Television isn’t dead. In fact, many experts believe there’s only room to grow when it comes to the future of television. We wrote about it back in May, and we stand by what we said. 44% of adult Americans cite that their preference for getting their news is through the TV. And it’s been shared by Nielsen that #BigEvents drive millennials to continue their news search into television sources for more information and coverage. Let’s not even get started on the fact that people would much rather watch the news than read it.

But as the age of gathering information digitally grows, the gap between gathering news information from the TV versus digital sources is quickly closing. From 2016 to 2018, online news preference increased from 28% to 34%, while TV preference dropped from 46% to 44%. Digital news is reaching more and more people; over 80% of people aged 21 and older are reached by it.

 So how does your broadcast team approach this ever-growing trend into digital news sources? You take a Total Video approach, the idea that broadcast teams need to start strategizing for a multichannel plan.

Here’s where you start: get with the BVOD program

 Television isn’t the only screen that your audience cares about, so you need to stretch out your platform reach. The first step in a Total Video approach is to expand your screen time to cover television, smartphones, and tablets. Take advantage of OTT and social media to create better awareness of your brand, leading to higher loyalty and increased demand for your content. It provides a channel opportunities to create more buzz with content that goes above retelling stories from linear TV. Content can range from webcasts with guest experts going into more detail about a regional topic to live coverage of a local protest or simply pre-produced content viewed on demand.

Broadcast VOD is the idea that on top of what you’re providing through traditional means, you’re creating a mix of linear TV and coordinated supporting content, providing your audience the ability to pick and choose what they care about at that moment.

Focus on personalization

 Genuine personalization is a key component to creating a successful Total Video strategy. It’s no longer an afterthought, but a legitimate strategic aspect that successful broadcasters need to be aware of. People have become desensitized to sweeping generalizations. To grab attention and keep your audience coming back, your strategy has to incorporate a personal tie. You can easily do this by staying hyper-focused on local news. Community reports, day-to-day happenings, and even regional accents or dialects have a deeper emotional connection for audiences.

Viewership of local news has continued to rise over the past few years, and digital access to local news is climbing with it. More and more people are tuning into local news websites to get information. Providing more localized content over digital channels will expand your brand reach.

Drive it home by making real connections

 To keep up with the demand of getting your content out to the masses both digitally and linearly, you’re going to have to pump content out quickly and effectively. But that doesn’t mean it can be pieced together haphazardly. There needs to be a genuine connection to what information you’re giving your audience and why they should care.

Take, for example, the weather; weather broadcasters are now giving correlated information regarding how the weather will affect viewers’ lives beyond if they need a jacket during the morning. The forecast needs to be translated into how the first frost of the year will affect morning commutes, neighborhood lawns, and what that means for children walking to school. 

Take a deep breath, let it all sink in

Don’t get overwhelmed with the idea of a multi-platform broadcast strategy. Take these things into consideration as you plan out your video strategy over the next year. Add aspects of a Total Video approach, and in no time, you’ll see how your audience engagement and brand loyalty climbs higher.

Navigating the creation of all this content can be tricky, but that’s where Storyblocks Enterprise can help. With our stock video, stock audio, and stock images library, your teams will be able to pump out exciting and effective content faster and more efficiently across all platforms so you can better reach your audience. 

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• Broadcast,
• Video,

Lynsey Fadul

Marketing specialist by day, homebrewer by night, Lynsey works with the Storyblocks Enterprise team. When she’s not writing or designing collateral, you can find her taking too many pictures of her beloved dogs, Charlie and Henry.