Lisa Mitchell, Author at Oovvuu

America’s Thanksgiving dilemma

With Thanksgiving around the corner, Americans are facing the agonising decision of how best to celebrate.

The official advice from the CDC is to stay put.

But it isn’t banned and millions of Americans are weighing up their traditional trip to see relatives in other states.

Publishers using Oovvuu have access to the best reporting from around the globe to offer considered and nuanced assessment of difficult issues.

As part of their “What’s the risk?” series, reporters at Newsy have gone to the experts for their assessment of the question: What’s the risk of flying?

New to Oovvuu: Investment news from Bullish

Content, Insights, News, Technology

Investment news experts Bullish are bringing their no-nonsense, irreverent reporting to Oovvuu publishers.

The New York-based digital publisher aims its information at people who want to know more about money – earning it, spending it and investing it.

Expect to see explainers, news from the markets and interviews with insiders and industry leaders.

Like this, with venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya on why he’s investing in SPACs and how to invest to get rich.

The news videos come captioned and reflect what’s happening in the markets, plus they explain why.

Andrew Stella, of Bullish, said: “We pride ourselves on taking a straightforward, conversational approach to our coverage.

“Bullish wants to empower the next generation of investors through creator-led story-telling, highlighting interesting and unique points of view.”

There are original video series, like “Bullish Rippers” – getting behind the headlines on stocks that are going up and down.

And TikTok star Zaid Admani gets his own show: “No Bull With Zaid”. Get his hot takes on the latest business and finance news.

If you would like video content from Bullish on your website, contact us below.

Content creation fired by outstanding journalism and data

Content, Customers, Insights, News

Oovvuu’s mission is to put a relevant video in every article and increase the earnings of trusted newsmakers so they can continue reporting the stories that keep billions of people informed.

We are journalists ourselves, having come from the newsrooms of The BBC, News Corp, Bloomberg among others, and we have been on a surprising journey.

We thought the solution was just to provide more video to publishers, but it turned out that was not enough.

It began a pivot to being a tech company, as we developed our own AI to recommend the right videos for articles. That led to us becoming the video platform for WordPress VIP, publisher of 34% of the web.

That scale has provided fascinating new insights that have led us to the new and exciting frontier we are introducing today.

Oovvuu Originals

Oovvuu’s technology can now read the world’s articles in the blink of an eye, and our video partnerships mean we can see if a matching video exists.

It also means we know when a video does not exist, and we have merged that with our mission to refinance the news industry and made a commitment to fill the gaps.

We have begun funding and commissioning co-productions with the world’s most trusted news brands to make video we know people want and that we know doesn’t exist now.

We know what people are reading and want to know about, and we know newsrooms have been starved of video investment. Oovvuu Originals solves the needs of both.

The world is awash with reporting; relentless news snippets about every twist and turn, but the world is starved of journalism

It also goes back to our journalism roots.

The world is awash with reporting; relentless news snippets about every twist and turn, but the world is starved of journalism.

Our founder Ricky Sutton defines journalism as “something you didn’t know, or even knew you wanted or needed to know, that has the power to surprise, delight or spark a new or original thought”.

We have learned from broadcasters and newsrooms across the world that these amazing stories are not being told, or are being left on the cutting room floor because they can’t get air amid the helter-skelter race to meet the daily news agenda.

Oovvuu Originals is now providing the money to empower the journalists who care to make the stories that reset the balance.

We began this initiative with the UK Press Association. It’s early days but just half a dozen Oovvuu Originals titles a week are already outperforming the frantic output of most traditional news agencies and major broadcasters.

Joe Pickover, PA Media’s Head of Video, said: “PA Media and Oovvuu have worked together closely to creating innovative, original video content for global audiences.

“Oovvuu and PA’s Originals series offers a unique perspective on stories which audiences wouldn’t normally see in day-to-day reporting.

“I value our partnership with Oovvuu greatly and I’m excited to see our relationship blossom further in future months and years.”

And the stories are beautiful, insightful and new.

When Space X blasted off as the US rioted in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, who stopped to notice the jarring similarities with 50 years earlier? We did.

When every headline screams the latest virus death toll, who is stopping to ask whether airplane filters could slow the spread?

We chose journalism as a career to bring to millions news that they do not know, and that can enhance and inform lives.

Oovvuu Originals is our latest innovation, and we are just starting. Expect to see more Oovvuu Originals videos in your favourite publishers in the future.

If you’re a publisher or broadcaster interested in being funded to be an Oovvuu Original partner, get in touch below.

Introducing Collections: Live video modules in a few clicks

Content, Customers, Insights, Technology

Our goal has always been to put a contextually-relevant video in every article.

The best engagement comes from a journalist selecting the video and positioning it at the top of the page.

But publishers tell us that sometimes, especially after the hammer blow of Covid-19, they don’t always have someone to do that.

And what if there’s more than one contextually-relevant video?

Introducing… Oovvuu Collections

Our latest feature, Collections, allows editors to pull together a number of videos by genre, keyword or content provider.

It’s super fast to do and after a couple of clicks, you have four module designs to choose from.

This, for example, is Strap. It sits in the page as a constantly-updating river of videos and then opens up into this view when clicked on by the reader:

Strap embed design – it does what it says on the tin!

Once the top video has finished, it plays onto the next

There are three more. One, a single video view, and the other two combinations of four or five videos in a module, like the one on the right.

When the top video finishes, it plays onto the next and so on, for a related 25 videos.

And we plan to add more. If publishers don’t see something that works for them, chances are we can make it happen.

And they are customisable with publisher colours.

Hands off: they just keep updating

The embed codes are unique to that publisher and Collection so they can be shared between journalists and added to many related articles.

Plus, they keep on dynamically updating within the search criteria you have set, so they’ll always have the latest on that topic.

They bring richness in video to an article, offering the user a journey deeper into a topic that’s of interest to them.

And it presents fantastic opportunities for use as stand-alone modules in homepages or landing pages, say around topics like Health or TV shows or the Olympic Games.

If you think it might work for you and want to hear more, please get in touch with us.

Trust in news is crucial for a Covid-19 vaccine to work

Content, Insights, News

The race for a coronavirus vaccine is on around the world and a breakthrough in one country, could mean salvation for all.

But with great hope comes the responsibility to report “breakthroughs” in a measured and responsible way.

Oovvuu only partners with trusted news brands and using their expertise, a publisher can build up the most global and comprehensive coverage around.

It starts with knowing who you can trust. Take this investigation from New York-based freelance journalists, Stringr.

And this report from the UK on Russian disinformation.

If people can’t trust what they read, they may not believe the vaccine, when it emerges, is safe. That concern is already mounting.

Our content comes from the most trusted news organisations including the Associated Press, Reuters, the Guardian, the Chicago Tribune, Newsy and many others.

Through our partners, publishers using Oovvuu have every angle covered – explainers, analysis, latest news and features – for the months it may take to get a vaccine.

Video news needn’t be a quick hit

Content, Customers, Insights, News

Much of the video we share with publishers is short, usually under two minutes.

There’s a lot of information you can get into that timeframe and the news providers we work with are masters at short-form story telling.

But there is also a huge appetite among consumers for longer, lean back content.

Take this look at this 25 minute programme on the growth of QAnon from Al Jazeera.

The longer magazine format allows for a real exploration of this complex topic. Why is it spreading from the US, and where is it taking hold?

We see long dwell time for this kind of content and it offers more opportunity for advertising.

Oovvuu’s content library has 4,000 documentaries and factual programs from premium providers.

Publishers can use Oovvuu to create video hubs or video journeys that keeps them immersed in the site.

Data shows that consumers are prepared to spend longer watching video at different times of the day and week.

And if you are a fan of Al Jazeera, or any other content provider, you can use our new tool Collections, to create a module of all their latest shows that updates automatically, like this.

If you would like to add this type of content to your website, please contact us.