NewsON Celebrates First Anniversary

Nov. 4 marks the one year anniversary of the launch of NewsON, the platform that connects people to local coverage from 170 news-producing TV stations nationwide. 

NewsON is the first-of-its-kind service that provides consumers with access to live and on-demand local newscasts as well as local news clips on mobile, web and connected TV devices. It is a free, ad-supported app featuring flexible navigation that it says “encourages discovery, offering instant access to broadcast-quality video.” It also lets users search by market through an interactive map and for curated content linking coverage of breaking news events from multiple stations.

“Since launching NewsON a year ago, we have become an invaluable service for people across the nation,” said Louis Gump, CEO of NewsON. “The many accomplishments that we have been able to achieve, including our media and broadcast partnerships, significant viewer growth, and rapid expansion of our station roster, are great milestones for our company and the people we are helping to connect to their communities and the news they care about.”

NewsON formed through a launch partnership with the ABC Owned Television Station Group, Cox Media Group, Hearst Television, Hubbard Broadcasting, Media General and Raycom Media. The partnership group has since grown to eight strategic investors with the addition of Sinclair Broadcast Group and Capitol Broadcasting. Additional content partners include Berkshire Hathaway, Dispatch Broadcast Group, Forum Communications, Meredith Corp., Graham Media Group, Tegna and Nexstar.

NewsON has grown its company, services and contribution to communities nationwide with the following milestones:

• Market Growth: NewsON’s nationwide lineup of local news increased from 118 participating stations covering 75% of the U.S. to 170 stations covering 83% of the U.S. population. It now has local news broadcasts available in 107 U.S. markets – including 48 of the top 50 and 88 of the top 100.
• Product Enhancements: Among other things, NewsON developed multi-station breaking news alerts in its mobile app, which have played a role in the coverage of breaking news events including Hurricane Matthew. On its Roku channel, NewsON added the ability to watch local news clips from participating stations. Additionally, viewers can now access NewsON’s local news video clips from across the country in one location at NewsON.us. NewsON has recently been made available on Amazon Fire Tablets as well.
• Community Involvement: During the midst of Hurricane Matthew, NewsON helped with the recovery of affected communities by donating to relief efforts on behalf of its viewers. NewsON played a role in keeping people informed with breaking news and alerts during the hurricane and called for national participation with its awareness campaign. During this campaign, $1 per NewsON app download was pledged to help aid those who were affected, culminating in a $10,000 donation to Habitat for Humanity International.
• Award Recognition: NewsON was named “Best App” in the 2016 Consumer World Awards, which honors excellence in every facet of the consumer industry including products, people behind the successes and best companies.