Stop trying to make television – it’s video

The online video bandwagon rolls on, with Media Week reporting that the Telegraph is to team up with ITN  for the “supply of broadcast content” (note the word ‘broadcast’). Meanwhile, today’s Press Gazette reports on the launch of new TV studios at VNU, and the Exeter’s Express & Star.

In all cases publishers seem to be making television – not video. A good example is the Telegraph’s video on London Fashion Week (WMV). It starts well – lots of footage of catwalk action: the sort of thing you can’t get across in print. But it then falls into standard TV package fare – headshot interviews with designers which could be much better placed in print where the reader can scan-read.

My suggestion: either drop the headshots and run the interviews over catwalk shots; or combine video footage with a text report.

A much better example – ‘Elephant Rampage’ (WMV). Quirky, compelling visuals, and a short piece which you could imagine on YouTube.

As for the Exeter Express & Star’s ‘Fire in Sowton’ piece, this begins with a TV news-style ‘presenter’ introducing the item before handing over to a reporter on the spot to deliver it. Why? On television, the presenter is there to anchor the whole and link different items, but online the webpage performs that function. This use of a presenter is not only wasting the viewer’s time, but the TV studio’s time. In fact, it begs the question, why do you need a TV studio at all? These publishers may come to realise they’ve wasted their money.