch the full episodes in high resolution and even embed clips into their sites.

The result was a boon, especially for South Park, as one of their episodes, Canada on Strike, became a viral video online. Best of all, it opened the series up to new advertising opportunities, including sponorships from Toyota and Sonic, a major American fast-food chain.

This approach has become somewhat popular with those in the entertainment industry. Even major networks such as NBC and Fox getting involved with their Hulu offering, news organisations have been slower to adapt.

However, those who thrive in the “Me” era will be the first to realise the opportunities.

Meeting needs

What made the Comedy Central stars so successful was that they saw the marketplace for their content and rushed to fill the need themselves. Consumers, as the web becomes a more common platform on which all people get news and entertainment, will demand more and more flexibility in how and when they consume their content.

That desire is not going to go away. If it is unmet, it will be filled either by illegal means or by competitors. The longer companies fight the wishes of their customers, the more they risk alienating them and pushing them toward such alternatives.

According to many in the industry, that is exactly what happened to the record labels. Alhough they successfully secured the closure of Napster in 2000, no major legal alternatives existed at the time and file sharers moved on to other services, regardless of legality. By the time iTunes opened in 2003, file sharing had already well exceeded seen during the Napster era. Since then, while digital downloads have seen steady growth, they have not made up for the loss of business on the traditional side.

Many news organisations are faced with a similar problem but are continuing to stand by their traditional business models, even as readership and advertising revenue begin to slide heavily.

However, it is not too late for most news organisations to change course. It just may require a different view on what it means to control your content.

Taking control by letting go

If a blogger wants to take a clip of your content and put it on his site so he can add his own commentary, he will very likely do so. And, in many cases, fair dealing or fair use may make it perfectly legal for him to do so.

However, many respond to this by locking down the content, using DRM to prevent its copying and sending threatening letters to any who use it. While the law may also allow that, it has done very little to stop the use of the content. It has resulted in many taking drastic steps to get the content they want where they want it.

But by avoiding lock-in and encouraging embedding, news organisations turn these likely infringements into potential opportunities. With legitimate embedded content, copyright holders can do the following things:

• Track: It is possible to know how many times a clip, image or article has been viewed.
• Brand: Such content can be framed so that others know who the source of the content is, unlike with many unofficial uploads.
• Profit: These embeds offer a chance to run adds or promote partnerships, creating a chance to earn revenue from the material, while it is displayed on another site. It is possible to know how many times a clip, image or article has been viewed.

Almost any content creator would prefer to have their own site, newspaper or TV station be the preferred destination for their content. But if consumers have other wishes and there is still a means to benefit from their viewership, it makes sense to do so.

Tools to consider

When trying to meet these customer needs, there are several potential tools and resources to consider depending on the types of content you produce.

• RSS feeds: RSS provides not just a powerful tool to allow readers to obtain your information when and where they want, but is also becoming an increasingly powerful advertising platform. It may likely become a significant revenue stream for many sites in the years to come.
• Video/audio embedding: Sites such as Voxant Newsroom and Brightcove make it easy to get video content on the web quickly and make it available for easy embedding into other sites. Voxant also makes it easy to earn revenue from each view by building an advertising network into their media product.
• Customisable homepages: The BBC offers an excellent example of what a simple customisable home page might look like. Users can select the types of news to be displayed, rearrange the order, change the colour, get localised weather information and generally create their own news page. This not only keeps visitors on the site, but encourages them to visit more often.
• Widgets: Creating special widgets both for the web at large as well as for popular social networking sites, such as Facebook not only reaches new audiences, thus promoting the brand, but lets users create a more customised experience.

All totalled, it is about giving the user the experience they want in a way that still allows you to profit from and benefit from their attention. It is a difficult balance and there will still be many cases where you have to protect your copyright and step in on illegal uses that harm your company, but by offering the tools yourself, you can keep those cases to a minimum and help your company grow its web presence.

Conclusions

The simple fact is that journalism has changed. For most, it will be better in the long run to try and use the changes to their advantage rather than try to fight them.

For those who can change and are willing to, now is the time. Smaller, more nimble competitors are already entering the marketplace and may soon be better poised to exploit these market forces. If they become too entrenched, they could take a huge bite out of traditional media’s position on the web.

Journalists still have an upper hand over the web at large - but that edge will not last forever.

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