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Author, direct marketing guru, and always entertaining Denny Hatch focuses on a major story in the news and shows how businesses can take advantage of—or avoid the pitfalls from—the lessons to be learned in terms of marketing, sales, PR and communications.
May 6, 2008: Vol. 4, Issue No. 26
What Can You Profitably Outsource?
The Huffington Post model: outsourcing everything
What Can You Profitably Outsource?
The Huffington Post model: outsourcing everything
IN THE NEWS
TV News Stations Try Cooperation
NBC10 and Fox29 will, for a week, experiment with sharing video footage.
In an unusual experiment among network-owned local news stations, WCAU (NBC10) and WTXF (Fox29) are sharing some video footage this week. The arrangement, acknowledging the economics facing media as well as the redundancies in some coverage, is a test to “see if we can cooperate on some newsgathering in the field,” according to a memo circulated Monday to NBC10 staff by news director Chris Blackman. The cooperation, which both stations will assess at the end of a week, extends to events such as news conferences and other planned events that both stations would cover anyway, Blackman said in his memo, adding that “helicopter resources” also would be shared.
— Michael Klein, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 23, 2008
NBC10 and Fox29 will, for a week, experiment with sharing video footage.
In an unusual experiment among network-owned local news stations, WCAU (NBC10) and WTXF (Fox29) are sharing some video footage this week. The arrangement, acknowledging the economics facing media as well as the redundancies in some coverage, is a test to “see if we can cooperate on some newsgathering in the field,” according to a memo circulated Monday to NBC10 staff by news director Chris Blackman. The cooperation, which both stations will assess at the end of a week, extends to events such as news conferences and other planned events that both stations would cover anyway, Blackman said in his memo, adding that “helicopter resources” also would be shared.
— Michael Klein, The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 23, 2008
In more jobs than I care to remember, my single objective was efficiency: How could the most value be created for the least cost, and then sold to delighted customers and eager prospects at the highest profit?
When I read last week that two Philadelphia TV stations—Fox29 and NBC10—are going to test the possibility of sharing video footage, I was intrigued. The idea that competing news gatherers would pool their resources is a breakthrough!
For example, CBS and CNN spend millions of dollars on equipment and personnel gathering news in Iraq, mostly going after the same stories, interviewing the same people and doing stand-up reporting from inside the Green Zone. Three weeks ago, The New York Times reported that CBS was negotiating to buy news feeds from CNN. Brilliant!
Alas, later that day, both Hollywood Reporter and Variety said it was rumor. “We’re extremely satisfied with and proud of our newsgathering operation,” a CBS spokesperson said. “No outside arrangements are being negotiated.”
Pride is a dumb reason to waste millions of dollars duplicating somebody else’s perfectly good work.
Four Hovering Helicopters
In the run-up to the Pennsylvania primary election, Barack Obama held a rally near the Wynnewood home of our friend Russell Perkins, the savvy proprietor of InfoCommerce Group. Perkins related that the four competing news helicopters hovered over the event for hours. Not only were they sucking up fuel, pilot salaries, camera operators and newsreaders, but also irritating the hell out of homeowners down below.
And for what? Four sets of identical footage. The whole preposterous exercise was the ego trip—the silly pride—of four competing news directors who could have sent up one helicopter, shared the results and paid a quarter of the cost each.
A Vestigial Business Model
Once upon a time, owning a local newspaper or radio or TV station meant having a monopoly on the community and a license to print money. No longer.
News and information now comes from many sources—old-fashioned newspapers, the Internet, 24/7 cable TV, the car radio and alerts on a cell phone. Advertising dollars are being spread around these myriad media. Craigslist is systematically destroying classified ad business. Change must come, or all local media will collectively die.
Outsource! Outsource! Outsource!
When my wife Peggy’s parents were alive, we used to visit them periodically in Montgomery, Alabama. Every morning there I read the Montgomery Advertiser, a Gannett paper.
Virtually all the international and national news was picked up from the Associated Press and Gannett News Service, while local coverage originated locally. Same thing here in Philly with the Inquirer; it uses the AP, and occasionally The New York Times News Service and the Los Angeles Times, for non-Pennsylvania news.
AP pieces are relatively short, punchy stories delivered in the inverted pyramid style that starts with a broad summary, then each succeeding paragraph goes into more and more detail. The reader can quit at any time and get the gist, while the editor can cut off the story at any point to fit space requirements.
The media is a metaphor for how all business should smarten up. For example, a newspaper or broadcast operation would be foolish to hire full-time people—with all the overhead, benefits and travel expenses—to cover news outside the immediate radius of its subscribership when it can acquire the world-class services of:
When I read last week that two Philadelphia TV stations—Fox29 and NBC10—are going to test the possibility of sharing video footage, I was intrigued. The idea that competing news gatherers would pool their resources is a breakthrough!
For example, CBS and CNN spend millions of dollars on equipment and personnel gathering news in Iraq, mostly going after the same stories, interviewing the same people and doing stand-up reporting from inside the Green Zone. Three weeks ago, The New York Times reported that CBS was negotiating to buy news feeds from CNN. Brilliant!
Alas, later that day, both Hollywood Reporter and Variety said it was rumor. “We’re extremely satisfied with and proud of our newsgathering operation,” a CBS spokesperson said. “No outside arrangements are being negotiated.”
Pride is a dumb reason to waste millions of dollars duplicating somebody else’s perfectly good work.
Four Hovering Helicopters
In the run-up to the Pennsylvania primary election, Barack Obama held a rally near the Wynnewood home of our friend Russell Perkins, the savvy proprietor of InfoCommerce Group. Perkins related that the four competing news helicopters hovered over the event for hours. Not only were they sucking up fuel, pilot salaries, camera operators and newsreaders, but also irritating the hell out of homeowners down below.
And for what? Four sets of identical footage. The whole preposterous exercise was the ego trip—the silly pride—of four competing news directors who could have sent up one helicopter, shared the results and paid a quarter of the cost each.
A Vestigial Business Model
Once upon a time, owning a local newspaper or radio or TV station meant having a monopoly on the community and a license to print money. No longer.
News and information now comes from many sources—old-fashioned newspapers, the Internet, 24/7 cable TV, the car radio and alerts on a cell phone. Advertising dollars are being spread around these myriad media. Craigslist is systematically destroying classified ad business. Change must come, or all local media will collectively die.
Outsource! Outsource! Outsource!
When my wife Peggy’s parents were alive, we used to visit them periodically in Montgomery, Alabama. Every morning there I read the Montgomery Advertiser, a Gannett paper.
Virtually all the international and national news was picked up from the Associated Press and Gannett News Service, while local coverage originated locally. Same thing here in Philly with the Inquirer; it uses the AP, and occasionally The New York Times News Service and the Los Angeles Times, for non-Pennsylvania news.
AP pieces are relatively short, punchy stories delivered in the inverted pyramid style that starts with a broad summary, then each succeeding paragraph goes into more and more detail. The reader can quit at any time and get the gist, while the editor can cut off the story at any point to fit space requirements.
The media is a metaphor for how all business should smarten up. For example, a newspaper or broadcast operation would be foolish to hire full-time people—with all the overhead, benefits and travel expenses—to cover news outside the immediate radius of its subscribership when it can acquire the world-class services of:
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