News For the New Generation

The article “ABC Reshapes the Evening News for the Web” tells about how executives at ABC have recognized that they have opportunities online that they don’t have on television, like the ability to test new forms of news delivery and new types of storytelling. One such online segment is a video account of ABC News correspondent Bill Blakemore’s recent trip to Greenland to see the effects of global warming. The video diary segment is the first of three documenting his trip and is aimed at the network’s afternoon Web cast.

ABC realizes that making their content relevant online is a good way to attract the younger audiences who are less likely to tune in to the evening news on television. However, ABC is the only major broadcast network that is using the staff of its evening newscast to produce a separate and distinct daily program for Web audience:

The 15-minute segments can run long, and they purposely look raw and personal, as if they were made for MTV rather than ABC.

The Web casts have evolved into an original program that incorporates video blogs, first-person essays and interviews that cover many of the same stories as its television sibling, just often in a different way. The ABC Web cast “resembles a younger, more technologically advance version of the traditional 6:40 p.m. report.” It is intended in part for people who view Web pages on iPods and cellphones – aimed directly at pleasing the coveted 25- to 54-year-olds.

ABC is definitely on to something. By realizing that the current news situation isn’t working for reaching a younger generation they are able to create a new one. In customizing the news to fit into the daily lives of younger audiences it creates a personalized aspect that speaks directly to the younger generations.