TV Or Print? Who Will Win the Online Video Ad Wars?
It may not matter as much to the folks that own Fox 61. But there seems to be a war brewing between newspapers and local TV stations on which is going to dominate the online video ad market. I say it’s not as much an issue for Fox 61 because it’s owned by the Tribune Company, Trib also owns
Hartford Courant. While the paper and the station operate independently, at the end of the day all the ad money raised from both is deposited into the same bank!
I ran across an interesting item on the Online Journalism blog that highlighted a recent report on just how heated the battle for online video has become. According to the Newspaper Association of America, “online video ads will pull in $1.3 billion nationally this year.” That numbe will grow with each passing year. And, right now anyway, newspapers are beating the pants off of TV in capturing most of the online video ad market. According to the report Zooming In on Online Video: A Development & Growth Guide for Newspaper Web Sites “newspapers have done well at monetizing online video, capturing a 26 percent share of online local advertising last year. But local TV stations are beginning to wake up.”
So, what does all this mean to online content creators? Well, it means a great opportunity to produce great online video themselves and produce, package and distribute to traditional legacy news sites and new web ventures seeking high quality content. It’s just one more reminder that “regular” people now can have an even greater say in what makes news. The power is now in your hands. I say don’t waste the opportunity! If you ever had a desire to tell the stories that are important to you and your community, the time to start telling those stories is now!
