James Warren of the Poynter Institute takes a look at Cheddar, the new video business news service aimed at millennials.
Warren writes, “Cheddar focuses on a smaller array of mostly tech companies and stories it deems of specific interest to more upscale millennials. Thus, if the traditional networks are doing Exxon, Federal Reserve board interest rates or interviewing graying Fortune 500 or hedge fund execs, they’re chatting with heads of smaller, lesser-known operations, like a new online service called Thrive Market that’s raised $58 million in investment money and delivers organic foods at a price well below what you’d find at Whole Foods.
“Watching it for several days, you might come away with some distinct initial impressions: It’s fresh, smart, freewheeling, at times less iconoclastic than it may crave to be, and perhaps in need of an upgrade in production values. And, in the early days, the audience is very small, at times in the hundreds.
“You won’t hear about Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen but you will get lots on Fitbit or Proper Cloth, a higher-end men’s shirt startup that in part uses algorithms to customize the cut of your shirt as it aims to make it easier to buy custom clothes. It’s the official haberdasher of Cheddar, one of several partnerships (and friendships with interviewees) that Steinberg mentions on air in a reflexively refreshing mode of full disclosure for viewers.
“There’s discussion of Fitbit buying a small firm to help with mobile payment. ‘It says one thing to me,’ said Kristen Scholer, a co-host. ‘They’re trying to compete with Apple Watch.'”
Read more here.
