Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. (NYSE:HTV) , Google Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) and YouTube, today announced an agreement to distribute and monetize select Hearst-Argyle television content with Google and YouTube. Starting today, local Hearst-Argyle television stations in five local markets -- Boston; Manchester, N.H.; Sacramento; Pittsburgh; and Baltimore -- will begin posting local video content to dedicated Channels on YouTube. (www.youtube.com/wcvbtv) (www.youtube.com/wmurtv) (www.youtube.com/kcratv) (www.youtube.com/wtaetv) (www.youtube.com/wbal)
"This innovative deal with Google and YouTube fits perfectly within our overall digital strategy of distributing our content on all three screens -- the TV, the PC and the mobile phone," said Terry Mackin, Executive Vice President of Hearst-Argyle Television. "We have invested significant resources in our growing digital media efforts. With Google and YouTube, we can now better engage users and advertisers with our award-winning local video content and with new user-generated content while further broadening our reach beyond the boundaries of our media markets."
"We're constantly looking at innovative ways to not only bring the YouTube community the best content out there, but also to find ways to bring them the most relevant programming," said Jordan Hoffner, Head of Premium Content Partnerships for YouTube. "Local creates relevance and this agreement will ultimately deliver Hearst-Argyle's programming to an even broader audience looking for local content. We look forward to continue working with the Hearst-Argyle team as we launch new products and services on the local level."
The Hearst-Argyle YouTube Channels will be populated with news, weather, and entertainment videos as well as with original, local television programming such as "Chronicle," on WCVB, one of New England's most honored television programs. YouTube will also serve as a platform to support Hearst-Argyle's new digital video initiatives including high school football, basketball and local amateur entertainment.
A number of Hearst-Argyle stations are consistently among the highest-rated in their respective markets, and Hearst-Argyle has a legacy of local-news leadership. Examples include WCVB (Boston), WMUR (Manchester), KCRA (Sacramento), WTAE (Pittsburgh), and WBAL-TV (Baltimore), among others. The agreement marks the first such revenue sharing agreement between Google, YouTube and an independent television group.
Hearst-Argyle's digital multimedia efforts encompass the web and the digital broadcast spectrum. A majority of the websites operated by Hearst-Argyle stations are consistently ranked No.1 within their respective markets. Generating in excess of 1.5 billion page views each year across the network, the sites are at the leading edge in providing wireless application protocol (WAP) content, podcasts, web-based newscasts, web video, and blogs in a broad cross-section of markets. Several Hearst-Argyle stations have used digital spectrum to launch weather and/or traffic information channels.
