Video content will be published both by FOCI journalists and users. Users now have the option to easily submit and share videos.

The Orange County Register (OCR) has increasingly emphasized its reliance on video coverage. "Initially, we concentrated on "how-to, step by step videos" from cooking pizza on a grill to how to perfect your golf chip shot," Michele Cardon, photo editor of the OCR, told the Weblog.

Now the paper is giving a shot at breaking news and features, and its video coverage spans across 11 categories, including News, Pets, Opinion and Food videos. “We complement as many stories as we can with a visual component,” said Robert Whitfield, news webcaster at the OCR, to the Weblog.

The user-submitted videos are approved by an editor prior to publication, but are generally accepted as long as they are entertaining and representative of the community's interests. User-generated content also serves as a bridge between the OCR and readers' likes. "By allowing our readers this opportunity to tell us what they are interested in, we are able to keep in touch with our communities," said Cardon.

On the business side, “our advertising customers now have a visually-compelling communications tool in broadband video to reach Web-savvy audiences in Orange County,” said Joe Brenneman, vice president of Advertising Sales at FOCI.

Brenneman expects the new video features to bring in additional traffic to the websites (OCRegister.com totals nearly two million unique visitors per month).

The new video-sharing service is part of a company-wide program by Freedom Communications to boost its online video offerings, with the help of Brightcove’s platform. It will affect more than 40 of the group’s publications.

Source: Orange County Register