Verance Aspect Moves Into 3 More Markets

Verance Corp. says it has expanded into the Santa Barbara, Calif., Cleveland and Phoenix markets as part of relationships with News-Press & Gazette Broadcasting (NPG), the National Association of Broadcasters and Pearl TV.

The company says 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….”

The most recent station to embed the Verance Aspect watermark is News-Press & Gazette’s KSBB 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 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,” said Eric Bradley, EVP 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 3.0 test station led by the NAB and Consumer Technology Association and hosted at the Tribune Media-owned WJW Cleveland. The purpose of the test station is to provide a testbed to establish “proofs of concept” for various 3.0 elements and act as an incubator for new products and services based on 3.0.

Lynn Claudy, SVP of Technology at NAB, said: “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,” said 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, Verance CEO. “The two-way experiences enabled by Aspect will revolutionize broadcast television for consumers and dramatically increase television sales for manufacturers.”