So I ran across a rather interesting Advertising Age article this week, and was dumbstruck that no one had thought of this idea before. Obituaries on the television. Brilliant!
Apparently, a station in Michigan started running obits in September when several of the daily newspapers there scaled back to publishing 3 times a week. Now, this station is charging only $100 to run the person’s name and photo on the air, with the full obit published online, but it’s still providing an extra category of revenue for the station in tough times. It seems like there are so many more opportunities to increase revenue by charging more for extra features, such as more than one photo, or a slide show, possibly video, or even more wording shown on-screen. Papers often charge more for additional inches or photos, so why not adapt that model for a TV audience?
And maybe it’s only successful because of the circumstances surrounding the newspapers’ diminished schedules, but I can’t imagine that it’s taking away any revenue from those papers either. I’d think people would be thrilled to pay for both, even in regions where papers still are running daily. The station also lists the names of those who’ve passed away during the morning and noon news broadcasts, Monday through Friday, and on the weekend morning show as well. Again, brilliant. This would be enormously helpful in my hometown, where the paper has always only been delivered Monday through Friday.
The only hitch, though, is the online component. To get the full details and funeral arrangements, viewers must go to the Web site. But WNEM has been able to curb protests by instructing people to call the funeral home at the number listed on the screen if they don’t have Internet access.
I think what I like most about this approach is that it serves the community as well as bridging papers and broadcast stations together without creating more hostile competition or loss of revenue. Some people might say it’s just one more straw on the camel’s back of newspapers’ declining worth, but I disagree. If done correctly, obituaries in both media can complement each other.
An interesting side note in the article points out that funeral homes had considered approaching radio as well, but were afraid that the deceased names’ would be mispronounced.
Maybe other communities are already doing this and we just haven’t heard about it, but I’m blown away with the idea and I think it’s worth a shot.
[Source: Steinberg, Brian. "Advertising: Local TV Garners Revenue from Obituaries." AdAge.com. Oct. 19, 2009.]
Friday, Oct 23, 2009
Courtney Huckabay