NBC Owned Stations Upgrade News Apps

The NBC Owned Television Stations today launched newly upgraded iPhone apps, now available to 32 million consumers in the 11 markets its stations serve across the U.S. The company says the new apps offer interactive radar, quicker access to breaking news and the ability to send video from a mobile device right to a smart television.

“With consumers turning to their mobile devices multiple times a day for the latest news and weather, we want to give them the best experience possible,” said Lora LeSage, SVP of digital media, NBC Owned Television Stations. “These new apps give our local audiences access to the information they’re looking for in a clutter-free and sleeker format, making it easier to find the stories and videos that matter to them most.”

The new apps —available for download in the App store — offer the following features:

• Interactive Radar: This new feature lets users watch weather as it rolls into their local area. They can use it to zoom in to see timely weather conditions for their exact location or zoom out to see conditions throughout the country. They can even track the potential path of an incoming storm. With a tap of the Weather icon from the app homepage, users can also see their current local forecast and video of their local meteorologist with the latest weather updates.

• Watch and Read: Users can watch video while simultaneously reading the accompanying article. As the video plays, the user can scroll through the article and any content below it or watch it full screen in landscape mode.

• Screencast: Users can watch any video — either video on demand or live video — on their smart television sets. Just by tapping on the Screencast icon on the app, users can send the video to their TV to watch. They can even continue to use the app while the video plays on the television.

• Upgraded Breaking News Bar: Users can now see multiple breaking news stories scroll across their screen and choose what they want to click on to take them to a story.

• Now Trending: With a simple swipe from the homepage, users can see what stories are trending among the local audience at any given time. They can access those stories right from the “Now Trending” list.

The new apps were designed in house by the NBC Owned Stations division’s product and development team. NBCU said that moving mobile development in house “has allowed the stations full flexibility and control over creating their apps, which is critical with mobile traffic growing exponentially over the last year and now accounting for more than 75% of traffic across the NBC Owned Stations digital platforms. In just the last year, mobile page views increased a combined 140% across the stations and mobile video views increased by over 100% in the last year.”