Hundreds of Thousands of Storytellers: The Evolution of Real-Time Content in Media

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had the good fortune to travel to both the NAB Show in Las Vegas and F8 in San Jose, spending time with many of our best partners, friends, and thought leaders in the broadcast and sports world; they know who they are, and they challenge us to push the envelope with our product every day.

Our partners have an incredibly hard job. Sharp minds, relentless hustle, and intense coordination are just a few traits you would see in the people behind productions large and small, where the output generated can be seen by anywhere from hundreds to billions of people globally. No pressure.

For TV producers, gameday producers, & live event planners, they face the constant challenge of creating compelling programming that is relevant, engaging, in the moment, and in most cases competing with the smaller screen in their viewers/fans lap. The most innovative producers understand how to create programming that harnesses the power of their viewer’s smartphones through social media channels like Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook & Instagram to tell stories WITH their audience, not just talking AT them. They compel the viewer to connect traditional and mobile consumption, to contribute to the story, enabling the next generation of content creators who capture footage raw and in the moment.

But how?

Social content is a goldmine. In 30 days, more video content is uploaded to social media than the top U.S. television networks have broadcast in over 30 years. You, me, the person next door -- the audience, the viewer, the consumer -- is telling compelling stories every moment and as networks continue to evolve, they are leveraging the best tools they can find, surface, and produce content to support compelling stories around the globe.

Let’s look at a few examples…

The other day when LeBron James hit his first (of this particular series, he’s since hit a couple more) game-winning shots, the Inside the NBA crew on TNT talked about the incredible moment, not just with traditional footage, but by finding and surfacing a public Snapchat post from a fan in the stands who caught a unique angle on the action. Sure it’s not an HD view, but you can feel the raw emotion when the shot drops through the net and the crowd loses their minds. Make sure to check out TNT's Inside the NBA for more examples of great Social Storytelling!

Telemundo, who constantly pushes the envelope with social content, is bringing their audience behind the scenes in creative and stunning ways. When you watch the Latin Billboard Awards, you see everything from the glam on the alfombra roja (translation: red carpet) to the emotional acceptance speeches. What the cameras don't often catch are the intimate, candid moments backstage. Check out how Telemundo used Instagram to take you inside Luis Fonsi's private celebration just moments after his (seven!) big wins.

On a more serious note, we’ve seen local news utilize geo-located Snapchat content to extend the voice of students from the nationwide March for Our Lives. Capturing this raw, in-the-moment footage isn’t always possible for news organizations with a limited number of camera crews, and allows us, as viewers, to experience news from the front lines, at scale.

“There’s a physical limitation as a media company. In a large market, we might have a dozen storytellers heading out into the field. Well, there are hundreds of thousands of storytellers in the community now with a device called a mobile phone. This gives us the ability to access that point of view and perspective.” Frank Mungeam, TEGNA, NAB Show 2018

And we see this with Golf Channel, who leverages celebrity and athlete content across social to create richer, more personal viewing experiences that bring us closer to the golfers we’re cheering for.

“Everytime Tiger Woods has a comeback, people get excited. During one of his first appearances at a PGA Tour event in a long time, and he was doing well, and because he was in contention, people from across the sports world were super active on social media. So in addition to the normal social media work I’d do during the tournament, I was standing next to the producer in the truck saying ‘Hey Steph Curry is talking about this. Bo Jackson is talking about this. We’ve gotta get this stuff in there.' So we did throughout the broadcast, and on Sunday, we were granted an interview with Tiger, and the producer asked if we could bring some of the social content back, and we got to show Tiger some of the Tweets live on air. It was a great moment.” - Betsy Kash, NBC Golf Channel, NAB Show 2018

So how does this all come to life?

1. Billions of content creators
2. Talented producers
3. Easy to use tools to facilitate a flawless production.

The next phase of social storytelling is here and today we are excited to introduce a new, easy to use tool into the mix. Check it out!

We developed Tagboard Producer with the innovative social producer’s workflow in mind, and the features are designed to make social storytelling uncomplicated. In turn, your broadcasts and live productions will be made richer.

Here’s how it works:

1. Access all of your Tagboard content

Tagboard producer allows you to access any of your Tagboards and the content you’ve featured across Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to bring it into a story.

2. Choose your display types for each piece of content, section, or story

From a lower-third overlay to a single isolated video, customize your story however you like.

3. Drag-and-drop to create a story

Create the timeline for the story you want to display with the quick and intuitive editor.

4. Pause and play video clips

Set your preferences so videos can auto-play or hold until an anchor, host, or producer hits play.

5. Edit on the fly

If you’ve ever been in a production room, you’ve likely heard on-air or on-stage talent say “Lets see that last clip again” and scrambled to jump back. With Tagboard, this is as easy as clicking on the post, or moving segments in the timeline editor to create a new flow.

If you’re interested in learning more about Tagboard Producer, just click the link below.

https://explore.tagboard.com/tagboard-producer-demo

Can’t wait to see what we can do together!

-Nathan