TV is all about the numbers, but not necessarily big ones. Unlike network TV news ratings that live or die by the size of the audience, companies who produce and air their own TV content use a different measuring stick. Internal TV broadcasts produced by hospitals, universities and airports, care only about getting the right messages to the right people in the right time and place. Actual audience size runs a distance second. Some have called this narrowcasting.

Price drops in large flat screen TVs, digital video cameras and simplified desktop video editing software now make it practical for companies to create and share their own news content. Research has shown (as the decline in newspaper readership confirms) that the broadcast format is compelling to today’s consumers. As a group consumers read less and watch more, and prefer to get their news off the screen in CNN-style news formats. Even if produced by a company rather than a newsgathering network, viewers still tune into and trust the content of credibly produced and professionally delivered news-format video segments.

"For decades the only way sponsors could be part of a news broadcast was during commercial breaks inserted into the program," said Pepper Peale, Wordsworth vice president who helps clients establish and maintain internal news broadcast systems. "Now they can better target who they want to reach, take center stage, and do it at a fraction of the cost."

And as video screens become more ubiquitous, there are more and more options about where privately produced news segments may run. The transit system in Northern Kentucky has recently outfitted a fleet of 20 buses with color video monitors that can accept user-generated content. Universities have positioned monitors next to elevators and in hallways where colleagues can watch news content about promising research their colleagues are conducting. Hospitals use
in-house new programming to communicate with a massive 24/7 workforce, and airports have begun airing their own news segments designed to help and educate travelers during crunch times.

"New video screens are showing up in workplaces and public spaces all the time," Peale said. "But not all users leverage the technology equally well. Creating content that is both interesting to your target audiences and increases understanding of the company is the right place to begin."

To view examples of narrowcast TV news segments Wordsworth has produced for a variety of companies, visit ftp://clients.wordsworthweb.com, username: narrowcasting, password: broadcast.