20minuten.ch will soon be offering video news produced in-house
Since early July, the website of the free commuter newspaper 20 Minuten has been offering video news on demand. Viewership has been far higher than expected. In addition, the segments will be produced in-house starting in early September.
At the beginning of July, video news on demand was added to the website of the free commuter newspaper 20 Minuten. The number of hits has been far higher than expected. The articles previously purchased from Reuters will also be produced in-house from the beginning of September.
Peter Wälty, head of 20minuten.ch, talks to Werbewoche about the planned changes to the news channel's website.
Werbewoche: Video news on demand was launched on 20min.ch at the beginning of July. How are the usage figures looking after one month?
Peter Wälty: In July, between 4000 and 6000 hits were recorded per working day, up to 150 hits at the same time. Despite the hot vacation month, the number of hits was far higher than expected.
WW: Are there plans to expand or further develop the offering?
Wälty: The next steps are the introduction of video podcasts and the replacement of the Windows Media Player with a Flash player. In addition, the videos are to be embedded in the site.
WW: The video news is currently purchased from Reuters. At the beginning of July, however, there were already discussions about producing the video news in-house. What are your next steps here? Wälty: The editing suite was set up last week. Contracts are currently being negotiated with the agencies supplying the raw material. The team consists of three employees with radio and TV experience. We expect to start producing our own news reports on September 1.Kathrin Fischer
