Worldnow In Tv Affiliates' Corner

Apple's iTunes, IPTV and other emerging platforms can be troubling to local TV affiliates, but online media specialist WorldNow is using similarly cutting-edge technology to help them thrive by showcasing their strengths.

WorldNow provides Internet technology and online revenue-generating solutions for more than 270 clients, including ABC, Cox, Time Warner Cable and Scripps. The company also provides video streaming for clients that include the Los Angeles Times and Los Angeles local TV affiliates KTLA and KABC.

"We believed the Internet was broadband-on-demand that would emerge," WorldNow CEO Gary Gannaway said. "We said that eight years ago and never thought it would take this long."

The company's overall mission is to empower local television, newspapers and cable systems to develop new distribution channels and revenue streams for their content online. With that in mind, WorldNow's strategic offerings include online video, a national online advertising network, Web publishing and local ad sales consultation as well as an auto classified marketplace for cable systems and broadcasters.

"WorldNow focuses on helping broadcasters work with advertisers who didn't spend money on TV but had a marketing message that was being diluted by the overabundance of print via direct mail, yellow pages or newspaper," Gannaway said. "We help our broadcasters build strong Web sites that really give advertisers an opportunity to position themselves as leading authorities in their fields of expertise."

One recent example was a project undertaken by WABC-TV New York to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Sept. 11. In addition to the obvious desire to represent the history properly for the city in which it happened, the station lost its engineer, Don DiFranco, as he and his team were working atop the World Trade Center when the attacks happened.

WABC-TV president and general manager Dave Davis said viewers tuned in on their office broadband connection because the anniversary was a workday. The online content showcase gave the station "a very effective way to carry out our mission of offering the best local news to our viewers, wherever they are when news happens," he said.

Gannaway also pointed to customer KCBD-TV in Lubbock, Texas, as an example of a local broadcast station playing to its strengths by offering viewers a Web site that features content made more vibrant through WorldNow's services.

"We felt that TV had two major impediments: time and linearity," Gannaway said. "Thirty seconds wasn't enough to tell an advertiser's story nor was 90 seconds to tell a news story."

The one definitive advantage local affiliates have is their geographic proximity to their viewers, something their news and advertising teams are very aware of. Gannaway said WorldNow helps editorial and the bottom line with a suite of products that range from the almost turnkey to individually tailored applications.