Glenn Beck says the television model is no longer working because for the most part, the networks do not respect their audiences. Beck believes the key to change for this media format is to give viewers the options to delve deeper into an interesting segment or clip, or to pick and choose a bit more easily exactly what they want to view. This type of interactive TV is not a format that broadcasters have available at their fingertips today.
Beck cites that current television has to play to the dumbest guy in the room while boring the rest endlessly.
“Why should I bore the 10 smartest guys to death, if they can move forward faster, let’s enable them,” he said. “Once I can change the usage of it so it’s not just one way information, television as we know it is over.”
Beck shared that he is working on a variety of projects that will serve to completely overhaul the television industry as we know it today. Beginning with his company, Mercury Radio Arts. He has recently launched his own pilot video program called GBTV. At the recent Ignition conferences, Beck’s boss had a bit to say about him as well.
Chris Balfe Shares Why People Watch Glenn Beck
Beck tracks his audience engagement fully. He uses this information to customize his segments into what he believes the audience will want to read. Beck shares that he doesn’t use this type of engagement with his audience to pander to them, but to learn from the analytics and his audience respectively. Recording about five hours of broadcast each day for viewers, Beck certainly stays busy, often on monologues that can last over forty minutes long.
According to Chris Balfe, people listen to Beck because they care what he thinks about issues. He also attributes Beck’s multi-media activities, along with unique opinions and audience loyalty, largely lend to the success of his programs. Balfe also suggest that anyone who is looking to build a brand for themselves do the same.
Opposing Views
Not everyone agrees that Beck has cornered the market on perfect customer and viewer engagement.
Arianna Huffington shared her thoughts on Fox News.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DevH6VwAfd4]
Huffington’s standpoint on the state of Fox News Media seems to have been taken with applause by some, a grain of salt by others. However, she may have a point in sharing that sometimes, news, that while by itself may not sell, with pomp, circumstance, and catchy headliners, can quickly become a viral topic.
She also makes an extremely relevant point in that which consumers and news viewers on all sides have been turned off in recent years by subjective journalism practices. This recent change also having fueled the statistics that have shown that networks like Facebook and Twitter are where people tend to go to get their news first. From friends, peers, and those they can trust have done their journalistic duty by providing an objective view.
Huffington denies that her site is a liberal blog, she instead prefers to think of it as a publication that will look at good ideas regardless of their standpoint on the political views. She also disagrees with news platforms like CNN who in her opinion provide too much of both sides for their stories to hold weight. Huffington shared,
“When one side is clearly wrong and one is clearly right, it’s not good journalism to pretend that they have equal weight.”
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