Snapchat

Jess Kelly: Social media has a lot to offer TV and radio

RoI chair Agnes Cogan and Jess Kelly

Kelly, who covers technology both on air and online for the Independent Irish radio station, said that social media, while you “might not agree with what it has to say, never sleeps and is always engaging”.

She went on to outline what the multitude of different social media, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat, has to offer in TV and radio. As with many things in life, she added, posts offer “the good, the bad and the ugly”.

Snapchat to open European HQ in London

Snapchat

Snap Inc. which is the company’s new name, have announced that it will be setting up its main international hub outside of the US, in London.

The company already has offices in Soho, but plans to open a new site close by to head up its European operations.

The news comes amid fears that Brexit will negatively impact the UK’s technology industries, however the company says it chose the London base because of the UK’s “strong creative industries [which] make this a great place to build a global business.”

The lost generation of TV news watchers

Carol Thompson, 26, spends her day battling to get the attention of a classroom of small children. She gets up at 6:15am, runs to work, starts preparing for meetings and adds her finishing touches to lesson plans. At 9:00pm she relaxes on the sofa. Watching the news is the last thing on her mind.

“I generally watch television that I have recorded, rather than watching anything live or simply watching things because they happen to be on,” explains Thompson, whose viewing choices tend towards All 4, iPlayer, ITV Hub and Sky Go.

Are multichannel networks TV's nemesis?

Traditional TV has been on the endangered species list for many years, yet it has fought off every new media predator to threaten it. But has television finally met its match with the rise of online multichannel networks (MCNs)?

“Now is the most exciting time for companies in the online video space,” claimed Rightster chief Ashley MacKenzie at “Beyond YouTube”, a sold-out RTS event in March that debated whether online channels were the future of TV.

Al Jazeera turns to Snapchat to reach new audiences

Al Jazeera English has joined the image and video sharing app Snapchat, to provide viewers with a more interactive way to watch their content. 

Snapchat launched in 2011 and now claims to have 4 billion video views per day. The platform allows users to interact with one another by sending an image or video to their contacts for five to ten seconds at a time. 

TV vs Digital: A match made in heaven?

I Made it in Digital

RTS Futures assembled a panel of pioneers for its sold-out event at London's Hospital Club in late April, "I made it in... digital". An enthusiastic, youthful audience was eager to learn from their experiences of working at the cutting edge of new media. It learnt, perhaps surprisingly, that television – the dancing dad at an achingly hip party – still has a big role to play in the digital age.

Channel 4 is victorious at the Broadcast Digital Awards

The awards were hosted by comedian Josh Widdicombe at The Brewery in East London. 

E4, which plays hosts to TV favourites Big Bang Theory and Made in Chelsea, beat off competition from CBBC, BBC and Sky Atlantic to win Best Entertainment Channel.

Soap Hollyoaks secured the Best Social Media and Digital Marketing campaign for its use of Snapchat in the ‘Who Killed Fraser?’ storyline.

Vice News gained the accolade for Best Original Channel while BBC Three drama Murdered By My Boyfriend won Best Scripted Programme.