User-generated video has become an invaluable source for news and media organizations and an ever-more important component in newsgathering, storytelling and entertainment. But someone may ask, “what is user-generated video or UGV and why should I use it?”
Some of the most important stories of recent years have largely unfolded thanks to UGV – filmers on the ground capturing life as it happens. It’s increasingly become a vehicle through which human rights, gender, and environmental issues are made public. Perhaps most notable being the video of the murder of George Floyd, which ignited a movement that was waiting to happen. That movement gained momentum with countless other videos of protests and even rioting across the world. Follow the video and you follow the story.
Most importantly, UGV is a powerful storytelling tool, that brings us closer and fosters a deeper understanding of shared struggles, greater context, and comprehension of reporting. It’s no longer enough to simply report the news. Audiences crave a sensory experience when it comes to news consumption. They want to feel the story.
How Newsflare Is Changing News Organizations and Media Companies
UGV offers the opportunity to deliver stories grounded in a moment. It allows news and media organizations to not only cover a story, but to show the actual moment the story took place. It plays an important role in the verification of the facts that support a story, as well as adding a level of credibility to reporting in an era of disinformation. It also provides speed and access to tell stories in real time. Newsflare is at the forefront of this evolution.
Newsflare is the largest collection of rights-cleared user-generated video in the world, and Newsflare’s platform is a hub capturing diverse, unique, and powerful new video content every day from over 45,000 filmers worldwide, constantly refreshing its vault of over 250,000 videos (and counting) and harnessing ever-more advanced search and discovery automation, and a proprietary Trust Algorithm to deliver the perfect rights-cleared clip every time.
The Importance of User-Generated Videos for Media Outlets
One of the significant challenges for news publishers in years to come will be to reinvent themselves around something other than simply telling the news. The user-generated video trends that have slowly been progressing over the past few years saw an acceleration with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, the truth is, that we are all content creators. People create and share videos in record numbers, and it’s these unvarnished, unbiased, authentic experiences that audiences crave. No wonder UGV has been rapidly rising the ranks as the most consistently effective component in telling any news story across the world.
Growing eyeballs
It’s a paradox of the social media age that audiences desire immersive storytelling, and yet attention spans have reduced to that of a newborn puppy. We are operating in the attention economy. Human attention, as a measure of success, is fast becoming a unit of trade and news and media organizations are not immune – they are competing for the attention of users with the likes of TikTok, Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts as well as Candy Crush and Fortnite.
Trustworthiness & Innovation
UGV is more trustworthy and offers a new and innovative representation format that guarantees audiences to feel emotionally connected to a story. Audiences increasingly want to watch videos to see and hear eyewitness accounts. UGV tells the story like it is, and it has a meaning from a myriad of perspectives, with a level of genuine human emotion that cannot be created. To secure their long-term survival, news publishers must build a stronger, more profound connections with their audience.
Competitive advantage for publishers
UGV drives a competitive advantage for publishers, allowing them to be first and fast to publish the stories that are shaping the world, to drive deeper engagement with audiences, as the nature of UGV is more memorable, trusted, and therefore more shareable.
Cost-effective storytelling
UGV is a cost-effective solution for media and news organizations – Newsflare has 45,000+ filmers from around the globe filming monumental moments and life as it happens. With Newsflare, there is no need to send journalists or film crews to a scene as its platform delivers instant access to breaking news stories.
The greatest show on earth
Life, with all its color and craziness, sights and sounds, triumphs, and tragedies, is the greatest show on earth. A spectacle that demands to be shared with audiences everywhere, through engaging, captivating, and enthralling user-generated video.
Newsflare’s constantly growing global membership of filmers are out there capturing life as it happens, uploading new clips all day, every day, to its huge, ever-expanding vault. It’s alive with diverse, emotionally powerful content and fresh ideas that will resonate deeply with anyone audience on any platform – and they’ve made it quick and easy to search, select and license your clips. Moments that matter are being captured everywhere, all the time, and your audiences are hungry to see them.
Ready to dive into Newsflare and give your audiences a front-row seat to the greatest show on earth?
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