YouTube exploding : Opportunity for independent coverage of lawyers
Rather than lawyers and law firms producing video coverage of themselves, YouTube represents an opportunity for lawyers to be included in independent video coverage conducted and produced by third parties.
YouTube’s growth is staggering.
- More than 1 billion unique users visit YouTube each month
- Over 6 billion hours of video are watched each month —that’s almost an hour for every person on Earth
- 100 hours of video are uploaded every minute
- YouTube is localized in 61 countries and across 61 languages
- YouTube reaches more US adults ages 18-34 than any cable network
- The number of people subscribing daily is up more than 3x since last year
- Mobile makes up almost 40% of YouTube’s global watch time, up from 6% only 2 years ago
- YouTube is available on hundreds of millions of devices
YouTube videos also do extraordinarily well on Google searches. In addition to standard searches I’m seeing more and more YouTube videos in my RSS feeds from Google News.
Most law firms are passing on video. Those using video do so sparingly and usually have a lawyer addressing an evergreen legal issue. Time, cost, and not knowing how to produce professional video appear to be impediments.
Rather than producing videos of your own lawyers, why not seek out opportunities for independent video coverage? For those who really want to go for it maybe even create your own independent video coverage.
An example of independent video coverage? LXBN TV. Three or four minute interviews are done with legal professionals on prominent legal trends, major litigation, significant legislation and other industry topics.
Interviews are conducted by a LXBN reporter daily via Skype as well as live at legal conferences. Edited and bylined for the lawyer and firm by a producer, the videos then go up on YouTube for use on LXBN and law firm blogs and websites. Videos are also distributed by Twitter.
Some of the largest firms in the country have issued press releases that one of their lawyers was interviewed on TV (LXBN TV), something they have done with traditional TV.
Here’s an LXBN TV interview on crowdsourcing with Melissa Steinman of Venaable as an example.
LXBN TV is not the only opportunity for independent video. Mimesis Web TV with Lee Pachia, Bloomberg TV, Legal Current Video from ThomsomReutersLegal all conduct interviews with lawyers. The frequency varies and some prompting may be required.
There may also be local and topical video opportunities where your lawyers can serve as a guest. Look around — and look to see if the videos are available on YouTube.
Independent video provides lawyers a level of credibility and thought leadership they may not receive otherwise. Such videos may still run a law firm’s blog or web site. Quality will prevail over quality.
Just as established law blogs provide an opportunity for independent commentary separate from marketing, a video channel sponsored by a law firm could do the same. Perhaps the video channel is associated with an existing blog.
Imagine bi-weekly video interviews of your lawyers and third parties on timely news subjects. I could easily see a blog such as Cruise Law News or the Food Safety News having such video coverage.
No question there are any number of cases of video being used well by law firms. But with the advancement of YouTube, the growth in watching video on mobile, and the integration of YouTube with home television, lawyers and law firms are sitting on a tremendous opportunity.
An opportunity that may be best served by independent “news like,” coverage as opposed to self-reported and self-produced video.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Rego Korosi