CNNMoney.com's video venture is no revolution

Saul Hansell of The New York Times critiques the new video feature on CNNMoney.com and comes away unimpressed.

Hansell wrote, “So far, it is not as much of a revolution or challenge to CNBC as Mr. Shah made out.

“There is a small video player toward the top of the home page. Like most video on sites, the experience still feels a bit random. You don’t know exactly what you are going to get or why. There are a lot of talking heads of Fortune writers, and today a few softball features from the Detroit auto show, and cable-style financial headline reports from Poppy Harlow, a former Forbes reporter.

“It’s never fair to judge a Web site or any media property on its first day. Mr. Shah is laying out what needs to be the standard for any news video site on the Web: consistency and critical mass. Just as viewers know what they’ll get when they tune to CNN or CNBC, they need to know that if they go to a Web site, they can have an experience that is dependable, clear and comprehensive.

“The news media is moving beyond the let’s-put-on-a-show era of Web video, especially with the latest from CNN and MSNBC. But no one has come close to what fulfilling the promise of what online video news can be.”

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