Video Streaming for Media Publishers: Empowering Your Content with Video

It’s all doom and gloom for traditional media publishers, or so many people think. After all, newspaper publishers’ revenue dropped by 52% between 2002 and 2020, coinciding with a major decrease in weekday circulation of U.S. daily newspapers from 55.8 million in 2000 to 24.2 million in 2020.

But that doesn’t mean media publishers can’t thrive in the 21st century; they just have to adapt. These traditional publishers have embraced the digital media landscape to reach a wider and more reliable audience. Forward-thinking publishers have even tweaked their business models to prioritize video in addition to written content, and many companies have found massive success with this strategy.

As a modern-day media publisher, you probably already produce some video content. But you may wonder whether investing time and money into video streaming is worth it for an industry built on the written word. In this article, we’ll dive into some of the benefits of video streaming for media companies and showcase how digital media publishers of all kinds  — including newspapers, magazines, news and entertainment websites, and other digital content publishers —  are already succeeding with video.

 

How Does Video Streaming Work? A Quick Explanation

Streaming technology first started to develop in the 1990s and became increasingly more popular in the early 2000s as an alternative to downloading and storing media files locally on a device. Streamed files are stored remotely on servers and continuously transmitted in small data packets to devices over a network, typically the internet. Whether the stream is live or recorded, the file transmission happens in real time whenever someone clicks “play”.

Sounds simple, right? The truth is, digital media publishers need to carefully consider the streaming platform provider under the hood of their solution. For instance, while we think of the data file transmission as happening instantly, this digital journey actually takes time, a phenomenon known as latency. For some live-streamed events or interactive video content, low latency is vital. Digital media publishers that dabble in both live and pre-recorded content, should consider technology that supports low latency workflows.

 

The Digital Revolution Made Video Key for Media Publishers

The move from desktop to mobile devices and from traditional to digital and social media has revolutionized the way people consume content. Users can get news and entertainment from anywhere at any time — in real time — and curate their online experiences to include only the most interesting content. This tendency toward visually engaging, easily consumable media has transformed what people look for in news and entertainment content. It’s more important than ever for publishers to create and share content that captures public attention.

Luckily for media publishers, the amount of time people spend consuming digital media is only expected to rise. A recent survey predicted that the average time people in the U.S. spend with digital media will increase from 7.3 hours in 2022 to nearly eight hours in 2025. More to the point, people are watching an average of 17 hours of online videos per week. Investing time into creating compelling video content for your audience can pay off. 

Let’s dig into the specific ways video can help media publishers be more effective.

 

Top Benefits of Video for Media Publishers

• Enhance storytelling to increase audience engagement. – While a detailed article might be the preferred medium for some, the average consumer is more likely to pay attention to and retain information shared visually. Incorporating or even prioritizing video content helps publishers tell more engaging stories that appeal to users in the digital age and present stories the way people want to consume them. 

• Boost company revenue by monetizing your videos. – Finding new ways to make money as a publisher is key. Video ads offer a higher cost per mille (CPM, or cost per thousand impressions) than regular website display ads, boosting publishers’ revenue potential. Popular methods include advertising-based video on demand (AVOD) or subscription-based video on demand (SVOD). The right streaming platforms offer ad insertion, asset management, and more to help you monetize the high-quality video content your company produces.

• Diversify content offerings for maximum brand visibility. – A solid video streaming strategy helps you present different types of content to different types of consumers while getting maximum return on investment (ROI) from a single story. Short-form video, long-form video, and traditional print or digital articles can all be created from the same information. Plus, video content can help you take on visual-heavy platforms like Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok, getting your brand in front of new audiences.

• Boost website traffic and expand your audience with high-quality content. – Quality and relevance are key ranking factors for Google, which measures these in part by checking for backlinks from reputable websites. Websites and social media users are more likely to share and link to more compelling videos, helping you to expand your audience and boost engagement.

• Give yourself a competitive advantage by keeping up with trends. – Publishers, especially news outlets, are in constant competition with one another for the public’s attention. Presenting content visually helps you stay relevant in the digital age — instead of going the way of the dinosaurs. Whether you publish about local happenings, celebrity gossip, or niche industry news, a consistent video strategy can keep consumers coming back to your brand.

 

How Leading Digital Publishers Utilize Video Streaming

Media publishers of all sizes and traditions can benefit from video. Whether your company is a digital-first brand or a traditional publisher bringing its offerings up to 21st century standards, video is both beneficial and well within reach.

National Public Radio (NPR)

Although its roots are in radio, NPR has become a wide-reaching media company, producing everything from radio and podcast shows to written articles, explainer videos, and recorded interviews and concerts. Some of the publisher’s content — Tiny Desk Concerts and Planet Money shorts, to name a couple — have become beloved in their own right, but NPR also weaves video into its strategy for news stories, posting regular updates on its social media channels to explain the news to viewers. Video helps NPR enhance its storytelling and reach younger audiences through an engaging visual medium.

Architectural Digest

Content with a loyal and engaged audience helps attract advertisers. Architectural Digest (AD) is a great example. Its popular Open Door video series, based on its traditional print and digital home features, showcases in-depth walkthroughs of well-designed celebrity homes. AD capitalizes on its audience of design aficionados with advertising in its videos, which garner an average of 53 million views per month according to the brand’s media kit.

Insider Inc. (Business Insider)

Insider Inc. has gone all-in on video. With an array of videos ranging from explainers and business news to episodic lifestyle content, the company’s flagship brand, Business Insider, has racked up more than 393 million video views. Insider Inc. uses their powerful reach — with 1.2 billion video views per month — to fuel the money-making arm of the business: advertising.

Buzzfeed

Buzzfeed is a brand built on engaging visual content. Their infamous listicles are packed with screenshots, photos, memes, and videos that fit the casual, humor-filled tone of their content. Many articles feature a simple but effective video at the top of the page that summarizes the article for those who would rather press play than scroll down. And with tens of millions of website visits per month, the strategy is clearly working for them.

 

How Media Companies Can Embrace Video Streaming

Media publishers of all sizes can succeed with video, and the best streaming providers will make it easy to get started. A comprehensive streaming platform helps you deliver, manage, and monetize your video content at a price that works for your business. With the right tools at your fingertips, you can move beyond basic digital publishing and become a true multimedia publisher with engaging video content.

Learn more about how media publishers can win with video and how the right streaming platform can help.