The Four Pillars of Sell-It.Media: 1. Unique Auction Model

Creating a level playing field for eyewitnesses and newsrooms

In the old days the rules of engagement were simple:

Newsrooms sent camera crews and reporters out to stories and those people were responsible for creating all the footage that appeared on the TV bulletin that evening.

When they were stretched thin, they sourced extra footage from specialist agencies and freelance stringers. It was a closed shop.

Very occasionally, they would get lucky, Footage would emerge that was shot by eyewitnesses. Still photographs, mainly, although sometimes grainy video might capture crucial newsworthy moments.

One of the most notable was in 1991 when a neighbour with a camcorder filmed Rodney King as he was attacked by racist police officers on the streets of Los Angeles. That man, George Holliday, contacted a local TV station and the footage was beamed around the world.

Viewers were shocked by these visceral images. Instead of the sanitised crime scene reporting they were used to, the footage took them to the heart of the action. The critical moment.

Now, this kind of on-the-spot footage dominates TV news output and digital media.

Almost every human on the planet has the ability to record these moments using the phones in their pockets. They simply have to point and shoot.

This creates a huge opportunity for media outlets - but a new set of challenges:

• How can they find the best eyewitness videos?
• How can they trust the sources?
• How can they be sure their competitors aren’t showing the same footage?

And suddenly, the rules of engagement have changed. There is no clear pathway for ordinary people who have witnessed huge news events to sell their videos to the media.

They might be able to contact a single newsroom and sell their footage - like George Holliday did. But which newsroom should they choose? What price should they quote?

Some services exist that offer to pitch eyewitness videos to relevant newsrooms, but none provide direct contact between buyer and seller. And none are set up to promote competition between interested parties.

So Sell-It.Media has built a new marketplace.

Its fast, secure auction model allows competing newsrooms to bid for the footage they want and truly democratizes eyewitness video transactions.

More than that, it has created a community where eyewitnesses and media bidders can exchange great videos for a fair price.