Media executives believe that they need to throw major resources into video on their local TV and newspaper sites.

They cite studies such as one from Pew Internet and American Life Project, which says that almost half of all adult Web users have viewed video on sites like YouTube.

Anyone with media site experience knows that local video draws relatively few eyeballs, no matter how much it is promoted. Local sites should do video to establish a foothold in the technology and learn how to do it. But they shouldn’t spend a lot of money and staff time on it.

Consider starting video efforts with feature pieces that have long shelf life, such as profiles of local attractions. Build a library of such videos and track how many plays each one gets, which ones are more popular and which ones attract viewer comments. The breadth and total number of archived videos will increase the sales opportunities.

Branch out into news fully expecting that some clips will draw big viewership, but that the majority will have relatively few viewers. Try regular weekly programming to get a taste of scheduled programming.

Most of all, keep trying, keep learning and keep expectations low. Video has a bright but distant future for local Web sites.