Posted in Online Publishing Strategy	March 4, 2008

You don’t need to be cable TV to produce effective online video – all you need is an inexpensive video recorder and the right market

In a panel at the MPA’s 4th Magazines 24/7 digital conference titled “Must See Magazine TV”, Tammy Haddad, former MSNBC executive producer, currently doing presidential campaign trail reporting for Newsweek, demonstrated to the audience how low-budget online video can really be. Using a $750 hand-held video recorder, Haddad has been able to capture news as is happens and more importantly, send it over to her Web buys for immediate upload.

Just like people no longer wait for print to read a story, people also no longer wait for TV to get the news. The biggest mistake publishers can make, however, is to try to be cable TV. “You can’t be cable, but you can be who you are,” said Haddad.

Always ask the Why

Haddad also pointed out what we at Mequoda try to remind our friends and colleagues all the time: when it comes to anything digital – always stop and ask why. Why do online video? The why is important because of all the competition. Haddad advises you to look at the content you might like to produce and look at the television equivalents. If they exist, then sure, go after them – and do it cheap, dirty and hard. If there are no television equivalents, then you might not have a solid rationale. If there are, then you know there’s a market.

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