Television’s Survival Might Rely on Hyper-Local Coverage Online

MediaPost recently reported that Akamai Technologies CEO Paul Sagan warns that television is about to experience the major impact that print and music have already felt. Akamai Technologies facilitates more than one-fifth of the world's Web traffic so they have a good view on the subject. What will cause this transformation? The article states that, “the ability to match high-def TV picture quality with Internet interactivity is creating a sea change for online video that will begin rippling through the television industry in 2010. Only TV station owners that leap to the new arena, playing the strength of their hyper-local connections, will survive.” Otherwise they will feel the same big impact form the Web that music and print have felt.

I am reminded of a past transformation in news coverage when the telegraph first appeared, the news outlets of the day came together to form the Associated Press to capitalize on the new technology and share its promise.  It does not seem that a similar event will happen here. Now it is everyone for themselves.

Traditional television content producers and distributors that are among Akamai's deep client base are in peril according to Sagan. The audiences for this content are rapidly moving to the Web. The article goes on to report that, “too many broadcasters are obsessing about cannibalizing their content instead of using the efficiency and convenience of interactivity to expand their local power base. While increasing numbers of TV stations are going online with real-time and on-demand local news, sports and other live events, they do not have the interactive online advertising in place to fully monetize their content.”

This sounds like what happen to the Rocky Mountain News.  There is a way out. Television content producers can take advantage of the ability of the Web to address the long tail of specialized content.  The large players are global and generic. Sagan says that “the window is still open for broadcasters to create long- and short-form programming that -- when expertly presented and searchable -- can be monetized and generate a new audience and new revenues.”

However making effective use of interactive advertising is essential for hyper-local online broadcasting to become a viable business.  They are not there yet but must make the transformation to realize this opportunity.

Another success component is effectively harvesting breaking news about local events to generate this hyper-local content. Often local stories first break through “non-professional” reporters on little known sites. This is where Darwin Ecosystems’ Awareness Engine™ can help.  Through it you can mine the long tail and discover interesting relationships between stories that enable you to provide added value to breaking news.