What to Tease and What Not to Tease

A tease is the first element you see in a newscast. It can be compelling video or soundbite that will draw in viewers to stay tuned and not change the channel.
Therefore, a story must have strong qualifications and elements that will make it "teasable."
For one, the b-roll/video must be compelling and visual. As a video producer, I had to make sure all the stories that we teased in the preshow had good visuals that would entice viewers to keep watching.
Two, the story must be multi-dimensional and multi-layered. A copy story is definitely not something you'd want to tease. If you tease a story, the audience will be expecting details that will thoroughly inform and satiate their interest and questions. Three, the writing needs to be short, sweet, and catchy. Teases are only 10 seconds long, so to peak interest, the audience needs to hear the basic information.

For Thursday's newscast, we teased the Boy Scouts, DOMA, and Great Shake Out story. All these stories had the three elements that are essential to great teases.