Condé Nast Launches Branded Web TV Series, Starting with Glamour and GQ

What’s better: a long form interview or a short Q&A? Some would say it depends on the subject or the reader’s interest in the subject. I would say it’s both of these and a laundry list of other reasons. But more and more, it’s apparent that people’s attention spans are shortening. I find myself guilty of it too, skimming articles during the day, and filling my eyeballs with 140-word tweets. Of course, I am online and I’m writing volumes of stories so it only makes sense in terms of time constraints. Not to say I don’t read longer articles. Of course — when I have the time — a Vanity Fair and a Longreads subscription might not be enough, but it’s something.

I do find though, that video trumps, or at least is beginning to trump how I would rather take in media or information, and even a story. Anyone would much rather learn to build that light stand in a two-minute clip on YouTube rather than read the three-page manual, right?  Video brings an element that even the greatest writers can’t fully bring to life: voices, skin, sound.

It’s even happened with Instagram vs. Vine. Though I haven’t quite caught on to this fairly new social media of 15-second video clips, the first few times I did use it, it made my Instagram feed look downright boring in comparison. Where was the action?

Vice and i-D teamed up emphasizing that video content is on the forefront of their shared agenda. It’s a smart move, and  now Condé Nast has launched a Glamour and GQ-branded original video series sponsored by Procter & Gamble, Microsoft and Mondelēz International. More “branded programming” featuring other Condé brands will follow. It’s a smart move and one that the Internet generation is not only readily embracing but quietly demanding. “Does it move? Does it make noise?” We’re like infants in this way. We want to be entertained.

In my own interview experiences, I love the feeling of finally getting out a 900-word story. Its a challenge and it feels good once you’re kind of happy enough with it. But I really love the way video is able to capture blinks and sniffs, candid moments that, again, just can’t be translated in writing to the readers’ ears. In video? You will hear him laugh haughtily.

But then again, the movie is rarely better than the book.

In the case of Glamour and GQ, they’ve been working on shows with concerning titles: “Elevator Makeover,” in which a girl gets a makeover in an elevator; “Glamour Dos and Don’ts of the Week,” which counts down things that are hot and things that are not; “Fashion Week Ride-Along,” which follows EIC Cindi Leive through NYFW; and “Why Do Guys…,” in which female comedians go out and interview guys on the street. Some of these sections appeared in the magazines pages, and worked as a sort of end of the book high-note. But translated to video, it sounds like a bit of fashion reality television hooey to me. And if there is anything worse than television itself, it is reality television. If print is dead or dying — which I think has been on people’s lips since the 1950′s — and video is the new wave, we can only hope it will be worth watching.

Video did kill the radio star.