At a time when the American news cycle is dominated by politics and the pandemic, CBS News is finding success by covering stories of everyday heroes with social videos. CBS News is one of the most prominent media outlets in the US and is part of the multinational media conglomerate ViacomCBS. They have a huge online presence across different social media platforms with 7.5 million followers on Twitter, 6.5 million likes on Facebook, and 2.62M subscribers on YouTube. The ‘hero of the day’ video series is part of CBS’ ‘The Uplift’, a social series dedicated to highlighting positive and inspiring stories. As a finalist for the prestigious Shorty Awards, CBS News shared the following: The Uplift videos have proven popular with audiences and sponsors alike. They perform significantly better than the average video on CBS News’ Facebook page. All results below represent organic performance:
- They generate nearly 200% higher link clicks per post
- Reach 500% more people per post
- Receive nearly 2,000% more engagements (comments, likes, shares) per post
- Have an 18% higher completion rate with an average video length of 1:19
The uplifting nature of the content and the stellar performance also provide the sales team at CBS News with a great opportunity to secure sponsorships for the social videos. And even with the sponsorships integrated into the videos, they still outperformed with “1,018% more video views per post on Facebook than the CBS News Facebook average.” Here are some recent examples:
Supermom juggles being a firefighter, frontline hospital employee, and mother (source: CBS News Facebook)
The workers at this Pennsylvania factory volunteered to live at work for 28 days straight, so they could help make protective equipment (source: CBS News Twitter)
HEROES OF THE DAY: The workers at this Pennsylvania factory volunteered to live at work for 28 days straight, so they could help make protective equipment. Now, for the first time in a month, they’re clocking out https://t.co/VGS1pRDZk6 pic.twitter.com/OBg8Apsx7U
— CBS News (@CBSNews) April 21, 2020
Husband sets up “date nights” outside his wife’s hospital room window as she awaits the birth of their son (source: CBS News Facebook)
The Uplift continues to deliver over two years since the initiative began and remains a core part of the CBS News social video operation. We are immensely proud to be the video creation platform of choice for CBS News and their Uplift videos.
