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Tuesday, 13 June 2006 |
Five Essential Tools You Can’t Live Without in a New Media Age
As new media and broadcast technologies have converged with today’s high-speed Internet, a multitude of broadcast opportunities have opened up for communicators.
While the five essential radio and television tools – B-roll, video news releases (VNRs), radio media tours (RMTs), audio news releases (ANRs) and satellite media tours (SMTs) – are still effective, it’s no longer enough to rely solely on traditional uses.
Do you know all the latest “ins and outs” when it comes to uploading your video and audio projects to the Internet? Or what’s what with streaming media, dynamic content, podcasting, vodcasting and mobile communications?
Here are some highlights:
Video
B-roll and VNRs are video toolkits you provide to broadcast outlets. Television stations look for the flexibility and convenience they offer, and they can be leveraged to gain high-profile TV coverage. In both cases, these video packages consist of sound bites of your spokespersons, video footage with natural sound, graphics, animation and any other elements necessary to produce a television news story. A VNR differs from basic B-roll in that it also includes a 90-second news story, complete with scripted voice track. It looks and sounds like a regular television news story and can be created when you have a strong news hook and a compelling story.
More and more, video is streamed online or downloaded by individuals and watched on computers or mobile devices. Viewers are more accustomed to watching what they want, when they want – “on demand.” Companies can upload their own video via Google Video and Yahoo! Video or Web sites such as YouTube.com. Journalists can now view VNRs online on special dedicated Web sites. Television stations stream their news stories online and make them available for download as so-called vodcasts (i.e. video podcasts). No longer are satellite feeds or video tapes the only ways to get your broadcast creations in front of your audiences.
Radio
Much of the same is true in the world of radio. RMTs are usually two-hour windows in which your spokesperson does about 10 live or taped interviews with radio stations nationwide. An audio news release, the radio version of a VNR, is also a popular way to get your spokespersons on the radio. Both RMTs and ANRs are available in streaming form to media and directly to listeners, and can be downloaded by radio stations and journalists. Some RMT interviews are also fully available as downloadable podcasts on radio station Web sites.
Satellite
Only SMTs have stayed somewhat the same in the face of new media and technology. SMTs are live television tours in which your spokesperson sits in a studio for about two hours and, via satellite, literally tours the country giving interviews on news shows in different markets or for a network. Stations rotate through interviewing your spokesperson live or recording them to air at a later time. SMTs are very popular for medical subjects and book authors. B-roll usually accompanies the SMT and is fed to each station before the interview begins.
If you’d like to learn more about all these tools and new ways to leverage them online, please attend our seminar on June 14 at JohnstonWells Public Relations. |
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