News Broadcasting
NBC, YouTube in strategic partnership
MUMBAI: US broadcaster NBC and online video destination YouTube have announced a strategic partnership that will combine NBC’s programming with YouTube’s vast audience to enhance the entertainment experience on YouTube while engaging viewers in new ways to promote NBC’s Fall program lineup and other preferred shows over the next year.
The agreement also includes an integrated, cross-promotional advertising relationship on the YouTube service and significant on-air promotion provided by NBC.
NBC will create an official NBC Channel on YouTube to house its Fall Preview area with exclusive clips to promote NBC’s The Office. In addition, over the next year, NBC will upload several video presentations and longform promos per week to the NBC Channel on YouTube from primetime and late-night programs like Saturday Night Live, The Office, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. YouTube will also promote NBC’s videos throughout the site.
NBC Universal Television Group chief marketing officer John Miller says, “The YouTube and NBC partnership symbolises what can happen when traditional media companies and new media companies find common ground. YouTube is the perfect online media partner to promote NBC’s marquee entertainment to their audience and explore new and creative ways to harness the power of viral video in a manner that respects copyrights. We applaud YouTube for their continued willingness to work with us to remove any unauthorised NBC content and protect our copyrighted material. We are thrilled to be partnering with this forward-thinking company.”
YouTube co-founder and CEO Chad Hurley says, “We are delighted to work with NBC on an official basis. Bringing more entertaining and exclusive content to YouTube helps further our goal of providing the best video entertainment experience on the Internet. This partnership provides greater visibility and access to both NBC and YouTube’s audiences, providing both companies with new outlets for growth and opportunity.”
Additionally, NBC will launch a contest for its comedy The Office where people can submit their own creative 20-second promotional videos to NBC’s YouTube Group (www.youtube.com/theoffice). NBC will publicise the campaign on air regularly during the first three weeks of the contest, encouraging YouTube users to enter. User-generated videos must be compelling and entertaining and create interest for potential viewers to watch “The Office.” Examples can be seen in the NBC YouTube Group.
The contest runs till 21 July 2006. The winning video will air within the network broadcast of The Office during August. NBC will also offer a ‘how-to’ video featuring writer-producer Bill Lowery, who normally writes and produces all the network’s promos for The Office.
Miller adds, “We are excited about customising the NBC channel and sharing with our subscribers all the entertaining promotional content we are offering to encourage them to watch our Fall line-up and other programmes. With the contest, we want to have some fun and allow an artistic avenue for fans of The Office. We know they have a lot of great ideas that deserve to be shared and we can’t wait to see what they upload to YouTube.”
People now watch more than 70 million videos per day on YouTube, and it is the 17th most trafficked Web site in the world.
News Broadcasting
CNN-News18 to air live counting day coverage for five state election results on May 4
The channel is rolling out its biggest election coverage machinery yet for results day on 4th May
NOIDA: The votes have been cast. Now comes the reckoning. CNN-News18 is pulling out all the stops for results day on 4th May, when counting begins across five battleground states — West Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry — in what promises to be one of the most closely watched electoral verdicts in recent memory.
The channel’s coverage, titled Battle for the States: The Verdict, kicks off at 7am and runs through the day across linear TV, connected television and YouTube. It is the culmination of CNN-News18’s multi-format editorial initiative, Battle for the States, which has tracked the polls from the beginning under the theme Road to Power.
At the operational heart of the coverage will be the Live Results Hub, the channel’s central command centre built to collate, verify and process real-time data flowing in from reporters stationed at counting centres across constituencies. The hub combines newsroom intelligence, analytics and on-the-ground reporting to deliver what the channel promises will be the fastest and most accurate results coverage in English news.
Leading the on-air charge will be primetime anchors Rahul Shivshankar, Anand Narasimhan, Aman Sharma, Nabila Jamal and Shivani Gupta. They will be joined by a wide panel of commentators including author Chetan Bhagat; GVL Narasimha Rao, senior leader of the BJP; Smita Prakash, editor of ANI; activist Saira Shah Halim; political analyst Sumanth C Raman; Abhijit Iyer Mitra, senior fellow at IPCS; Amitabh Tiwari, founder of VoteVibe; columnist Abhijit Majumdar; Nalin Mehta, managing editor of MoneyControl; political analyst Tehseen Poonawalla; senior journalist Subir Bhaumik; and political analyst Manojit Mandal.
Shivshankar, who serves as editorial affairs director at CNN-News18, set out the stakes plainly. “Counting day is one of the most watched events in the electoral cycle, where speed and credibility are tested in real time,” he said. “Battle for the States: The Verdict is built on that promise, combining ground reporting, sharp analysis and cutting-edge election technology to give viewers the clearest and fastest route to the verdict. On May 4, CNN-News18 will once again be the nation’s most trusted channel to witness democracy in action.”
Smriti Mehra, chief executive of English and Business News at Network18, framed the coverage in broader terms. “Elections are defining national events, and audiences turn to brands they trust in moments that matter,” she said. “CNN-News18 has consistently led from the front in every election coverage, and this special programming reflects the scale of our ambition and editorial strength.”
The channel has form here. It claims to have been India’s most preferred English news destination for election results for the past 20 years, covering everything from the 2024 general elections to the Delhi, Maharashtra, Bihar and BMC polls on the back of what it calls an “Always First, Always Right” record. Five states, one day, and a nation waiting for answers. The clock starts at 7am on 4th May.
