Publishers are waking up to the power of smartphone video

How did you like moderating the FIPP Asia-Pacific sessions? (0:06)

You get to hear every presentation – and you get to connect them – for people who tend to migrate between different stages. It also helped me with my masterclass… I was able to bring in other speakers to the conversation and say ‘Look, I’ve shown this slide, you’ve done something similar… do you want to tell the folks in the audience about your experience?’ 

What are the key themes this year? (0:42)

I think video is becoming bigger and bigger in terms of the conversation. You know when the publishers are talking about their multi-platform approach, they spend a fairly big amount of time talking about how they’ve diversified what used to be a print business to a multi-platform content business. Events is another one… but video is becoming increasingly popular and cheaper to produce. 

Do publishers still think they have to spend big on video production? (1:54)

No. And I think that’s a misconception that’s quickly being debunked. I think we had fantastic presentations – not just from the video producers but also from other publishers that said look: you can make it fairly cheaply, you can use tools that are readily available, you can use a smartphone with a good resolution, with a 4K video capability.

As long as you have a good story that you can record, as long as you have good sound to go with it, and as long as you have that content distribution strategy that goes with that video, you’ve pretty much got yourself covered. 

It doesn’t have to be a massive Hollywood production… (2:40)

… A lot of videos are viewed on smartphones these days. Another masterclass that John Wilpers has taken us through is the rise of smartphones as the primary communication device, the primary content consumption device… And so the videos on smartphones that you get do not need to be of fantastic quality: the users are not expecting kind of super-HD quality!

Finally, is the industry starting to be more optimistic about its future again? (3:13)

You still here about doom & gloom in the industry, you still hear about all the challenges that the industry is going through… But I think the industry has gone through that crisis stage where it was, almost beating itself, for all of the missteps it has taken. And it’s trying to see more opportunities that have arisen as a result. And the opportunities are endless as long as we understand what we bring as a value proposition…   

PressReader is FIPP’s brand partner. 

More like this

Loyalty pays, but only if it is a two-way street

Diversify funding to fuel your future

Journalism in the age of algorithms, platforms and newsfeeds