Analysis on video penetration and the change it exerts on media newsrooms.
By Erick Vilaró*
A few years ago, when there was little talk of a crisis in the media in Colombia, large media houses had their own video platforms, for example, citytv.com.co, and music videos entered with force to a page that, since 2005, was born to dominate the market: YouTube.
From 2010 to 2014, the strength of video tripled and the media began to see an opportunity, the future of which was unclear. Very few visionaries made the decision to support the creation and realization of videos, in a digital world that generated great fear for investors. Without leaving aside the resistance of a print/digital newsroom that felt comfortable, and that did not want to have more workload, more things to do, or think; worse, that he did not wish to support the incursion of new platforms, models, or digital formats out of fear.
The video in the media came to make a change on a general level. After 2014, platforms such as Facebook and Twitter launched the option to upload videos to the social network. While those own platforms (something similar to what is now called OTT) disappear.
Why read if I can see
In the midst of the digital age and the trend of the Video Boom, new audiences: Millennials and Centennials begin to identify with the phrase 'why read, if I can see'. These generations prefer audiovisual content, designed especially for digital media, over other content formats in Colombia.
If we look at video-on-demand (VOD) consumption metrics on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram about news events, event coverage; special documentaries, informative web series, opinion, among others, prove to be of great importance for the media due to different factors.
For example, the increase in the time spent on the portal, large numbers of reproductions in audiovisual content, engagement, the data they throw, and one of the most interesting and important topics, the monetization of a commercial cake that grows significantly every year, as reported by IAB in its digital trends report 2019.
Now, another interesting point is the change in the concept that this format exerts on journalists in newsrooms. After so much rejection, today the video is part of the content highlighted in the 'home' of the news portals.
Journalists think from the audiovisual and propose their topics in the editorial boards from their visual impact, with video being the main focus of digital content. Which leads to the increase in the production of these contents, offering a wide variety of formats for audiences.
Playbacks vs playback time
The reports that the media deliver to companies such as IAB Colombia, on the behavior of their digital users, printed units of newspapers, viewers and, of course, video reproductions, generate the need for greater content creation, due to the competition they produce.
Usually, an increase in the number of views is observed, with the passage of days since the publication of a video. However, the important thing is the time of consumption of a video, because this figure shows a closer reality of the user and the content.
Platforms like Facebook show the views as a great achievement for the creator, but if you look at the metric in detail, the video was consumed 20 seconds on average. And very few users consume 90 to 100% of the content; this for audiovisual content creators is catastrophic.
On the other hand, to highlight a content YouTube demands better consumption times. That is, to improve consumer and interaction engagement. Emphasizing that the video must be observed by the user between 80 and 100% of the content. In Colombia, according to video consumption reports delivered by Google, the average time is 2 minutes 40 seconds.
Product monetization
As the production of audiovisual content on platforms such as YouTube and Facebook overflows, these companies decide to make different agreements with the media.
Facebook launches Journalism Project in order to train journalists in the production of digital, audiovisual content, connecting communities with meaningful products.
Meanwhile, YouTube provides special tools such as 'Content ID' for the execution of copyright protocols and creates certification programs such as the YouTube Partnership, in which newsroom staff are trained in the production of different content focused on young audiences.
And in the midst of the economic crisis where every peso counts, and new forms of monetization are demanded, Google makes a special agreement with the Editorial House EL TIEMPO, this being the first in Latin America, to obtain the 'Player for Publisher'. This helps to increase advertising revenue on own content, by obtaining 100% revenue share of the advertising sales of the medium, activated in the YouTube player, inserted in the portal.
Innovation in formats
Video allows content creators a freedom in the realization of audiovisual formats. Genres of opinion today are well exploited with products such as Hola Soy Dani, La Puya, Polas Opuestos, Diegol Tv, among others, which like the chronicle and pure reportage make their way into the consumption of digital video.
The success of these is not only due to having creative or experimental formats, it is a well-thought-out product, from the journalistic point of view; without forgetting the narrative of an audiovisual structure storytelling, which allows to give life to the product through emotions.
Similarly, the innovation of audiovisual formats is also found in live broadcasts, which is the current challenge for the media, and another of the new requests of YouTube and Facebook.
Journalists, filmmakers, journalists. What must come.
The production of videos is not only for the media, but also for any type of company or person that generates content of interest. Whether it is a legal office, a health company, a construction company, a flower shop, a school, a university, an airport, state institutions, among others.
In addition, now the roles have mutated. Journalists are not only dedicated to researching and writing articles, but also to producing content; and filmmakers investigate and understand more the informative context, the story, and look for new ways to narrate and deliver digital products.
Of course, all content must be well displayed under a distribution plan that contemplates social networks and the advances of each platform. Like YouTube's recent launch, of the editorial timed dialing tool, which allows the user to perform a Google search and locate them in the exact time of the video, where what they are looking for is explained.
Finally, different formats and platforms should be explored, such as podcasts that are growing in the country; OTT platforms, collaborative content creation, interactive, live and 360 videos from drones; mobile delivery tools, video accelerators such as Facebook's, and interconnected streaming with active user participation. This is the best time to explore and create digital content.
*Erick Vilaró is a staff professor at the University of La Sabana, an expert in digital media, live, VOD, OTT and former head of video Casa Editorial El Tiempo. You can contact him through his email [email protected]
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