A video news release, or VNR, is a news-style video built for TV. It is an interview, strong b-roll and natural sound, cut into a package a newsroom can run as its own story. A brand gets it on the news by giving a newsroom a real story, supplied clean, and having its PR team pitch it. The newsroom decides whether it runs.
That last line matters. A VNR is earned coverage, not paid airtime, so no one can promise a story onto the news. What we can do is make the package broadcast-ready and genuinely newsworthy, which is the whole difference between one that runs and one that gets binned.
How is a video news release different from a corporate video?
A corporate video sells your brand. A VNR is made so a newsroom will choose to run it. That changes everything from the first shot.
| Corporate video | Video news release | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it is for | Your audience, on your channels | A news desk, then their audience |
| Who decides whether it is seen | You | The newsroom |
| The brand | Up front | In the background, the story up front |
| The grabs | Can be scripted and polished | Short, self-contained, sounding like a person |
| Graphics | Logos, supers and lower thirds burnt in | Clean feed, nothing burnt in |
| Music | Usually | None on the b-roll, natural sound on its own track |
| Length | Whatever the story needs | A cut package of 90 seconds or less |
What is in a VNR package?
A newsroom gets more stories than it can run. If yours arrives in the wrong shape, it is passed over in seconds. So the package is built the way a desk uses it.
- The cut package. A news-style story built around your announcement, 90 seconds or less, ready for a bulletin.
- Clean grabs. Your spokesperson’s soundbites, supplied as their own files.
- Overlay with natural sound. Five minutes of b-roll that runs long, with natural sound on its own track and no music, so a desk can re-cut it.
- Clean feed. No logos, supers or lower thirds burnt in. Names and titles come as notes, so the newsroom adds its own and keeps editorial control.
- Broadcast masters. A ProRes master and an MP4 in 1080p at 25 frames per second, the Australian standard. If you know which desk it is going to, we match their spec.
With Zarco Creative that is two hours on site with one Director of Photography, cut to broadcast standard and delivered the same day, with two rounds of revisions included. Stills from the same shoot and media training for your spokesperson are quoted separately.
How does a brand actually get a VNR on the news?
Four things have to be true. Miss one and the rest do not matter.
- There is a real news angle. A launch with no hook rarely earns straight news. The hooks that work are a fresh statistic with a year-on-year change, a first or biggest or cheapest, a cost-of-living angle, a human story with a real person at the centre, a cause with a clear number, or vision a network crew cannot easily get to. If your story does not have one yet, we will tell you straight.
- The spokesperson talks like a person. Marketing-speak in the grabs is the fastest way to lose a desk. Most people have never been interviewed the way a news crew does it, which is why media training before the shoot pays for itself.
- The package is built so a desk can use it. Clean grabs, b-roll with natural sound, nothing burnt in. A newsroom will not re-cut around music or a hero logo treatment.
- Someone takes it to media. We produce the package. Your PR team or agency pitches it to the networks, built to a real news moment so it lands while the story is live.
What gets a VNR passed over?
Most VNRs are passed over for the same reasons, so we plan around them from the brief.
- It reads like an ad. Too much brand, not enough story.
- The grabs sound scripted.
- Music or effects baked into the b-roll, so it cannot be re-cut.
- Burnt-in graphics that strip the newsroom’s editorial control.
- There is no real news angle.
What does a VNR that ran on the news look like?
The official opening of Riptide for Cottage by the Sea in Queenscliff, Victoria, in February 2026. A real human story and a short window to get it on the news.
We shot it the way a news crew would. Clean grabs, b-roll a desk could drop straight in, and a full set of stills from the same shoot. The client’s PR team took it to media, and 7NEWS ran it on Bright Side. The client came back for a second VNR in August, and 7NEWS ran that one too.
Zarco delivered the absolute PERFECT VNR and photography for a recent event! Absolutely nailed the brief. Best VNR we’ve received in ages and it was used by 7NEWS for some awesome coverage for our client.
You can watch the Bunnings Scarehouse, Call of Duty and Pappa Flock packages on our video news release page, along with shot examples for the Australian Turf Club that show what sits inside a package.
Why does the crew matter more than the camera?
Most video companies can make a beautiful film. Very few can make one a newsroom will run, because the difference is not the camera. It is knowing the angle, the grab, the b-roll and the delivery a news desk needs.
Our crew came up through live broadcast news at Ten, Seven and Nine. So the framing, the pacing and the grabs match what a bulletin actually uses, and the package arrives in the shape a desk expects.
What does a video news release cost in Sydney?
A video news release runs $2,750 to $5,000 + GST. That covers two hours on site with a Director of Photography, interview grabs and b-roll cut to broadcast standard, supplied unbranded so a newsroom can run it. The cost guide shows how it compares to the rest of our work.
Not sure your story is news?
Tell us the announcement, the embargo and who is speaking. We will tell you honestly whether it suits a VNR or a different kind of video, and you will hear back within one business day. Here is how a video news release in Sydney runs with us, from brief to package.
Related reading
- How much does a corporate video cost in Sydney?
- How long does a corporate video take, from brief to delivery?
