ABC Reshapes News for the Web

Interesting story out by the NY Times about how ABC is now tapping into a new frontier/platform of news syndication...the Web! They are now producing, an albeit short, 15-minute news webcast dubbed "World News" with a different style and approach suitable for the younger online audience they are hoping to capture. It is apparently decidedly less stuffy and scripted and more Web 2.0-esque including video blogs, personal essays, and interviews not dictated by TV time constraints. Based on the story, this foto does not appear to be representative of the style of the webcast and hopefully the tone is not like typical newscasts out there where they feign concern and do cheesy stories and bad reporting.

Webcast often features Mr. Gibson in the anchor chair, but the similarities end there: the segments can run long, and they purposely look raw and personal, as if they were made for MTV rather than ABC.

It is intended in part for people who view Web pages on iPods and cellphones, and ABC executives say they are deliberately aiming to please the 25- to 54-year-olds whom every news organization covets. "World News" reaches a tiny fraction of the broadcast audience — 4.5 million views and downloads a month, most of which come in the form of podcasts downloaded automatically by iTunes users.

It is currently not ad-supported so there are no noisy commercial interruptions, however, the podcast version is preempted with advertising. But it is also "competing with newspapers, radio and Web-based organizations" for ad dollars.

They are apparently the only ones doing this and have been for 1.5 years about. CBS and NBC offer only a re-packaged version of their regular news programs.
Read article.