Broadcasters Tap Apps As They Seek Future Revenue Streams

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Broadcasters Tap Apps As They Seek Future Revenue Streams

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Many local and national broadcasters have jumped onto the mobile application bandwagon, worried that they may miss the boat. But now they are left wondering: how can these things make money?

To be sure, some of them are doing quite well. LIN TV told Broadcasting & Cable that it had nearly 29 million mobile impressions in Q3, a 54 percent increase over the prior quarter. LIN Senior VP of New Media Robb Richter: “When you have that many people, it’s now salable. Mobile is a real business, and it’s growing every month.” Last week, CBS (NYSE: CBS) told mocoNews that its various mobile initiatives are turning a profit and that its TV.com apps is getting millions of monthly views.

But there’s no clear path to turn a new—and sometimes even large—audience into revenues. Not to mention, just launching the mobile apps can be costly.

B&C reports that mobile media experts say a station in a mid-size market might be able to make between $25,000 and $50,000 a year in app advertising, and sometimes they can get the occasional sponsor to throw down that much cash in one shot. Newport Television’s Inergize is helping station’s build apps, by leveraging its Mobile Local News product in return for a share of the revenues. So far, it has about 80 apps launched, almost all of them TV properties.

So, how do you make money? There’s no one answer, but some TV stations have found ways:

—KGPE Fresno: Sold its first sponsorship to a local jeweler in October.
—LIN: Added national accounts on its apps since acquiring ad services firm RM Media this fall.
—WTVT Tampa: Worked with Weather Decision Technologies to offer its MyFoxHurricane app at $3.99 a pop. 3,000 were sold during an uneventful hurricane season.

By Tricia Duryee