MSM Begins to Embrace YouTube
It used to be there were two kinds of MSM video in the world: Embeddable and Non-embeddable.
Embeddable is designed to be shared, and is easily inserted into blogs and social media. Non-embeddable is old school, seeking to drive traffic to a primary site.
Yes, you can capture and embed any video, via a few HTML tricks (like using Frames) or by using a few code tricks to pirate someone else’s stream, but 1) its a pain in the arse to do; and b) if they don’t want their videos publicized, well then, suit yourself, I’ll comply.
On the Embeddable side there is DJ (WSJ, Barrons and Marketwatch), Business Week, TDS, Charlie Rose, TED, Colbert, amongst others.
Non embeddable include NYT, CNBC, Bloomberg, MSN, PBS, Bill Moyers, etc.
However, the latest development in MSM video is the hybrid approach: Some major media sites, such as the New York Times and Bloomberg are creating their own channels on YouTube, and uploading all of their video content. Ever since the Times and Bloomberg have been using the embeddable video, I have been sifting thru their offerings and using a lot more of their stuff for TBP’s Video Channel.
Its the best of both worlds: They have their own content on their own sites, so it offers a [insert nonsense consultant babble here: fuller, rich multimedia blahblahblah] but they also get all the advantages of YouTube. Why shouldn’t they let Google pay for all of the hosting of video, get the benefit of blogs, facebook, social networks, etc. giving them a viral boost?
CNBC: Please Embed Your Videos: I am hoping that CNBC adopts the same model. There is a lot of great video content on their site amongst the volume of video, but its very difficult to find. You Tube allows viewers to separate the wheat from the chaff, take advantage of crowd voting, identify the higher rated stuff (i.e., separate the gems from the junk) and make it easier to embed.
MSN and CNBC both use old school, slow, non-flash based Windows Media. Congratualtions on your new 1998 technology!
CNBC has tentatively used YouTube to host commercials and promos for upcoming shows (http://www.youtube.com/user/CNBCtv). Somehow, I don’t see these commercials really catching viral fire. They are missing a tremendous opportunity to push their very best content, the gems hidden amidst the blahblahblah. Let it free!
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Previously:
Bloomberg vs CNBC Video: Bleccch (March 2008)
http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2008/03/bloomberg-vs-cnbc-video-bleccch/
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January 2nd, 2009 at 10:19 am
The reason they may not want the additional youtube exposure are…
1.) it is harder for them to insert ads in that medium without giving google a cut
2.) it turns youtube into a destination and lowers the power of their brand
3.) google advertises the youtube search box and competing content against their content
4.) as youtube gains momentum (and content providers have lots of syndications going through youtube) then google will re-negotiate ad deals and claw back more of the revenues from the networks (just like they did with domain parking programs that sold paid clicks)
5.) if people syndicate the youtube version rather than the bloomberg version then bloomberg does not get links on the embeds the way they could if they did them direct (see how vimeo embeds 3 links with each HTML snippet code). with fewer links they will not rank as well as they could in Google.
(as an example, your old site on a typepad subdomain was a pagerank 7 and when you moved domains in some ways you started all over again with this site needing to build up more new link equity…and your rankings on this site are not as good as they would be if all that bigpicture.typepad.com link equity pointed here)
I do have a lot of my videos on youtube and don’t regret it…but then I am not a huge media outlet (driven by ad sales) that is already far too reliant on Google. The mini-video I have on my homepage will be replaced by a locally hosted one as soon as I get a more professionally done one (in the next month most likely).
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
I also hope that the sites leave Windows Media behind, it is just too unreliable. Adobe’s Flash, with all its warts, works very close to 100% of the time when I want to view a video. Windows Media’s track record is about half as good. I don’t even bother trying to view the Bloomberg.com videos anymore.
January 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 am
I’m not sold that YouTube is an excellent choice for all media networks. If a site is going to go it alone, however, they need to have adequate technology. CNBC’s site has some good content but their tech is garbage. Here’s what they need to fix:
#1 videos don’t always load up. I would say 50% of the time I need to click refresh to get a video to load.
#2 Video quality needs to improve. It is small and reminds me of videos from 10 years ago.
#3 Advertising needs to add variety. I don’t mind short commercials running before a clip but when they are the same commercials for every video, I go nuts after 3-4 viewings and leave the site.
#4 Better organization. Videos should be categorized by topic, guest speakers, etc. Even a simple tagging interface is better than nothing.
If all of these issues cannot be fixed then CNBC needs to bring in outside techies or just use YouTube. CNBC – I expect my management consultant check to be mailed out by next week. Thanks.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:31 pm
CNBC does indeed have some worthwhile clips. But they need to get rid of that Kneale and that god-awful Carruso-Cabbrera woman.
January 2nd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
I dont really get the entire CNBC web site. Its frumpy looking, very few people link to their videos — you do, andI’ve noticed since Bloomberg went all YouTubey on us, you’ve cut it down a lot.
There’s great stuff on CNBC, but the signal-to-noise ratio is horrific.
I never watch the channel, but I would clips on You Tube
January 2nd, 2009 at 3:25 pm
When you think about the influence these media have, its mostly through their print work (Bloomberg, thru their data service)
Keeping the videos walled and unembeddable (is that even a word?) only prevents that many more people from seeing them. It limits their influence.
Prediction: Eventually, ALL video will be embeddable, come with ads, pre-rolls etc.