Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business Varieties, weekly podcast featuring conversations with
Speaker 1: industry leaders about the business of media and entertainment. I'm
Speaker 1: Cynthia Littleton, co editor in chief of Variety Today. My
Speaker 1: guest is Andrew Fitzgerald, Senior Vice president of Streaming video
Speaker 1: Services for Hearst Television. I started my career in business
Speaker 1: journalism covering syndication and TV station groups. I love local broadcasting.
Speaker 1: I have great respect for the mission of local TV,
Speaker 1: which is to make money, but also to inform and
Speaker 1: connect the communities that stations serve. This instrument can teach,
Speaker 1: after all, So with this crazy moment of growth and
Speaker 1: evolution for TV, I've been very keen to watch the
Speaker 1: changes in broadcast TV at the national and local levels.
Speaker 1: Hearst Television is one of the biggest and most well
Speaker 1: run groups in the country. They have the independence and
Speaker 1: the resources to do interesting experiments. They're doing that now
Speaker 1: with the free streaming platform launched last year called very Local.
Speaker 1: It showcases local newscasts from Hearst twenty six TV stations.
Speaker 1: It also has hyperlocal original series that are designed to
Speaker 1: be connected tissue for viewers that live in the region.
Speaker 1: They can go check out that amazing sandwich shop or
Speaker 1: day spa or nonprofit organization featured in a show. Fitz
Speaker 1: Gerald explains in detail Urst's approach to growing very Local
Speaker 1: on the Bass track, referring to free ad supported streaming
Speaker 1: TV channels that are already changing the streaming marketplace significantly.
Speaker 1: So we've got a lot of talk about local TV
Speaker 1: coming right up after this break. Andrew Fitzgerald, Senior vice
Speaker 1: president of streaming video Services for Her Television, thank you
Speaker 1: for joining me today. It's my pleasure. I'm happy to
Speaker 1: be here. So I wanted to talk to you about
Speaker 1: Her Television's streaming local streaming initiative that is appropriately called
Speaker 1: very Local. Uh. This was a big initiative that you
Speaker 1: launched last you know, late summer fallish of and as
Speaker 1: we speak here today on the cusp of Labor Day
Speaker 1: weekend here Friday afternoon, thank you, doubly thank you for
Speaker 1: making the time you are. You just announced this week
Speaker 1: an expansion, more shows, more content, kind of a slightly
Speaker 1: wider scope across your twenty six. Did I get it right?
Speaker 1: That's all right? Now? That is old school. That is
Speaker 1: an old school syndication reporter talking. Uh twenty six markets.
Speaker 1: You know, such an interesting canvas for you to work
Speaker 1: with and to do local programming. And I was intrigued
Speaker 1: last year when you announced it, and it's sort of
Speaker 1: on my to do list, and when I saw last week,
Speaker 1: I was like, I'm gonna we're going to talk about this.
Speaker 1: So I guess I'll start by asking you, after you
Speaker 1: launched it last year, what are you seeing in the market.
Speaker 1: What what are the encouraging signs that you're seeing that
Speaker 1: allowed you to expand the slate absolutely, so, Very Local
Speaker 1: is Herst Television's entry into the streaming landscape. You know,
Speaker 1: at the core of our business is local broadcasting. We
Speaker 1: produce award winning and top rated newscasts in all of
Speaker 1: our twenty markets. UM. The really our goal with Very
Speaker 1: Local is we are trying to make that incredible local
Speaker 1: news content available to consumers via streaming. UM. As we
Speaker 1: have looked at the landscape when we launched the product,
Speaker 1: there were two trends we thought were really interesting. The
Speaker 1: first was the growth in broadband only consumers. And as
Speaker 1: that population continues to grow, and indeed as that growth
Speaker 1: accelerates in markets around the United States, there are more
Speaker 1: and more consumers that don't have easy access to local
Speaker 1: broadcast news. And so at its core our goal was
Speaker 1: Very Local was to connect those folks with our local
Speaker 1: broadcast news. The second interesting trend has been we sort
Speaker 1: of saw the beginnings of it the project inception has
Speaker 1: been the growth and demand for a VOD services UM.
Speaker 1: That's been a big story across media this year for sure. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that is and so you know, very local is
Speaker 1: it it's an avid completely free app. Were one of
Speaker 1: the apps in the Roku store that has free on
Speaker 1: the on the icon itself. Want to want to make
Speaker 1: sure people know it's uh, it's free to use, it's
Speaker 1: an it's eye catching, no question, free and sale always
Speaker 1: gets UM and uh, and so we are a free
Speaker 1: to use a bad platform. We are absolutely seeing that
Speaker 1: that sort of growth and consumer demand around free ad
Speaker 1: supported streaming services. We are absolutely seeing that in our
Speaker 1: metrics in the Very Local app UM and so you know,
Speaker 1: at its at its core, we are connecting consumers with
Speaker 1: local news via streaming UM. However, a big part of
Speaker 1: the Very Local initiative for us is we wanted to
Speaker 1: differentiate the offering in the marketplace with more local content. UM.
Speaker 1: And whether that is a consumer who is in a
Speaker 1: broadbent only home that may not have a connection to
Speaker 1: a broadcast news station, yet new local content gives us
Speaker 1: an opportunity to connect with that consumer, or if it's
Speaker 1: a consumer that does have access to the linear signal,
Speaker 1: is a cable subscriber does have a broadcast antenna. UM
Speaker 1: we wanted to be able to offer more local content
Speaker 1: for them to connect with um AND and so that
Speaker 1: that has been a big part of the Very Local
Speaker 1: initiative and a big part of what we're working on
Speaker 1: for around Labor Day weekend is kind of kind of
Speaker 1: showing off the all of the incredible original content we've
Speaker 1: been producing over the course of this last year. Let
Speaker 1: me ask you one question on the on the purely
Speaker 1: on the local newscast side, are those live stream simulcasts
Speaker 1: with actual news podcasts or they are they making it
Speaker 1: available in an on demand format or both? Great question.
Speaker 1: So the newscasts are available on demand um AND, they
Speaker 1: are available in our fast streams, so in an in
Speaker 1: an as live format, they are not simulcast. So we
Speaker 1: we continue to believe that cable subscriptions are valuable and
Speaker 1: UM AND to recognize the value of people who are
Speaker 1: paying for a cable subscription. UM. We actually have time
Speaker 1: shifted our newscasts in the fast channel, so it's uh,
Speaker 1: you know, a slight time delay from when it would
Speaker 1: have been live, but the news is available there for free.
Speaker 1: So is it like an hour two hours after a telecaster?
Speaker 1: It's variable, but yeah, in that range. If I go
Speaker 1: on Very Local, can I watch any one of your
Speaker 1: twenty market newscasts? Will they be available? I can? I
Speaker 1: can check out different cities or is it kind of
Speaker 1: geo located to where I to where I'm logging on from?
Speaker 1: So it is absolutely possible to watch newscasts from any market. Uh.
Speaker 1: The way the app is designed, we UM we do
Speaker 1: geolocate where you are based, and we try to offer
Speaker 1: you the local experience that is going to make the
Speaker 1: most sense for you. So if you were in Sacramento, California,
Speaker 1: for example, we would offer you the Very Locals uh
Speaker 1: Sacramento experience, which would feature newscasts from k c R
Speaker 1: a UM. But you could in the settings menu very
Speaker 1: easily change your location to see other locations around the US.
Speaker 1: Do you see a lot of do you see people
Speaker 1: in different areas shopping around to look at newscasts? A
Speaker 1: little a little bit, but most of the viewership, but
Speaker 1: mostly once people land in a in a market view
Speaker 1: that becomes their home screen and they just default back
Speaker 1: to that. In any way, do you bundle advertising with
Speaker 1: the linear stream and and those like is it is
Speaker 1: it a bundled player or is the app and that stream?
Speaker 1: Is that all sold discreetly on advertising? Right now, we're
Speaker 1: still experimenting with the right ways to connect advertisers with consumers. UM.
Speaker 1: Very local does include advertising from our hearst any screen
Speaker 1: product which is a locally sold product for local advertisers
Speaker 1: to buy streaming inventory. Um. And so a fair number
Speaker 1: of those ads make their way through to the very
Speaker 1: Local platform. Uh. And then in addition, UM, we are
Speaker 1: in the in the programmatic marketplace like many folks in
Speaker 1: the fast universe. That's it. Yeah, it's a it's a
Speaker 1: it's a it's a crowded field now and I'm curious.
Speaker 1: So that tells us that there's going to be more
Speaker 1: innovatorations in new lanes carved out within that, which is
Speaker 1: kind of interesting to watch watch happen. UM. So that's
Speaker 1: your news content talk about because you have a fair
Speaker 1: number of originals, a lot of lifestyle stuff, a lot
Speaker 1: of obviously local color, which I think, you know, I
Speaker 1: I also feel as I love that there's not a
Speaker 1: lot of that, especially I'm in a big market like
Speaker 1: l A. It's kind of hard, but I know, anything
Speaker 1: sub the top ten, I would think there's so much
Speaker 1: opportunity to reach people that otherwise previously couldn't have been
Speaker 1: on linear TV. But in the you know, with the
Speaker 1: sort of the more modest playing field, you could and
Speaker 1: I'm sure you all are thinking incubating not only content
Speaker 1: and story and talent, but also advertisers. I think there
Speaker 1: is enormous opportunity, uh, outside of the top ten markets,
Speaker 1: and that's one of the things that really fun about
Speaker 1: her television footprint. UM So, we we don't have a
Speaker 1: ton of top ten markets. We've got Boston, but we
Speaker 1: have a number of markets around the US, and indeed
Speaker 1: most of our footprint our cities with a real palpable
Speaker 1: creative and entrepreneurial energy and cities that at the national
Speaker 1: level you don't see as many stories covering. And of
Speaker 1: course at the local level, we we put all of
Speaker 1: our effort into into covering these places. Um and what
Speaker 1: very local has given us an opportunity to do is
Speaker 1: to begin to build programs that celebrate these places. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so the way that we've approached this, we're really
Speaker 1: thinking with the consumer in mind. We're thinking about content
Speaker 1: that entertains but also has pretty high utility. UM. So,
Speaker 1: if you live in a market featured by one of
Speaker 1: our local originals, we want you to be entertained, but
Speaker 1: also learn about the place that you live, learn things
Speaker 1: to do, places to go, interesting restaurants or chefs, etcetera.
Speaker 1: So our our formats are built to look and feel
Speaker 1: familiar to someone who is watching unscripted cable. We have
Speaker 1: travel formats, cooking formats, uh that if you, if you
Speaker 1: are a consumer of that content on cable, this is
Speaker 1: gonna this is gonna feel very familiar to you, except
Speaker 1: it is going to be through a lens on a
Speaker 1: place that you likely wouldn't see normally on a national
Speaker 1: cable channel. Um. And in many cases, it will be
Speaker 1: the town in which you live. So, for example, we
Speaker 1: have a cooking competition show called Plate at Pittsburgh in
Speaker 1: which two Pittsburgh chefs compete to see who can make
Speaker 1: the best dish and also the most Pittsburgh ish. And
Speaker 1: those two chefs are chefs in Pittsburgh. So if you're
Speaker 1: watching Plated Pittsburgh in that market, yes, it is a fun,
Speaker 1: unscripted cooking competition show, just like something you might see
Speaker 1: on cable. However, you could also make a reservation at
Speaker 1: any of those restaurants tonight tomorrow. Uh. And that's that's
Speaker 1: sort of level of utility and access back to the community.
Speaker 1: We think it is really valuable and helps these programs resume.
Speaker 1: And now do you have the deal in place with
Speaker 1: um Open Table or whatever to so that so that
Speaker 1: they can click right through the remote control or whatever
Speaker 1: to make that to make that reservation or is that
Speaker 1: next year? That's that's probably next year. But Open Table,
Speaker 1: if you're listening, please give me a call. That sounds great,
Speaker 1: but it does seem like, you know, and especially now
Speaker 1: now we're really going to get into wonky wonky territory.
Speaker 1: But as we get into a t s C three
Speaker 1: point oh, that that kind of functionality should be pretty ready,
Speaker 1: you know, should be much more easily handled by broadcasters.
Speaker 1: If I understand all of that, right, I know, you know, absolutely, yeah,
Speaker 1: So I think the sort of promised interactivity that we
Speaker 1: have been we have been looking for in the future
Speaker 1: of broadcasting. Uh. Certainly, I think my entire career UM
Speaker 1: and and probably predating my career. UM, it feels like
Speaker 1: we are in the world that that is now happening.
Speaker 1: UM and UH certainly opportunities with a t SC three
Speaker 1: dot OU and in in my world and streaming, UH,
Speaker 1: we're already seeing the kind of beginnings of interactivity in
Speaker 1: the streaming space, even even just um sort of simple
Speaker 1: models of uh the sort of higher CPM interactive advertising
Speaker 1: that runs in video on demand services. UM, that that
Speaker 1: kind of offering to the consumer where they they're they're
Speaker 1: having a little bit more of a dialogue between them
Speaker 1: and the and the big screen. UM. I think there's
Speaker 1: a there's an enormous opportunity, and especially as our focus
Speaker 1: is deepening a relationship and deepening engagement with local consumers,
Speaker 1: I think there's a there's a ton of opportunity there
Speaker 1: for us. We know that there's so much investment going
Speaker 1: on in in that area of digital tools that enable
Speaker 1: that kind of conversation. That's what we're definitely here. From
Speaker 1: the investment side, we're always focused on what's the next
Speaker 1: studio and people are saying actually infrastructure, ticketing apps or
Speaker 1: the hot thing. But it makes sense. You know, you've
Speaker 1: got to you've got to facilitate it and we're all
Speaker 1: spoiled now we want it just we wanted a couple
Speaker 1: of clicks and oh, there it is. You know. Um,
Speaker 1: let me ask, so do you own? Does First own
Speaker 1: all the content? Is there? Is there any kind of
Speaker 1: licensing going on or do you I'm guessing you produce
Speaker 1: it using a lot of the station resources. So there's
Speaker 1: a there's a small amount of content that is licensed
Speaker 1: on Very Local, but the vast majority of what you
Speaker 1: see on Very Local UH is produced and owned by
Speaker 1: Hearst UM and this is really these are our programs
Speaker 1: that we have developed and defined specifically to highlight these
Speaker 1: markets and UH and you know, put put a lot
Speaker 1: of work into what is what is the best way
Speaker 1: to produce a show that is going to reflect this
Speaker 1: sitting don't surf around. We'll be right back with more
Speaker 1: on the future of local TV with Hearst Televisions Andrew Fitzgerald.
Speaker 1: And we're back with more from Hearst Televisions. Andrew Gerald.
Speaker 1: First has very well established Esquire, Costropolitan, you know magazines
Speaker 1: that have also a lot of content resources. Is there
Speaker 1: any Is there any cross pollination there? Absolutely? Um, So
Speaker 1: on Very Local, we have a few properties that are
Speaker 1: built by Herst magazine, so uh, the Delish food brand,
Speaker 1: we have um some shows under the Delicio food brand.
Speaker 1: We actually have a show from Esquire called In Transit,
Speaker 1: which is a celebrity interview show hosted by Dave Holmes
Speaker 1: in which he's um interviewing celebrities in an airport bar
Speaker 1: as they travel to different destinations around America, talking about genius,
Speaker 1: that's a career, their career, and also where they're where
Speaker 1: they're headed to. HM, well that's cool. Who um for
Speaker 1: the content that airs on Very Local? Who sells that? Does?
Speaker 1: Do you have a dedicated sales team or is the
Speaker 1: advertising sold by the individual station groups? So it's the
Speaker 1: advertising and Very Local right now is a mix of
Speaker 1: some locally sold through our Hearst any screen product and
Speaker 1: then some programmatic which is run by a team that
Speaker 1: handles our programmatic sales at large. It would seem intuitively
Speaker 1: that it's a great way to bring in advertisers that
Speaker 1: wouldn't maybe yet have the heft to be on linear
Speaker 1: at this stage. Is that Is that a fair assessment
Speaker 1: that you can it allows you to bring in people
Speaker 1: that it wouldn't otherwise be on the air. Well certainly
Speaker 1: for our so our first any screen product predates Very
Speaker 1: Local by I think about two years, and the idea
Speaker 1: there was to offer local advertisers the opportunity to be
Speaker 1: in the streaming landscape. Um. And so you know, through
Speaker 1: UH going out in the marketplace and finding the right
Speaker 1: inventory matches for local advertisers goals um. And now with
Speaker 1: very Local, we we are helping to connect those same
Speaker 1: local advertisers with audience consuming her television content um and
Speaker 1: we expect that to continue to increase um. And so
Speaker 1: it is I think the the opportunity right now is
Speaker 1: with our existing advertising relationships in local markets, how do
Speaker 1: we help bring those advertisers into this whole new world
Speaker 1: of advertising, whether whether that is within Very Local expanding
Speaker 1: out through streaming via her stanny screen Yah mhm um.
Speaker 1: What do you think? What do you find in terms
Speaker 1: of audience profile, the difference in the audience profile of
Speaker 1: people that watch tune into Very Local, whether it's the
Speaker 1: original content or a newscast versus what you'll what you'd
Speaker 1: see on the linear mothership station in the market. So
Speaker 1: very Local audience is pretty much as mass market as
Speaker 1: our linear stations, UM, with with perhaps a slightly younger event. Um,
Speaker 1: not surprising, but the but yeah, it is to be
Speaker 1: in the broadcast industry. Is your your market is very
Speaker 1: much general general mass market and your your affinity area,
Speaker 1: your interest graph is people care about the place that
Speaker 1: they live. Do you think about how you program very
Speaker 1: local so as to not in any way, you know,
Speaker 1: cannibalize a line linear audience or is that not a concern?
Speaker 1: Do you feel like you fish in different ponds in
Speaker 1: terms of in terms of the content that runs on
Speaker 1: Very Local and the content available you know that might
Speaker 1: be available say on the weekend on one of on
Speaker 1: one of the stations. Um, there there is not outside
Speaker 1: of the newscasts and other station produced uh, other stations
Speaker 1: produced content. Um, there is not a ton of overlap
Speaker 1: between what is airing a linear channel and what is
Speaker 1: airing and very local. Um. You know, the linear channel,
Speaker 1: in addition to our locally produced content, includes content from
Speaker 1: our syndication partners, content from our our network partners. Um,
Speaker 1: none of that is appearing in Very Local and so
Speaker 1: and then on the very local side, it's very it's
Speaker 1: actually quite rare for us to take original content that
Speaker 1: has been produced for Very Local and run that on
Speaker 1: the linear side. UM. Part of our Labor Day UH special,
Speaker 1: the More to Explore special is about highlighting these original
Speaker 1: shows that are exclusive to our streaming platform for our
Speaker 1: linear audiences. UM. We we think about for the audiences
Speaker 1: of the two platforms. On streaming, we're really looking at
Speaker 1: either an audience of folks that just are not consuming
Speaker 1: linear channels and so we're we're sort of offering them
Speaker 1: the local news and more. And then four audiences that
Speaker 1: are consuming content on our existing linear channel. They're they're
Speaker 1: already in that market. We're really viewing Very Local as
Speaker 1: an opportunity for them to deepen their engagement with that
Speaker 1: local station. UM, and so things like the value proposition
Speaker 1: for that consumer is these television stations produce absolutely incredible
Speaker 1: local news specials UM. And you know most just about
Speaker 1: all of our stations are are winning awards for their
Speaker 1: UH Deeper Chronicle investigations, which are half hour specials which
Speaker 1: air once or a couple of times on linear. With
Speaker 1: a Very Local platform, we can host those in perpetuity
Speaker 1: as video on demand assets. I see them, you know,
Speaker 1: you see especially like every year in the Peabody finalists
Speaker 1: and winners, you see you see these great these things
Speaker 1: that sound just on the surface to sound like amazing
Speaker 1: local investigations and they would air once or me and
Speaker 1: maybe be rerun a week later and then and that
Speaker 1: there is a lot and I will give hers to
Speaker 1: shout out. It is one of just you can tell
Speaker 1: that it's it's one of the few groups that are
Speaker 1: still really investing in sort of deep local investigative work.
Speaker 1: And that is you know, it's it's a shame to
Speaker 1: see that, to see that dwindling. So shout out to
Speaker 1: Hers for continuing that investment. And then it it makes
Speaker 1: so much sense for you too, and and pro tip
Speaker 1: around Peabodies that you could package and say, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's really like a lot of people are seeing
Speaker 1: these things and they sound you know, they sound like
Speaker 1: really impactful, impactful TV. Yeah. Absolutely, And I think the
Speaker 1: you know, for for us to be able to even
Speaker 1: better highlight that journalism that's happening in our in our
Speaker 1: local markets is that is as as much fun as
Speaker 1: we're having making original content that is travel shows and
Speaker 1: cooking shows. Um, it is really so core to very
Speaker 1: local is our delute to better highlight that local news
Speaker 1: content and increase the potential audience and the amount of
Speaker 1: time that that that content is accessible to people. Much
Speaker 1: of the production that is happening within Very Local is
Speaker 1: is actually independent of stations. Uh. And so we we
Speaker 1: have been for many of the shows were producing. We're
Speaker 1: operating in a in a new landscape. Interesting. Yeah, one
Speaker 1: of the many one of the many arenas that is
Speaker 1: adjusting to a lot you know, both more global and
Speaker 1: more hyper hyperlocal at the same time. Right. Uh, Andrew,
Speaker 1: I so appreciate, I so appreciate your time. My last
Speaker 1: question for you might be my toughest, but but but
Speaker 1: let me ask you at this point, is Very Local
Speaker 1: are you in a cash flow positive situation or are
Speaker 1: you still in building mode? Uh? We're still in building mode. Um.
Speaker 1: But we are so encouraged by the growth of the
Speaker 1: product and the connection that we're building with audiences. UM.
Speaker 1: So we're we're feeling very bullish on the product, truly.
Speaker 1: Andrew really appreciate. Uh. I love local broadcasting. I am
Speaker 1: really interested to watch its future. And I really appreciate
Speaker 1: you letting me lob questions at you about your effort.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting, and I think folks, even well outside
Speaker 1: of her market should go check out Very Local because
Speaker 1: I can tell you're putting a lot into it. If
Speaker 1: if I can, if I can give the plug. The
Speaker 1: Very Local app is available in any market in the
Speaker 1: United States. Uh It's on Roku and Amazon Fire and
Speaker 1: all of the other O, T, T and T TV categories,
Speaker 1: and we're on mobile. You can find us on on
Speaker 1: iOS and Android too. Thanks for listening. Be sure to
Speaker 1: leave us a review at Apple Podcasts. We love to
Speaker 1: hear from listeners, and please go to Variety dot com
Speaker 1: to sign up for the free Strictly Business newsletter, and
Speaker 1: don't forget to tune in next week for another episode
Speaker 1: of Strictly Business.