SBTV Ushers in a New "Station Anywhere" Scenario for Viewers

The advertisersupported content delivery platform free to smart TV and connected and mobile device viewers gives stations quota muchneeded ability to stay connected with viewers anywhere everywhere on any devicequot says Ron Stitt below right newly named Head of Product at SBTVamp160 The now almost 100 broadcast stations who are attracting viewers inside and outside of their local area are a testament to the SBTV value propositionTwo early adopters of this national outreach KTSF the San Franciscobased station presenting content in various Asian languages including Chinese and Vietnamese and WFMZ located in southeast Pennsylvania amp8211 are sample success stories for SBTVKTSF photo at bottom produces a lineup of Asianlanguage newscasts and public affairs programming while WFMZ offers 90minute late afternoon and late evening news dayparts including halfhour coverage of Berks County news in both dayparts Both stations launched on SBTV eight months ago and so far both stations are picking up a sizeable new community of viewers KTSF39s total viewership last month was more than eight times that of October with major ground taken among the AsianAmerican community in Sacramento California For WFMZ minutes viewed this November were up 300 percent four times viewership the previous monthUsing SBTV for national distribution is free and simple to set upamp160 Once a station agrees to be distributed nationally and decides to be carried on SBTV their overtheair signal is transmitted directly to a cloud utilizing Syncbak39s backbone technology known as SimpleSync From there SimpleSync forwards that transmission to SBTV where it exists as a stream for viewers to see at anytime anywherequotWe serve as an umbrella if you will where the station can create its own channel identity manage their stream and the programming on their streamquot adds StittUnder SBTV39s operation participating stations have the ability to determine what viewers can see at any time That includes situations where because of contractual obligations a program on the station39s lineup must be substituted replaced by another cleared for national transmission In those instances the station can present something created inhouse or use a content quotmarketplacequot of firstrun and acquired programs set up by SBTV amp160This is quickly making SBTV the goto place where niche sports like quotHard Knocks Fightingquot can build a live and ondemand audience supported by local ad dollarsquotWe39re building something where content owners can make content available for that purposequot explains Stitt quotWe39re also looking to our local station partners to get into the business of producing live local events which can also become assets as well The idea is to make a live local event profitable very quickly without a huge audiencequotFor SBTV live and local event presentations can run the gamut from breaking news coverage and parades to concerts and community outreach featuring nationallyknown celebrities Over this past Thanksgiving Day WFMZ offered a live high school football game via the platform The game became the most viewed single event on SBTV so far generating 20 percent of WFMZ39s total minutes viewed nationally for all of NovemberquotEven though this was a high school situation the teams were wellknown enough to attract an outofmarket audience of highschool football fansquot adds Stitt quotThe spike in traffic was significant There39s a lot of opportunities you can create along these linesquotKTSF WFMZ and other SBTV affiliated stations promote their national outreach in a number of ways including onair online sites and social media That awareness helps recapture the viewer emerging from the increasingly popular quotbingemodequot times when they are off the grid for local stations and local advertisers In that way SBTV helps stations catch and keep eyeballs The other longterm benefit is thriving in a universe of expanded content options for viewers quotAs a broadcaster you want to avail yourself of every opportunity to connect with themquot Stitt says quotWe39re operating a platform with one purpose serve local broadcasters and maximize all the opportunities out there for them monetizing content with help from big data research videoondemand revenues to name two As we start to scale this and more and more stations come on board we39ll create a rising tide that lifts all boatsquotquotLocal broadcasters have what it takes in aggregate to matter in a FAANGdominated universequot he adds in reference to Facebook Amazon Apple Netflix and Google the acronym made popular by CNBC commentator Jim Cramer quotBut they are too small individually When we figure out how to work together on content promotion and monetization we will have created something big We can make local media a presence in this OTT world rather than an afterthoughtquotSyncbak has conversations in play with a number of broadcast stations and station groups about SBTV participation The platform and its growing content catalog will get its next major public showcase at NATPE in Miami Beach next monthPhoto at top WFMZ39s 69 quotNews at Sunrisequot morning newscastClick the social buttons above or below to share this story with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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SBTV Ushers in a New "Station Anywhere" Scenario for Viewers

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Simon Applebaum

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SBTV Ushers in a New "Station Anywhere" Scenario for Viewers

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