Herald publisher NZME is proposing a new news-based video streaming service. Photo: supplied
NZME confirmed yesterday that several senior reporters are among those who will leave the New Zealand Herald's newsroom by April.
These include political editor Claire Trevett, deputy business editor Grant Bradley, senior sports reporter Chris Rattue, science reporter Jamie Morton, investigative journalist Nicholas Jones, reporter Kirsty Wynn and social media head Mitch Powell.
They'll be missed. They create premium content essential for attracting and retaining subscribers. NZME put up a digital paywall in 2018 and has a target of 190,000 paid subscribers by 2026.
NZME is still profitable, but NBR recently reported NZME had downgraded its full-year earnings guidance in November due to lower-than-anticipated revenue. NBR estimated the cuts may save the company $4m.
NZME chief executive Michael Boggs told staff on Wednesday the changes include a new Herald streaming channel because "NZME believed there was potential to grow audiences and revenue in video".
NZME declined to respond to Mediawatch questions about it last week, but the planning is clearly advanced.
A document seen by Mediawatch says NZME plans to launch the new service - with the working title Herald Now - on the New Zealand Herald's homepage and app in the first half of this year.
It would be a Free Ad-Supported TV (FAST) channel delivered online, emulating a live TV experience with traditional TV-style commercial breaks.
NZME plans to offer "half hourly news, sport and weather updates, global news, newsmaker interviews, lead-story coverage, panel-based commentary, business updates and much more, featuring expert journalists and media talent from across NZME".
The document cites Bloomberg TV+ (currently available on TVNZ +) and CNN Fast (available on the ThreeNow app) as examples of effective news-based FAST channels.
"The format is particularly suited for news, offering live broadcasts, breaking updates, and rolling coverage of current events with immediacy and relevance," the document says.
"Advertisers benefit from targeted ad placements, sponsorships and branded content opportunities in a premium, brand-safe environment, reaching engaged viewers at scale."
The document shows NZME is seeking advertisers for the proposed channel and "brought to you by" sponsorship partners for specific news bulletins and programmes covering business, sport, entertainment and weather.
The document also refers to opportunities for "integration" - paid content for commercial clients to air within programs - "subject to the approval of the Herald NOW executive producer".
The document also says clients interviewed may be able to use the content on the clients' own platforms after broadcast.
The document also proposes weekly items "featuring Herald NOW host, journalist and/or subject matter experts, covering... travel, wellbeing, property, tech, sustainability".
Video in the mix
NZME signaled it would also further invest in video when it first announced its plan to cut jobs in a rejig of news operations last month.
NZME already has studios equipped for live video presentation in the Herald newsroom and Newstalk ZB. It has broadcast live video specials covering general elections here and presidential elections in the US.
The Herald website currently hosts regular Markets with Madison business news video reports, but the Herald scrapped its morning video news bulletin called Herald Focus last year.
After the closure of Newshub in mid 2024, outgoing news boss Sarah Bristow was appointed as head of video and audio content and strategy by NZME.
Newshub's former investigations editor Michael Morrah also joined the Herald as senior investigative reporter and team leader in July and is already producing video reports for the Herald site.
"Morrah's vast experience and skilled reporting will be invaluable as NZME continues to grow NZ Herald's digital video output," NZME chief content officer Murray Kirkness said at the time.
"His experience will be very beneficial as we continue to focus on our multi-media approach to news, expanding and enhancing our video news offering."
Morrah features heavily in the Herald Now proposal document - as does Ryan Bridge, another Newshub presenter recruited by NZME as a Newstalk ZB host in 2024.
Live news video's patchy past
"There's a clear gap in the market for premium, always-on video content," the Herald Now document says.
NZME is seeking substantial sums from sponsors and advertisers to support new shows.
There may be clients prepared to spend on a new "lean back" TV-style Herald broadcast watched by Herald website and app users - especially as there's only one TVNZ breakfast show and two 6pm bulletins left on TV now.
But previous media investments in video didn't last.
In the 2010s, news media made a 'pivot to video' because social media users couldn't get enough of it. Also NZ on Air's change to a 'platform agnostic' approach made public funding for content possible.
But the hoped-for revenue didn't materialise, in part because the online metrics were misleading - and the online platforms themselves were able to secure much of the revenue from video views.
By 2018, many media pundits proclaimed it a 'pivot to poverty' instead.
The Herald's publisher NZME launched twice-daily short video news bulletins in 2016 called Herald Focus and followed up with local news equivalent Local Focus, supported by New Zealand on Air with money which once funded local TV stations' news.
In 2015 NZME fired up a video-on-demand platform called Watch Me hosting short-ish video content including Mike Hosking's re-versioned Mike's Minute editorial videos.
NZ On Air funded series such as the prize-wining documentary The Bridge appeared on the platform.
But Watch Me quietly faded away in 2018.
The Herald's main rival news publisher Stuff, originally a newspaper company, also embraced online video with gusto - and with dollars.
They hired key current affairs staff from TV3 and broadcasters Alison Mau and Carol Hirschfeld.
Hirschfeld came from RNZ where - along with former TV3 colleague John Campbell - they relaunched Checkpoint in 2017 as a video show.
It was RNZ's most ambitious and expensive video play, but it didn't catch on and the live video broadcast was dropped when the programme was re-established as a two-hour radio show in 2023.
NZME and rival broadcaster Mediaworks turned the cameras on their radio hosts to create video to feed their website and their Facebook followers. Now there's barely any video on their own platforms.
Stuff also made a push into the online video market with the free-to-use platform Play Stuff in 2019 with content from BBC, Reuters, VICE, and NZ On Screen.
It was available online and via a smart TV app, but also failed to fly.
But last year Stuff did a deal to produce ThreeNews at 6pm after the closure of Newshub which is now bringing in critical regular revenue for the publisher - as well as an inventory of video content for its own site and app to attract users.
NZME may have had that in mind when it decided to pivot to video again whilst also cutting costs in line with projected declines in its profits.
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