EmailIn the era of social media, you need a LOT of content - you have to feed Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and just about everything else.
And it never ends.
People in the old TV business used to say 'feed the beast', but that beast, whether broadcast or cable, was more of a moth than a beast. It didn't eat a lot. This one does. It's appetitie is insatiable.
Yesterday, I talked about how the new ATT masters at Time/Warner were putting pressure on HBO, of all people, to produce more and more. It wasn't enough just to crank out a Game of Thrones or a Westworld or a Sopranos every now and then. From now on, it has to be all video all the time, forever.
Today, it's the turn of the NFL.
Game of the week is not enough. And how is the NFL going to feed the beast? They've got something called their Live Content Correspondent Program.
Essentially, freelancers, stringers, photographers - pretty much anyone with a camera. Have you got a phone? You've got a camera.
Digiday did a nice piece on it. It's worth the read.
Here's the nut graph:
In its second year, the NFL’s Live Content Correspondent program embeds freelance photographers and videographers with each of the league’s teams in its 32 U.S. markets plus London, where some games are held, to capture pre-, in- and post-game content that’s sent out across its own media properties, including its TV network and its live show on Twitter, “#NFLBlitz;” as well as the league’s, teams’ and players’ social accounts. This year, the NFL will double the number of correspondents for the upcoming season to 64 people, including two in London, to multiply the amount of content produced beyond the 30,000 photos and videos captured last year for the league’s content library.
Now go over to Digiday and read the rest.
And a tip of the hat to Travel Channel Academy video bootcamp grad Frank D'Agostino for tipping us off on this one.
Featured Courses
Recent Posts
The Uber-ization of Content
May 26, 2023
The world of television before cable had been limited to 3 networks and a handful of local TV stations. But the advent of cable meant that suddenly there were 60, 70 soon to be 100 or more new channels. And all of those channels needed content. But where were they going to get it from? A huge market for content had just opened up.
What TV News Can Learn From Netflix
May 22, 2023
Q: What do TV news and Netflix have in common? A: They both appear on the same screen. They both tell stories.
No News is Bad News
May 15, 2023
This morning, I went out early to buy my copy of the weekend FT — a great newspaper, by the way. I was a bit surprised to see that my regular newsstand, on 6th Avenue and 55th Street, had exactly 3 newspapers for sale — one copy of Baron’s and two copies of The New York Post. That was it. No FT, no NY Times, no Washington Post, no… nothing.