New York-based video journalism outfit Beet.TV, this article’s publisher, has been creating events and videos that tell the story of the digital business for the last eight years. Now executive producer Andy Plesser says the industry is about to take off, as attitudes toward branded content converge.
“It’s a video-first B2B publishing platform that’s driven by a sponsorship model,” Plesser said at Beet.TV’s annual executive retreat in Vieques, Puerto Rico.
“We’re at the dawn of a huge demand for quality editorial content. The demand for quality branded journalism is going to explode.”
Plesser’s model is to find direct sponsorships from vendors in the space for video-taped events in which industry executives discuss hot sector topics, reflecting an independent light back on to benefactors. That puts Beet.TV amongst the recent “branded content” hubbub, which sees journalism organisations marry sponsorship with regular editorial practices.
“It’s really important that newsrooms employ editorial rigour to branded content – or else no-one is going to watch it,” he adds.
Plesser was interviewed by TouchCast co-founder Erick Schonfeld.
Video and the Newsroom
In Politico, Dylan Byers writes about the challenges facing newsrooms in building video businesses.
