Growth in Broadcaster Adoption of the Verance Aspect Watermark Is Fueled by Its Ability to Deliver Household-Level Addressability & Interactivity to 100% of Televisions<br><br>
San Diego, CA, April 17, 2019 – Verance Corporation today announced significant growth in deployment of the Verance® Aspect™ watermark by leading broadcasters across the country. Building on an extensive list of existing partners, Aspect has expanded into the Santa Barbara, Cleveland and Phoenix markets as part of relationships with News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting (NPG), the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), and Pearl TV.
The increased adoption of the Verance Aspect watermark stems from its ability to empower broadcasters with two-way connections, census-like audience measurement and household-level addressability on par with digital platforms. These connections enable compelling consumer capabilities such as interactivity and personalization and will support television manufacturers by driving incremental television sales. Because Aspect enables these capabilities to reach 100% of televisions across all distribution paths, including both ATSC 1.0 and 3.0 services, it is available now and plays an essential role in maximizing the reach and scale of these experiences.
The most recent station to embed the Verance Aspect watermark is News-Press & Gazette’s KSBB-TV in Santa Barbara. NPG initiated ATSC 3.0 testing in late 2018 to capitalize on its interactive and advanced emergency alerting capabilities and prepare for additional market rollouts. In February 2019, Aspect was included within the NAB-led ATSC 3.0 interoperability test at KSBB to ensure consistent delivery of these experiences across various devices and distribution paths. Based on the successful embedding and detection of Aspect within this test, the watermark will continue to be embedded by KSBB moving forward.
“NPG launched ATSC 3.0 in Santa Barbara for multiple reasons, one being the natural disasters that have plagued the market over the last few years,” explained Eric Bradley, Executive Vice President of Business Development at News-Press & Gazette. “The inclusion of Aspect means we’ll be able to deliver location-specific emergency information to 100% of television viewers and save more lives.”
Additionally, the Verance Aspect watermark is being incorporated into the ATSC 3.0 test station led by the NAB and Consumer Technology Association and hosted at the Tribune Media-owned WJW station in Cleveland. The purpose of the test station is to provide a testbed to establish “proofs of concept” for various ATSC 3.0 elements and act as an incubator for new products and services based on ATSC 3.0.
Lynn Claudy, Senior Vice President of Technology at NAB commented, “We are pleased to include the Verance Aspect watermark within our ‘living laboratory’ based in Cleveland. As we evaluate different ATSC 3.0 enabling technologies, Aspect is a vital component for the uniform delivery of Next Gen experiences across all distribution paths.”
Pearl TV has consistently been at the forefront of Next Gen TV innovations. In 2018, Pearl TV led the deployment of Next Gen TV testing across all Phoenix broadcast stations as part of the Phoenix Model Market and included the Verance Aspect watermark. Aspect will remain embedded in the test bed as part of the comprehensive development of the basic TV service, automotive use cases, and ongoing consumer testing.
“We have partnered with Verance to embed the Aspect watermark in Phoenix as a part of the Model Market,” explained Anne Schelle, Managing Director of Pearl TV. “Based on these tests, we’ve validated its effectiveness, and are further exploring innovative use cases for interactivity and data delivery for both fixed and mobile services.”
“The rapid increase in Aspect deployment across the country is a clear indicator that broadcasters are eager to level the playing field with digital platforms,” said Nil Shah, Chief Executive Officer of Verance. “The two-way experiences enabled by Aspect will revolutionize broadcast television for consumers and dramatically increase television sales for manufacturers.”
About News-Press Gazette
News-Press and Gazette Co. (NPG), headquartered in St. Joseph, Missouri, is a diverse media company owned and operated by the Bradley family since 1951. The company and its approximately 1,080 employees are committed to the success of the people and businesses in the communities they serve. The company’s properties include broadcast television and radio stations in 10 markets in Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Missouri, Oregon and Texas; several daily and weekly newspapers serving Missouri and Kansas communities; the Green Acres rural-focused publication distributed in Missouri and Kansas; associated digital news and information assets at all locations. The company is also pursuing further investments in food/agri-business, media, manufacturing and technology through NPG and its diversification arm called BERKS Group. For more information, please visit www.npgco.com or www.BERKSGroup.com.
About National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is the premier advocacy association for America’s broadcasters. NAB advances radio and television interests in legislative, regulatory and public affairs. Through advocacy, education and innovation, NAB enables broadcasters to best serve their communities, strengthen their businesses and seize new opportunities in the digital age. Learn more at www.nab.org.
About Pearl TV
Pearl TV is a business group comprised of Cox Media Group, the E.W. Scripps Company, Graham Media Group, Gray Television Inc., Hearst Television Inc., Meredith Local Media Group, Nexstar Media Group, and TEGNA, Inc. Pearl TV’s membership includes companies that operate more than 300 network-affiliated, local stations across the country.
About Verance
Verance® Aspect™ is an audio and video watermarking technology that powers broadband features on broadcast television by enabling advanced, census-like audience measurement, personalization, interactivity and addressable advertising across all screens and distribution paths. Selected as a foundational component of the ATSC 3.0 Next Generation TV standard, Aspect is fully compatible with the ATSC 1.0 broadcasting environment and currently being deployed by FOX, NBC, PBS and other leading broadcasters. Aspect is currently being adapted for use within the HbbTV ecosystem.
Verance content measurement and enhancement technologies are at the forefront of innovation and set the industry standard for television, movies and music. Our solutions have been adopted by over 100 leading entertainment and technology companies and deployed in over 330 million consumer products worldwide. For more information, visit www.verance.com.
Verance Media Contact:
Jim Benson
The Lippin Group
323-965-1990
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