The downfall of CBS Sports

I don't think I have a short attention span, though I know a lot of news consumers do. Like you, I just prefer to read the information. And it's funny that I despise the short adds on the videos, since we have been pining for ways to monetize web content.

 

I've been seeing a few short video ads on written content, too.

I can stomach that. I just look away or do something else until I can access the story.

 

Went to watch a 15- or 20-second clip of something on one of the station's websites in my area, but had to sit through a 30-second ad just to watch it. No thanks.

 

The biggest reason is that I rarely trust someone else to boil down a complex story into a minute or two. And the further down the food chain in terms of news outlet, the less I will trust it.

 

We went on a video kick once our reporters all had iPhones. Because reporters were expected to shoot video with those phones we would (and still) get:
- a 15- to 20-second clip of someone saying nothing after people had to sit through a 30-second commercial.
- bad video from a press box of some play after a 30-second commercial.
- 3 or 4 videos from players or coaches sitting on a podium at a college press conference, also following a pre-roll commercial.
- in HS football, because of deadlines, videos of teams going through pre-game practices after, you guessed it, a commercial.

Granted, the commercials brought in some $$$$, but when I was a producer, I knew one of the metrics for our department was page views. My reasoning was why should I put more emphasis on a video that might get 50 to 100 views when a photo gallery from said game might get upwards of 3,000 views? Oh, I did both to keep the suits happy.

 

I'm seeing dumber and dumber stuff on "news sites" - the clickbait is pretty obvious, but seeing bylined stories little more than cut and paste jobs from other sources is ridiculous.

 

Everyone is just cutting and pasting everyone else's reporting.

Seriously, how many ways can you rewrite (fill in the blank news story)? There are exceptions to the rule, I know.

 

Many sites have click quotas, so there's pressure to byline everything whether it's original reporting or not. Also, it's easier to compile than to actually do the work.

 

As one in the TV world, you'd be surprised. First place news operations in heavy political states print money.

The rest are scrapping for crumbs.

You want to work in markets that are cold and old. Upper Midwest and Rust Belt are in very healthy shape for TV stations. However in ten years, stations in fourth place will drop news and in smaller markets, third and even second place operations will be in major peril.

 

ex, it always amazes me that basically the same 60-plus crowd is keeping both newspapers and TV news alive. Thankfully, I live in an area (North Idaho) that's been correctly called "a glorified retirement home for conservative Californians," so the demographics work for our shop — for now.

Makes me think it's not just technology/the medium that's working against media outlets which stress local news. I truly believe the demand for our product is declining, whether on social media, over the air or in print. And that's a very sobering thought.

 

Don't forget the "cold" in that equation. Local news runs on weather. Old people love the weather for some reason. Nothing makes my Florida mom happier than my tales of horrid New England winters. When we lost power this weekend because of a storm and I called her when it came back on, she was so into it she almost forget to say, "that's awful."

 

The "cold" is the critical part here.

Buffalo and Albany are smaller markets than West Palm Beach. Green Bay is the same size as Tucson and smaller than Ft Myers. The colder markets pay quite a bit better than the warm markets.

It's a "reckoning" that I will have to deal with over the next 10 years. I work in cold/old at a top station so I may be insulated for a while. Probably not enough to get to age 70, my desired retirement age, in what I do.

The need for content is always there but the delivery is the pickle. People younger than me do not watch the news, especially the late news. All stations where I live have 25 percent fewer viewers in the late news.

Why don't they stay up late? Because our industry insists on posting the stories as they are finished. If your story is live at 7:20 pm, why would a viewer stick around three more hours? We did it to ourselves.

Mornings are growing but that's just a recital of weather and headlines every 15 minutes.