Broadcast TV is the Original OTT
At the recent TVOT NY Show, Sinclair Broadcast Group's Rob Weisbord, President of Local News and Marketing, confirmed what we've been saying for years: broadcast television was the original over the top (OTT) platform, and it remains the OTT platform with the broadest and widest distribution.
In the TVOT NY panel, Advanced TV in Local Markets, Rob stated "Sinclair believes OTT will eventually not be streamed; in our world it will come off our transmitters and we won't have to worry about how fast or slow the internet is, or who's the bandwidth hog that will be slowed down by the ISP. With net neutrality falling, consumers could get exorbitant bills - even if they're on Wi-Fi. Sinclair has the bandwidth that can deliver that content through the transmitter.”
Rob continued, "We built our OTT asset before OTT was very prevalent. As a linear company, there was a lot of internal discussions at Sinclair about that direction. But Wayne Gretzky gave us the direction: know where the puck's going, not where the puck is."
With the nationwide automated advertising deployment from Videa, broadcasters have advantages that are often ignored:
- Complete and absolute distribution to all TV homes; everybody can receive broadcast television. Whether they do or not depends on what they want to watch.
- Exclusive premium programming from the top networks and studios; broadcast goes to 100% of households.
- Consumer-paid devices; people buy their own TVs. The phone companies didn't invent that, and the cable companies wish they had that!
- Advertising that can be purchased quickly with a smooth workflow and less time and effort than ever before.