Video Ads Become 'Great Friend of Print'

By: Mark Fitzgerald The average user of baltimoresun.com lingers between two and three minutes on the site, unless he or she checks out one of the elaborate mini-sites The Sun creates for advertisers who buy video. On those sites, users stick around for an average of six minutes. "When someone is spending that much time with your brand, that's pretty meaningful," says Thom Smith, director of design and development for the Sun's online ventures.

Video ads on the Sun's site are not simply television commercials posted online. Instead, they take full advantage of the interactive capabilities of the Internet. On its mini-site for the builder Ryland Homes, for instance, users see a short introductory spot, and can click through for more info on communities around the Baltimore market.

Video is demonstrably ringing the cash registers for its advertisers, too. Smith notes that one advertiser, LifeBridge Health & Fitness, reports several people a week inquiring about memberships from baltimoresun.com ? far more than the workout club gets from its own site. What's more, with online video, those results are not just anecdotal. The Sun can tell advertisers exactly how many people are entering the mini-sites, how long they stay, and what action they took.

Video is increasingly becoming a mainstay of newspaper Web sites, as mobile journalists contribute video from the field and papers post Associated Press feeds. Few newspapers, though, have yet taken the next step to producing video ads beyond "brochure ware" ? those static spots showing still photos with audio.

"Video is probably the great friend of online and print that newspapers offer," says Thomas Silvestri, president and publisher of the Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch. "It's something each can exploit. Pictures can go in print and go online, but you can't put video in a newspaper. Video takes static pictures and words in a different direction."

The Times-Dispatch is still in the early stages of developing online video, which was partly inspired by the Sun's example. It's been a non-traditional start-up for the venerable paper. For one thing, Rick Thornton, the initiative's business development manager, comes from the print side, where he was a senior editor for the Sun. And parent company Media General Inc. invested in an outside consultant, known as PLAY, that took about 15 people from all departments at the paper and Web site and got them brainstorming about business opportunities, at places such as an Arby's restaurant and an Apple computer store.

A video advertising strategy emerged from the "PLAY experience," as Silvestri calls it ? but so did other ideas that will become businesses in the coming year.

For now, Thornton says, "There's a whole sea of mid-sized businesses out there that for whatever reason, cost or whatever, have never been involved with video, by which I mean broadcast or cable [commercials]." Video on the newspaper's inRich.com site will provide them the flexibility to do things they could never afford to do on television, he adds.

Video advertising is not an expensive proposition for a paper, the Sun's Smith says. The site did hire a dedicated videographer to ensure quality production values, and invested about $10,000 in equipment. "We do custom solutions for all our advertisers since they range from museums to home builders to hospitals, and obviously those don't lend themselves to the same execution," says Smith. Most video is sold by the online sales force, which works with his group to brainstorm and pitch ideas.

The Sun is in its second year of video advertising ? and while it won't disclose financials, the business is on track to double its revenues within the next year, Smith notes.

It's a prospect the Times-Dispatch can't resist, adds publisher Silvestri: "YouTube has proved that all you have to do is have a video camera, and some fun ideas. It's finding the unmet need."