The Seattle PI’s transition to the web this week has me thinking: what if a TV station did the same? After all, many in the industry now concede that some markets can only sustain two or three TV stations in the near future. For those who can’t survive, what if they shut down the station and re-emerge as a lean-and-mean local media company with a focus on non-linear video? Clips would be published to the web, mobile and cable/satellite VOD.
First off, it’s probably not just news. You can imagine local vertical content, like lifestyle and music, intermingled with the day’s news. Some is franchised and personality-driven, other stuff is not. But everything is local and focused on the stories that everyone is talking about.
Like the SeattlePI.com, the team is small and everyone does everything. Michael Rosenblum’s VJ model — one man bands — has been derided by many in the TV business. But it would shine in this new world. No TV conventions to hold it back.
Online, all this video can’t live by itself. It’s surrounded by some text content as well as aggregation, community and tools (like an events calendar that’s tied to the video archive, etc.) Same goes for mobile, but in a small screen experience. On VOD, the video is just that — designed for shorter viewing, not repurposed from TV shows.
From a sales perspective, you can sell across three screens. If you keep the cost of production low — and the video is creative enough to create some local buzz and drive an audience — I suspect you could generate more revenue here than an online-only newspaper, which is suffering from the sustained decline in display advertising.
What do you think? Add your thoughts…
