The video bar on the Journal Sentinel's home page is buried below the entertainment section and the main buffet of articles.
I don't know if this is a universally held viewpoint, but when I come to a website to view news content, I want the clear opportunity to view multimedia.
My favorite website on the Internet, ESPN.com, will almost always a have a play button right smack in the middle of their top story. That play button will usually begin a video that supplements the article linked in the description of the video running below the picture the button is on.
On the top of the home page of Journal Sentinel's website, no such play button exists. The front page only contains links to articles and photos. To find the magical play button, I have to scroll down past the entertainment section to a bar called "videos," that houses all of the relevant, watchable content produced by the JS and their media partners. I shouldn't have to scroll almost halfway down the page to find what a lot of people with short attention spans would consider the most interesting part of the website.
The top video featured in the bar tells the inspiring story of an adult swim team raising money for their coach who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. The producer used nice b-roll of the swimmers swimming while they voiced over over the clip. I did think that some of the cuts between audio clips could have been smoother. However, the natural sound produced by the swimmers gliding through the water gave the video an authentic feel.
When I continued investigating the video selection, I noticed the sports videos were found at a different URL than most JS content. The JS seems to have a partnership with Cinesport, a website that "produces and distributes premium sports video highlights and programming to local media web sites on a daily basis." I like that the JS cares enough about their sports video content to export it to an organization that only focuses on producing quality content. The video I watched was about the Badgers losing to Ohio State and getting a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. It featured JS Badgers beat writer Jeff Potrykus.
The Journal Sentinel is good with video. But they need to let more people know that by putting it front and center on their home page. They could draw significantly more views to their videos by using that magically little play button.
My favorite website on the Internet, ESPN.com, will almost always a have a play button right smack in the middle of their top story. That play button will usually begin a video that supplements the article linked in the description of the video running below the picture the button is on.
On the top of the home page of Journal Sentinel's website, no such play button exists. The front page only contains links to articles and photos. To find the magical play button, I have to scroll down past the entertainment section to a bar called "videos," that houses all of the relevant, watchable content produced by the JS and their media partners. I shouldn't have to scroll almost halfway down the page to find what a lot of people with short attention spans would consider the most interesting part of the website.
The top video featured in the bar tells the inspiring story of an adult swim team raising money for their coach who was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. The producer used nice b-roll of the swimmers swimming while they voiced over over the clip. I did think that some of the cuts between audio clips could have been smoother. However, the natural sound produced by the swimmers gliding through the water gave the video an authentic feel.
When I continued investigating the video selection, I noticed the sports videos were found at a different URL than most JS content. The JS seems to have a partnership with Cinesport, a website that "produces and distributes premium sports video highlights and programming to local media web sites on a daily basis." I like that the JS cares enough about their sports video content to export it to an organization that only focuses on producing quality content. The video I watched was about the Badgers losing to Ohio State and getting a No. 5 seed in the NCAA tournament. It featured JS Badgers beat writer Jeff Potrykus.
The Journal Sentinel is good with video. But they need to let more people know that by putting it front and center on their home page. They could draw significantly more views to their videos by using that magically little play button.
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