It used to be that when you were an author,
you hoped your book would hit the New York Times bestseller list.
If it did, your book sales would skyrocket.
Traditional outlets like the New York Times once wielded power and prestige.
They could influence everything from the books you buy to the people you vote for, some say.
But the power of mainstream media is waning.
Although CNN saw a considerable spike in viewership during the Capitol riots,
as it tends to do when there’s breaking news, their audience numbers on most days are abysmal.
When CNN touted in this press release how it beat out MSNBC in views in April 2022,
it ironically revealed that its own numbers weren’t that great.
CNN’s flagship shows often bring in less than 200,000 daily views in the key 25-54 demographic.
Yet even their views online are often less than those of independent YouTubers.
Why are powerful networks with millions of dollars of backing behind them
getting fewer views than some individual content creators?
I thought about my time working as a television reporter, most recently in London.
A new day and a new prime minister, good morning Anne-Marie.
I’ve compared that with my work now
as an online content creator. There’s a massive
difference between videos made by TV networks and videos that are made by YouTubers
even though both are video-oriented.
Online content creators have a lot more creative freedom
which often makes for more compelling content.
I can make a six-minute video about the difficulty of landing Starship
or a 23-minute video about the dark web crime kingpin of Silk Road.
You don’t get the luxury of that much time with television.
Take the example of interviews. You might notice that the format of web-only interviews
is different from interviews made for TV that are then released online.
When Joe Rogan speaks to guests for his podcast, the conversation seems
natural and unscripted - and often lasts between two to four hours.
Whereas TV interviews are time-sensitive because they have to move on to another segment.
There has to be solidarity.
I have to end it there because we're out of time. We'll be back.
As a result, interviews often sound like soundbites or may appear inauthentic.
Even when TV feels authentic you’re still restricted by time.
In this hilarious segment from Global News, the Canadian network where I used to work,
one of the hosts made an artichoke dip and it went horribly wrong.
But there's no vinegar in there. So here's what happened. What?!
This was fantastically entertaining
and could have gone on for longer but they had to cut to a commercial break or another segment.
I’ve felt these time constraints myself. My stories were only 1 minute and 30 seconds long
because so many stories have to be squeezed into the nightly newscast, usually an hour long.
Time constraints hurt storytelling because you can’t delve deeply into a topic.
Shows such as 60 Minutes offer longer-form reporting
but they don’t air daily because they take considerable resources to produce.
When daily TV reports are later uploaded online,
their short, rigid format fails to compel people to watch.
For example, my report about a zero-waste grocery store in the UK may have gotten
hundreds of thousands of views when it aired on television stations in North America,
yet it only received 600 views on YouTube when uploaded by a local Chicago station.
Or take Bloomberg Technology’s YouTube channel. They simply reupload segments
from their TV program online. The result is just a few thousand views per video.
It’s hard for networks to produce content that works well for online because their storytelling
is beholden to the format for television and the advertising dollars it brings.
You’d be hardpressed to find a network willing to do an in-depth review of the iPhone SE
like on MKBHD’s tech channel, or a 12-minute video
about why black balls are floating on a reservoir like on Veritasium’s science
channel because TV audiences don’t have long attention spans for that kind of storytelling.
So, why is it that when CNN focused on online video by launching a streaming service,
it flopped?
CNN+ was touted as the Netflix of news.
CNN’s hired hundreds of people and created dozens of news shows for this service.
It featured original series, documentaries, news shows, and live daily programming.
Instead of the 2 million subscribers that the head honchos at CNN anticipated
after a year, CNN+ reportedly drew fewer than 10,000 views a day.
The service shut down in April after just one month.
Pretty much no one wanted to pay $5.99
a month to watch news shows when they can watch videos on YouTube for free.
Even Netflix is struggling to retain subscribers partly because of price hikes.
And again, CNN+’s shows still maintained the familiar format
of a TV broadcast which doesn’t work well for the web.
Although the brains behind CNN+ felt it stood out because of its interactive feature
where viewers could ask questions, it really wasn’t anything unique.
Reddit has been doing that for nearly two decades.
CNN banked on its brand name to carry the day.
But it was a humiliating failure.
Traditional outlets used to be the gatekeepers of information.
If you wanted to know what was going on in the world, you got your news
from the radio, your local newspaper, or on TV.
Now - anybody can be a reporter.
Some argue this opens the door to disinformation
as professional journalists are the ones trained to fact-check.
However, there are also accusations that media outlets can’t be trusted, either.
This media bias chart created by the company
Ad Fontes Media shows the perceived political leaning of various news outlets.
Instead of despairing about their demise, media organizations have to reinvent their format
or face certain death when EVERYONE cuts the cord which is inevitable.
Social media platforms have made it possible for individuals to accumulate
millions of views - even without the backing of a multi-million-dollar organization.
If you want to learn how to make videos like mine,
you don’t have to go to a fancy school or take an expensive course. You can learn on Skillshare.
Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of inspiring classes.
There’s a great class with Ali Abdaal on how to edit videos.
It’s great for both beginners and those who want to brush up on what they already know.
Polymatter has amazing classes on how to make great thumbnails which are super important.
You gotta get them to click before they watch.
And MKBHD walks you through the whole process from start to finish of scripting, shooting, and editing.
There’s something for everyone, and you can try Skillshare out for FREE
by going to my custom link in the description and pinned comment.
Thanks for watching. For Newsthink, I’m Cindy Pom