March 2018 New(s) Ideas Winner
Congratulations to the first winner of our monthly New(s) Ideas program, Wochit (pronounced “watch it”). We received several impressive entries in our first month, but Wochit stood out for its visually-interesting, engaging demo and presentation of the video creation tool. The Wochit YouTube demo offers an easy-to-follow introduction to the tool, enticing would-be users to try it out.
Wochit is already in use by over 600 publishers and brands – including news media organizations such as USA TODAY, Time Inc. and CBS News – producing more than 35,000 videos per month on the platform.
For news publishers without in-house video production expertise or a limited budget, Wochit offers a great solution to be able to incorporate a video component into your news stories and increase your reader engagement.
We caught up with Wochit Senior VP Sales – Americas, Jay Chicoy, to learn more about the company and how news media can take advantage of its video platform product.
What is Wochit?
Wochit is a cloud-based, all-in-one platform that gives news organizations an efficient and effective way to create and share compelling, short-form video stories on websites, apps and social networks. In addition to user-friendly video editing tools, the platform offers a library of pre-cleared content from top providers like AP, AFP, Reuters and Getty, as well as a selection of music, and even services for creating voice-overs. With this combination, creators can produce studio-quality video in minutes and even update stories as they unfold.
At the NOAH Conference in Tel Aviv in March 2018, Wochit co-founder and CEO, Dror Ginzberg, gave a great overview of the platform.
How did the idea for Wochit come about?
Wochit co-founder Dror Ginzberg began working with online technology – and specifically video – in the 1990s. It is this experience that helped him recognize the signs that a seismic shift in the media landscape was coming. Ginzberg sought to help publishers and other content creators thrive as the demand for video-based storytelling mounted. He developed Wochit to enable any storyteller to create compelling video, quickly and at-scale, enabling them to attract and engage audiences wherever those audiences are.
What challenges does Wochit help newspapers to overcome?
It’s no secret that news media and other content publishers are challenged by increasing competition for fewer ad dollars, and in turn, they have fewer resources. At the same time, the demand for video is skyrocketing, largely driven by today’s mobile-everywhere audiences. It’s a lot for already-stretched organizations to deal with. That’s where we come in.
With Wochit, anyone can make compelling, short-form video and get it out across all platforms and websites where their audiences want it. We offer cloud-based software that’s easy to use, so no special education or training is required, and with our automated tools, they can produce this content with scale and speed. We even make it easy to optimize for distribution across all the different sites and platforms, ensuring they get the greatest impact.
What are some different ways news media organizations can incorporate videos they create on Wochit into their business?
Wochit helps you get video anywhere you need it – on your website, OTT, mobile apps, and of course, social networks. Our customer success experts work closely with our customers to ensure their strategies are in place, and we can even develop customized branding so your videos will be recognizable as yours no matter where they’re posted.
We’re also firm believers in the importance of mobile journalism, so we’ve developed tools that enable reporters in the field to upload their footage to Wochit from the field, making it instantly available to their colleagues in the newsroom.
What has the response to Wochit been like from your news media customers? From viewers of videos created using your platform?
We conducted a survey of our platform users last fall, and overwhelmingly, they see video as an imperative. Most are leveraging its power for audience growth and engagement, recognizing how video can drive emotional connections and establish stronger relationships with audiences. Its potential as a revenue generator is also becoming more apparent; about one-third of our publishing industry respondents said this was the primary driver of their strategy.
As far as viewers are concerned, we’ve seen that videos produced using Wochit received significantly more engagement than non-Wochit videos posted by our customers.
What else does Wochit do?
Wochit also offers tools for reporting and collaboration. The Mojo uploader enables field journalists to upload their content so that it’s immediately available in their organization’s library. For multi-brand and location organizations, the platform supports sharing, creative approvals and improves workflows, improving the ability to modify a single piece of content for use on different platforms, by different brands and even in different languages.
What is on the horizon as far as Wochit’s offerings for news media?
Our survey showed that publishers are eager to experiment, so we’re working on some exciting projects with emerging video technologies. We’re also looking to bring our value proposition to more brands outside of the media and publishing domain, as video is just as important in consumer products, business services and other areas that aren’t necessarily content creators first and foremost.
How can publishers interested in Wochit get started?
We’d love to speak with anyone who is looking to first establish a short-form video program or grow their existing program. They can just send us an email at sales@wochit.com or sales-us@wochit.com.
Do you have a great New(s) Idea? Enter your product or service in our contest today – winners are selected and featured monthly, with a grand prize winner who will be selected in December to receive a dedicated eblast and webinar with Alliance news media members! Entries not selected during the month they were submitted are automatically entered for the next month. Click here to learn more.
View all New(s) Ideas Winners
Lindsey is Director, Communications at the News/Media Alliance. She has over 15 years of experience working in communications for nonprofits.
