Drive audience engagement with streaming weather
Broadcasters launching 24/7 streaming channels devoted to weather, or to news with weather updates, are finding their content strategies differ vastly from what they air in their linear newscasts. Here’s what the research and early experience are showing.
Media agency Horizon Media is working with Burst Premium Network to deliver local stories highlighting diversity, equity and inclusion in crowdsourced segments using user-generated content that can be sponsored by Horizon’s clients. Horizon served as an adviser in shaping the unwired network. which now includes 150 stations that use Burst software to manage and utilize user-generated content to bolster their newsgathering.
There’s a situation that has been trending for some time that we need to be concerned about — ads masquerading as genuine media-generated stories. On the home pages of legitimate news sources — The Washington Post, The New York Times and other publications — are articles that may not immediately be recognized as advertiser-driven content.
The agency says brands and the social media stars who promote their products need to be more transparent about sponsored content.
As native advertising gains prominence, publishers may find themselves competing not just with one another, but with the ad agencies that already exist.
Lines Blur Between TV Journalism, Ads
Viewers who tuned in to the 10 o’clock news on WSBK Boston Thursday night may have seen the future of local broadcasting. The question is whether they knew what they were watching. Near the end of the telecast, the station aired an interview with Jeff Raider, founder of Harry’s, the online razor retailer. The segment ran during what is normally a commercial break but resembled journalism, with an interviewer posing questions to a business leader. In fact, the piece was something in between — not quite journalism yet not exactly advertising.
Exclusives
The Associated Press is planning to introduce sponsored articles into the stream of news stories on its mobile apps and hosted websites. The rollout is expected in early 2014, with potential sponsorship deals centered around major events the AP is planning to cover, such as the Super Bowl, the Winter Olympics and the Academy Awards.
