Welcome to 2018. Amid all the usual predictions about our business, I’ve been thinking about the faces of local TV. As change and retirements seem to become more frequent, so does the notion that maybe it’s not about people anymore. Is it just a “content machine” we need to mind? There’s discussion that the network [...]
Have you seen HQ? I’m talking about the app called HQ. Actually, I hadn’t seen it until my 34-year-old son showed it to me last week. It seems to be hot among millennials. Chances are GMs, station managers and news directors will say the same thing I did: Why didn’t I think of that? The [...]
So, Bruce is on Broadway … and has received great reviews for what he calls his first real job, Springsteen on Broadway. But this blog isn’t about his music. It’s about his philosophy… a philosophy worthy of all our consideration, and directly applicable to news delivery. In a very insightful New York Times article (link), [...]
Maybe it’s just me. But I don’t get it. Why do some TV stations continue making Facebook their primary platform for breaking news and especially breaking video instead of their own platforms? Why not make sure the content gets on the station’s revenue platforms? Facebook is a marketing platform. Sure, use it to tell people [...]
This time Facebook is going after weather -- local weather, one of a station’s primary content drivers. Jimmy Kimmel may have said it best when talking about his reaction to watching reporters putting themselves In the middle of severe weather: “We don’t pay much attention to them anymore because we now get the weather on [...]
Amazing. Unbelievable. Engaging. The live images we saw from the local stations and cable networks covering the Hurricane Harvey aftermath were almost overwhelming. Technology has pushed live reporting to a new level. Crews weren’t stuck to a stationary position tethered to a microwave or satellite truck. Viewers were taken live into the middle of the [...]
Sitting high and dry a thousand miles from the Harvey disaster unfolding in Texas gives you a different perspective on the story. As local stations in Texas and the networks do yeoman’s duty showing rescues and passing on information, our CJ&N colleagues are noting something else: The most useful sources of information and help for [...]
Clients often ask: What are the best content elements to tweet or post on Facebook? The answer isn’t complicated: Obviously, breaking news and breaking weather. Stories that are top of mind, relevant and have viewer impact. Often, stations over-think it. Here is a great example of a post that is local, relevant and a potential [...]
Why do stations do so many Facebook Live posts that don’t drive revenue or views to the station’s revenue platforms (air, apps or website)? Yes, you can make money by being very focused with a Facebook revenue strategy. Last month I moderated a webinar for Broadcasting & Cable talking about how stations are using Facebook [...]
If you’re using the summer months to review your TV station’s digital and social media tactics and strategies (and you should be), make sure you consider how you’re presenting video. Whether it’s Instagram, Snapchat or the “godfather” Facebook, there’s no question the focus should be on images and video. For most stations, posting video means [...]
