In 2021, I attended InterBEE for the first time. On the invitation of Blastreams, who used my voiceover for their commercial that aired on the billboards of Shibuya Station, I was able to experience an event that is so important to the camera industry. From that InterBEE experience, I became acquainted with PRONEWS. The production team at InterBEE was very well respected; my colleagues at Blastreams were very honored when offered to be interviewed.
Fastforward to November of 2022, when we at Aoyama Pro received an invitation to interview various camera makers, in English. Our work that day was the official launch of PRONEWS Global. We want to thank everybody who has supported us for the last year, and especially to those who have collaborated with us, interviewed with us, and participated with our production work.
Our Position in our Industry
PRONEWS, the Japanese website, is a big player in the camera industry news world here. Our colleagues on the Japan side launched and successfully held a massive event celebrating the Fujifilm GFX100II launch at the Noh theater in Ginza. On the English-language side, we have multiple different competitors in the industry, many of which have been reporting on the world of cameras and videography for longer than I have been alive. In addition, the changing world of social media – the buyout of Twitter changing the social media news landscape, the decline of Facebook use among younger demographics – bring new wrinkles toward our goals of growth as a team.
However, we are already, in my thinking, in a great position, based here in Japan. Major industry players like Nikon, Sigma, Canon, and Sony, are based here. We have been blessed with opportunities to interview Sony engineers, and I attended the debut of the Burano CineLine Camera.
The respect that PRONEWS Japan has within the industry is how we were able to achieve these interviews, and that foundation is one we have been building on all year. We will continue to build off that foundation going into 2024.
A Year of Growth
One year ago, the PRONEWS Global YouTube Channel did not exist. One year later, the YouTube channel has 384 subscribers, and 89,000 views. Many of our videos have over 1000 views and have made top SEO hits. Our team works very hard to accomplish this goal, but I cannot thank Thierry, our reviewer, enough. His expertise and willingness to share his growth-hacking skills to us is why I believe this first year was a success in terms of growth. Thierry entering the team is why there was a noticeable change in our website’s editorial style, as well. He graciously taught me how to properly optimize the localized articles. He also provided us with many tools for us to use to ensure our website is presented professionally.
Likewise, our Instagram following has grown to 366 followers, thanks to our interviewer Zach S, who has provided educational research into how to use the equipment that we are reporting on.
Looking Forward to the Next Year of PRONEWS
In 2024, we are giving ourselves lofty goals for the growth of PRONEWS. We are striving for more original articles on the website, more reviews and field-testing in our videos, and more educational content on all outlets. Our team is also collectively educating ourselves continually in the growing and expanding world of cameras.
2024 looks to be a year of change in the world of artificial intelligence, especially how it is integrated with cameras. We already seen AI integrated with Sony cameras introduced this year. I expect to see Nikon, Canon, and Fujifilm to also introduce AI in their firmware in 2024. In addition, AI integration with software (AI already is integrated with Adobe and DaVinci) is expected to expand in 2024. These new developments might be daunting for those entering this field. Trust our coverage, however, to provide fair, concise, and easy-to-understand reporting on the industry.
Other goals we seek to integrate in our work in 2024 includes providing creators a way to make easy their work here in Japan. Our partnership with supplier System5 will expand in the next year. We want to become the one-stop site for information on creating movies and TV shows in Japan. I know for a fact the Japanese government has sought ways to improve Japan as a place to create. We want to become the guide not just for understanding the media industry, but also understanding how to successfully make masterpieces here in picturesque Japan.
We look forward to another wonderful year with you! Thank you so much for all your support.
Written by Zach Kuhn, site editor, November 14th, 2023
Tags: #PRONEWSColumnEditorialfeatureInterBEE
