The Power of TV

By Charlotte Cheek

Television is powerful, but what about television is so powerful? It gets you in front of a large audience quickly and engages them visually. Television gets people to focus on one screen and absorb everything on it. At the same time, less and less people pay attention to advertisements. With Netflix, Hulu, and DVRs, skipping over commercials is normal, so how does television remain so powerful? How can a business reach people on television without advertising?

Get into the Content People Watch

First, move away from paid advertisements into the content people are paying to see. People pay for Netflix, Hulu, Cable, etc. so that they can watch television shows, sports, and the news. Most businesses cannot afford product placements in viewer’s favorite shows or to sponsor sports teams, but businesses can afford publicity in the news (especially the local news). Anyways, advertising is expensive and it lacks third party validation that local cable stations have. People trust their favorite news stations and reporters to tell them the truth more than they trust a business’s 30-second commercial to tell them the gritty truth. Publicity is free and television is a powerful tool for business. The trick is finding the story and pitching it to the right news station in your area. 

Power of Placement

Being placed in a local news segment is just the beginning. It places you in front of a large audience and uses televisions strengths: sight, sound, and motion to make a lasting impression on the audience. More specifically, cable stations can reach local markets extremely fast. Speed is extremely important in today’s competitive market and one good segment on a local news station can lead to more opportunities for free placement on television, in newspapers, or on the radio by others interested in your story. So, if you want to captivate a large part of your target market visually, then remember how powerful television is.

Is your story ready for TV News?

Blog post by Regina Ruiz

Get your elevator pitch ready because you have 15 seconds to sell your story.

Why 15 Seconds? That’s about how much time television news directors typically take to decide if a story idea is newsworthy or not. If your idea gets the green light, the payoff is exceptional: millions of viewers are in front of their TV or computer screens, ready to watch.

TV news is big business.  I have spent more than a decade reporting in newsrooms from coast to coast.  We cannot forget that television news is a powerful business. That’s why only the best story ideas make the cut. Stations must deliver the most compelling news if they are going to build and sustain a loyal viewership. More viewers mean higher ratings and that translates into bigger advertising dollars, which keep these powerhouses at the top of their game.

Show, don’t tell to increase coverage 150%.  A vosot – industry shorthand for 30 seconds of video with a voiceover and sound bite – is one way to tell the story, but a 30-second vosot can morph into a minute and 15 second news package if you give the reporter more to work with visually and with compelling interviews. That’s 150% more airtime. 

People make the difference.  The most riveting interviews are with people who experience events first-hand. Viewers care about the people who are affected by a cause, organization or event.  It is also valuable to include a company spokesperson, who can be interviewed as an expert and bring added credibility to the story.

The eyes have it. Television’s greatest strength is the way it shows the story instead of solely telling it. People will often remember what they see but forget what they hear. A photo is worth a thousand words, but video’s reach is even more powerful.

Take viewers where the action is. Show viewers what is behind-the-scenes. Everyone loves a backstage pass, so give exclusive access to products, places and people they haven’t seen to get people talking about your story.

Whoever tells the best story wins.  Show what makes your story worth watching – what sets your business or organization apart. If you tell your story well, people are likely to talk about it. Television news is powerful. It will reach a ton of viewers, but you have to ensure you grab viewers’ attention and keep it!