Marion Maneker of The Big Money examines The Wall Street Journal‘s online video operation and likes what he sees.
Maneker writes, “But what the WSJ does better than other news outlets is meld its editorial and reporting staff with the news itself to turn its people into trusted experts. It’s doing this by adapting the conventions of television news to the do-it-yourself ethos of the Web. The best example is in the daily live shows that are made available as on-demand video.
“The combination could become the standard for video news as the era of network news ends. The collapse of the broadcast networks’ news ratings, the decline of CNN, and the victory of operatic theatricality at MSNBC, Fox News, and CNBC mean that the dominant source of straight news on video may soon come from a no-name anchor broadcasting “live” over the Web.
“But whatever the future holds for Web-based video news, it’s unlikely to reach a truly meaningful audience any time soon. The live Webcasts for the Journal’s signature NewsHub show at 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m., but they don’t get much more than a few thousand live viewers every day, and some tens of thousands of on-demand viewers.”
Read more here.
