Cincy goes Avid for video

By Marcelo Duran
Associate Editor

The Cincinnati Enquirer is bolstering its video production capabilities in a bid to double the number of video segments it creates to more than 150 per month.

The paper is deploying Avid Technology Inc.’s Unity MediaNetwork storage platform to provide the storage and asset management capabilities it will need to hit the new target, said James Jackson, The Enquirer’s vice president of new media and product development.

The paper (daily, 195,028; Sunday, 280,556) is no stranger to the Avid platform, having used the vendor’s Xpress Pro app since mid-2006 to edit and create Web-based video content.

Unity MediaNetwork will let The Enquirer’s video producers collaborate and quickly access media assets stored throughout the network, Jackson said.

“We are using the Avid production system as a local internal production tool because of the efficiencies it provides,” Jackson said.

As part of its commitment to increase its video content, The Enquirer quintupled its number of trained video producers and editors, from eight a year ago to 40 today, Jackson said.

Multimedia and Presentation Editor Kenneth Amos said that the video producers come from all parts of the newsroom, spanning reporters, photographers and editors.

Increased video for 2008

“The amount of content they will be bringing into the facility is staggering so it makes sense to centralize all their content and have other people within the facility be able to use that same footage,” said Johnathon Howard, director of broadcast and media publishing for Avid. “By using our shared storage system they are able to centralize and consolidate all the different disciplines and the video that is going on.”

The Enquirer’s deployment of Unity MediaNetwork reflects parent Gannett Co. Inc.’s recent moves to boost the number of videos across all of its newspaper Web sites.

To that end, late last year Gannett tapped Seattle-based thePlatform to manage video content posted on its newspaper and television Web sites.

The company will also act as a central distribution hub to syndicate video content among various sites.

Gannett also selected Cambridge, Mass.-based Maven Networks Inc., an Internet television distribution company, to handle video advertising and other services.

Maven’s technology platform will allow Gannett to deliver thousands of hours of ad-supported news video throughout its more than 150 Web sites.

Mesh with other papers

“We will be using Avid’s system to produce videos internally and as far as videos on the Web, we’re planning to use Maven Networks and thePlatform as part of Gannett’s overall video strategy for serving, disseminating and monetizing video on the Web,” said Jackson.