What role does short-form video play in your newsroom today, and how has that changed in recent years?
Video is arguably the most important format in our newsroom right now. Historically, our organization was built around text-based and aggregated content, but short-form video has become a key pillar for reaching new audiences, building brand awareness and securing sponsorships. At this point, it is table stakes for any news brand and I do not see that changing anytime soon.
What are the main goals behind your short video strategy - reach, engagement, subscriptions, brand building, or something else?
We have three main goals: reach, brand awareness and direct sales.
Views are our baseline measure of whether the work is reaching people. We set benchmarks for each account and look at whether a video performs above or below what is typical for that platform.
We also care about brand awareness. This is more difficult to quantify, so we focus on anecdotal examples. An example would be collaborating with a prominent creator or talent who can help showcase our journalism to an audience that may not already know our brand.
The third goal is direct sales. Short-form vertical video does not generate on-platform revenue the way long-form video does, so we have focused on using it as a vehicle for direct sponsorships. That has been a much more meaningful revenue opportunity compared to platform-specific monetization tools.
How is short-form video production organized in your newsroom? Who is involved in creating the videos?
We are lucky to have a dedicated social video team that we built after merging our traditional video and social teams. We now have five producers who generally handle videos from end to end: pitching, scripting, shooting and editing. They also work with reporters and editors across the newsroom to make sure major editorial initiatives have a strong video component.
What does your typical workflow for producing short videos look like, and what are the biggest operational challenges?
The workflow depends on the type of video. Some of our work is quick-turn and tied to the daily news cycle, such as trending explainers or strong soundbites from wire footage. Other projects are longer-term franchises or recurring series involving creators, reporters or other on-camera talent.
I'd say the biggest challenge is scale. Video has become a major priority for leadership, audiences and sponsors, but the resources have not fully caught up. Like many newsrooms, we still have far more text reporters than video producers, even as demand for video continues to grow.
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