THE Business Times (BT) has opened a new facility aimed at boosting the publication’s video and podcast capabilities.

Unveiled on Friday (Feb 24), the BT Audio Visual Studios spans more than 2,000 square feet (186 square metres), and comprises two open-plan video studio spaces, a podcast studio and four acoustically treated audio pods equipped with digital audio workstations.

The modular video spaces can be adjusted to suit various types of filming: from roundtable discussions with up to four participants, to more mobile-friendly portrait-style shoots. Meanwhile, the podcast studio is capable of capturing interview sessions with up to four people, and comes with high-end condenser microphones and mounted cameras to allow for simultaneous video recording.

The studios also feature a newly built changing room and waiting area for studio guests and their companions.

“Investing in this new studio is an essential, critical step. But we should not stop there,” said SPH Media chairman Khaw Boon Wan on Thursday during a preview tour of the facility.

“Today there are podcasts, newsletters and short videos. Who knows, two years down the road, what there’ll be? We must always be agile, be aware of what is happening, and have an experimental mindset,” he added.

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BT podcast editor Claressa Monteiro called the facility’s opening a “game changer” for the publication’s video and podcast efforts.

“We are very much looking forward to delivering better quality podcasts, and more of them in the very near future,” she said, adding that there would be a slate of “new and exciting” podcast titles to come. One of these new shows will feature the contributing editors of BT’s monthly Off The Record column, which focuses on media transformation from an insider’s perspective.

The new facility comes as news publishers around the world double down on diversifying their offerings, in an attempt to reach new audiences and retain existing ones.

A Journalism, Media, Technology Trends and Predictions 2023 report by the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism indicated that 72 per cent of publishers said they would be focusing on podcasts and other audio content this year, while 67 per cent said they would be emphasising digital video content.