Scripps’ Lisa Knutson on Building a Free-TV Powerhouse

At a time when so much focus is on pricey pay television and the launches of so many streaming services Scripps39 swift success with its networks has been in a word impressive quotWe have created in many ways one of the largest portfolios of overtheair brands of any company in the USquot Knutson noted in a recent interview The momentum is going to continue On July 1 the company will launch two additional networks Defy and TrueReal and on October 1 plans to launch Newsy brand overtheair OTA while maintaining its OTT presenceCredit the growing interest in cordcutting and selfbundling which are especially popular among Millennials and members of Gen Z with Scripps Networksamp8217 success so far quotWe see the total number of antenna homes growing in the USquot Knutson explained quotWe see people cutting the cord and moving to streaming services and free overtheair TV is such a great complement to thatquotFurther as speculated with the announcement that Discovery Inc will soon merge with WarnerMedia and hints of further mergers bubbling up in the press the number of noteworthy megastreamers may soon be on the decline Knutson mused that we might quotget down to maybe the Big Four streamersquot and suggested that the Scripps OTA networks quotare exactly the perfect complementquot to that It39s all about the right antenna in the right location which is no longer on the roof quotIf you39re paying for a streaming service and pairing that with free overtheair television with which you can get 100 channels in some markets 39free39 is a very compelling consumer propositionquot she saidAdvertisers as well are responding to the opportunities offered by the Scripps Networks which as announced from the start are sold in a portfolio quotIt39s really about maximizing our advertising revenue through better yield managementquot Knutson said quotWe are selling the networks as a collection of really attractive demographics together andor individually So we have something for everyone in terms of advertisers depending on the brand marketersamp8217 needs We had some very early and big wins with some of our crossnetwork buys from blue chip advertisersquotamp8220Our secret weaponquot she continued quotis on the direct response advertising front The Katz networks built a tremendous business over the years selling in the direct response space especially with some of the networks that are tailor made for that space We39re being very well received in the buying community as a portfolio of networks We39re up over 10 percent year over year to datequotIn less than one month Scripps will add Defy and TrueReal to its free television network group They represent the company39s quotfirst foray into reality televisionquot Knutson said with programming comprised largely of 70 different AampampE original reality shows totaling almost 6000 hours of content that have never before been seen on broadcast television and were licensed to create the two networks quotTrueReal is a femalecentric realitybased networkquot with shows like Married at First Sight she explained quotDefy TV is a malefocused network with programming such as American Pickers and Pawn Stars With our exclusivity to carry them over the air we think these two networks are going to be very well receivedquotOctober 1 will bring with it the launch of Newsy as an OTA network quotNewsy today is on nearly every OTT or connected TV platformquot Knutson noted quotWe saw an opportunity to take advantage of our scale after buying ION Media to have Newsy distributed over the air Weamp8217re projecting that Newsy will launch in over 90 percent of the country thatamp8217s nearly every television home overnight We think that is a very smart strategy Newsy39s distribution OTA will make also it the only American TV news network with ubiquitous OTT and OTA distributionamp8221quotNewsy is not just about reciting the facts it39s about setting contextquot she continued quotWe39re going to in many ways dare to be different than some of the other national news outlets in terms of the kinds of stories that we tell even the length of the stories You39re not getting people yelling and having disagreements It39s about giving context to what39s happening and letting people make up their own minds and form their own opinions We have said that we want to inform and not influencequotOn the news front a high point for Scripps during the last six months was Court TV39s highlytouted coverage of the trial of Derek Chauvin which helped put the network back in the spotlight quotSome people didn39t know Court TV ever went away and some people didn39t know it was backquot Knutson recalled quotWe saw such growth in our ratings record ratings as high as 10 times what we were seeing prior to the trial Court TV39s audience was up more than 20 times for the pretrial with jury selection and more than 40 times for the verdict More than 400000 viewers the most since the network relaunched tuned in on April 20 to watch the actual verdict We really believe in the role Court TV plays as an important journalism and public service brand I think that was on full display in terms of petitioning to get cameras in the courtroom for what can be considered one of the most important trials of this centuryquotOn the entertainment side Grit which features Westernthemed movies and classic series has been another fastgrowing success quotWe have seen growth in Grit39s primetime ratings year over year quarter over quarter Q1 20 Q1 21 On the revenue side it39s growing tremendously People want something that is familiar like comfort TV and I think some of these westerns certainly fall into that categoryquotAnd speaking of comfort TV it has clearly grown as a genre during the pandemic quotWhen you look at some of the most popular shows on the streaming services you see that they are classic TV showsquot Knutson said quotCertainly for 2020 some of the mostwatched shows on streaming services were just that Scripps Networks provides viewers with access to some of the most popular shows in TV history It39s highquality programming in bingeable blocks that we have dubbed escapist or leanback entertainment People watch for hours amp8230 and they also watch the commercialsquot That translates to strong length of tune on ION and the others she explained quotThere39s not even a close secondquotClick the social buttons to share this content 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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Scripps’ Lisa Knutson on Building a Free-TV Powerhouse

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Ed Martin

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Scripps’ Lisa Knutson on Building a Free-TV Powerhouse

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