WSJ investing in video as reporters use iPhones to file reports

Sean Callahan of BtoB Media Business takes a look at The Wall Street Journal‘s video strategy.

Callahan writes, “In May, the Journal streamed 19.7 million videos, about three times what it streamed in January. Its YouTube Channel has almost 25,000 subscribers and has streamed 20.8 million videos. ‘We see Internet-delivered video growing very rapidly and growing very rapidly for us,’ Murray said.

“Advertiser interest is a key driver of the Journal’s online video expansion, with b-to-b marketers such as SAS Institute running 15-second pre-rolls. ‘It’s the highest CPMs we get, and there’s a huge demand for it,’ Murray said. ‘The demand from advertisers is very strong.’

“The Journal is encouraging its reporters to produce more videos using iPhones with embedded HD video cameras. Murray estimates that about 400 Journal reporters are using iPhones to file video reports.

“Many Journal reporters appear on CNBC to provide commentary on business news stories. (The Journal’s relationship with CNBC expires later this year, and most observers expect the newspaper to expand its relationship with Fox Business, a News Corp. sibling). Although Murray acknowledged that the experience of appearing on CNBC had prepped many Journal reporters for online video, he said the newspaper’s online video efforts were unrelated to cable television.”

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Chris Roush

Chris Roush was the dean of the School of Communications at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, Connecticut. He was previously Walter E. Hussman Sr. Distinguished Professor in business journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is a former business journalist for Bloomberg News, Businessweek, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Tampa Tribune and the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He is the author of the leading business reporting textbook "Show me the Money: Writing Business and Economics Stories for Mass Communication" and "Thinking Things Over," a biography of former Wall Street Journal editor Vermont Royster.