Newsrooms Revamp to Stay Local

As the news market gets ever more competitive, many traditional media outlets are looking to refocus on coverage where they have a competitive advantage.  Several sessions at the NAB Broadcast Management Summit explored the topic, with a focus on the options for local broadcast TV stations.
  Highlights -

• "It wasn't too long ago that all of our workflow was focused on the evening news at 6 and 11 p.m.," notes Brian Bracco, vice president of News at Hearst Television. "But now that we are competing with all these platforms, we've had to change our workflows so that we can be more agile and deliver the news in all formats and platforms the way consumers want it."

• "(Local TV news stations) are facing an aging demo and a declining demo for TV news at a time when the revenue dollars are increasingly being diluted and spread out over more outlets," notes Bill Hendler, chief technology officer at Chyron.  Finding a way to connect with younger demographics may be critical - Hendler continued,  "You are seeing a lot of energy focused around social [media] and social TV integration and second- screen platforms."
• TV News operations are being transformed by the development of smaller, lighter cameras and new remote access technologies. "Stations are taking steps to cut costs while increasing the content they create, so more and more stations are investing in lower-cost devices to bring news back to the studio over cheaper 3G and 4G networks," said Streambox CEO Bob Hildeman.
• Some speakers spoke of other cutting edge technology, such as robotic cameras and virtual set systems. "We think that augmented reality is a great way to differentiate yourself from the lower-end webcasters or online news and to offer viewers a much more immersive, higher-quality experience," explains Jeff Moore, executive vice president of Marketing and Sales at Ross Video.
•  Hearst's Bracco says they have already implemented a number of these technologies at Hearst stations, including the widespread use of smaller cameras and iPhones for ENG, and that these efforts are beginning to pay off in terms of larger audiences. "We had record traffic on our Web and mobile last year," he reports. "Some of that could have been associated with the terrible weather, but I think changing our operations to get more video onto the site and making it a more robust experience played a key role." 

The advantage of working in a digital networked environment is that it provides options and new opportunities.  The key is how quickly local TV newsrooms can find ways to use these to further exploit what they do best - provide local news and information.

Source -  Newsrooms Revamp to Stay Local,  NABShow Daily News