Tegna Unveils Rebooted Streaming Apps

Tegna said this morning  that it is launching revamped streaming apps for its 64 stations in 51 markets, foregrounding the “always on” linear feed that has been overwhelmingly popular with users since the apps’ first iteration and featuring an expanded presence for its Verify reporting franchise and Locked On local sports podcasts.

WXIA Atlanta and WTHR Indianapolis have been piloting the new apps, which are initially available on Roku and Fire TV with more platforms slated to launch later this year.

Adam Ostrow, Tegna chief digital officer, said the new apps represent “the next generation” of products initially launched in 2021 that saw dramatic user growth in their first year. “Our user base doubled effectively last year from January to December,” he said.

Those users were spending 85% of their time in the app’s “always on” feature — whatever happened to be planning in its linear feed at the time. Tegna has refocused the app’s UX accordingly, he said.

“Now the live player is full screen, and you have a bunch of menu items around it so if you want to navigate you can,” Ostrow said. “If you don’t navigate, those items just melt away and it is like you are watching television.”

That interface reflects what Ostrow said is the “lean-back, linear experience” news viewers are bringing to streaming, as opposed to entertainment apps like Netflix that require a more active navigation as they hunt out selections.

Tegna’s stations now have their own 24/7 streams, which they’re empowered to program individually. The stations’ “Watch” streams also include content from Tegna’s Locked On Podcast Network, which produces shows for every team across the four major professional sports leagues as well as college sports programs. Those podcasts are now available as video content, along with a new show, Locked On Sports Today.

Verify, Tegna’s reporting project targeted at neutralizing disinformation and misinformation, will also have an expanded presence in the stream. It, too, is debuting a new weekly show hosted by Ariane Datil and Brandon Lewis.

The apps are also featuring a new Daily Blast Live interactive show covering news, entertainment, culture and sports with hosts Sam Schacher, Jeff Schroeder, Al Jackson, Erica Cobb, Tory Shulman, Lindsey Granger and Stefanie Jones.

Stations will be supported by a small central team led by Allison Girvin that is curating content from across the group and repacking it as shareable programming.

“What we are doing centrally is making sure that [stations] are taking advantage of all the different content assets that we have,” Ostrow said. “As we get a bit further into this, we’re really looking at it from a 30,000-foot view in terms of analytics to understand what type of content works best in what day parts on streaming, what type of content works best on VOD and to promote marketing best practices.”

Ostrow said the new apps will also offer Tegna “an opportunity to resurface a lot of the best evergreen work — specials and investigations that we have done. We have years’ worth of that stuff digitized and even more decades sitting in our stations’ vaults. On streaming, it is going to be new to probably 98% of the audience.”

Premion, Tegna’s OTT ad platform, is selling the apps’ premium inventory.

“We are still in the early innings,” Ostrow said, “but that revenue is growing very quickly as well.”