Verizon Digital Media Services now powering Hearst Television - online live news streams

LOS ANGELES, June 14, 2016 – Verizon Digital Media Services, part of AOL, today announced that it now powers live and on-demand online news streams along with news clip syndication for all Hearst Television station applications. Verizon’s end-to-end digital media platform has been seamlessly integrated into the broadcast playout systems of 26 local news stations, enabling an integrated workflow for reaching viewers on mobile phones, tablets and connected devices.

“We are excited to work with Hearst Television to enable millions of online viewers to have instantaneous access to the latest local newscasts and news clips in real-time, no matter where they are,” said Bob Toohey, president of Verizon Digital Media Services. “With more and more viewers opting to consume content on mobile devices, we are pleased that local news consumers will be able to enjoy anytime, anywhere access to Hearst news content.”

The Verizon Digital Media Services platform offers flexible APIs for integration with a diverse array of scheduling and advertising systems found in the 26 Hearst stations. Hearst staff also leverage the platform’s web-based clipping tool, which allows them to create shorter news clips and syndicate them across social media, Hearst properties and third party destinations. The platform’s dynamic server side ad insertion capabilities allow for targeted insertion of digital advertising in the Hearst apps, driving significant CPM growth and tangible incremental revenue for local stations.

“The Verizon Digital Media Services platform is flexible and agile enough to be easily integrated into our diverse technical setups, across the range of our local stations,” said Michael Rosellini, vice president, digital operations, for Hearst Television. “The platform’s next-generation features allow us to bring our content from the newsroom to the online realm for viewers to access instantaneously with little strain on our current team structure. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with Verizon, a valuable partner on multiple fronts.”

Verizon Digital Media Services continues to power leading broadcasters within the media and entertainment industry. Hearst Television joins an elite roster of Verizon Digital Media Services customers, including cable networks, OTT service providers, sports leagues and digital content providers.

Verizon Digital Media Services’ platform takes out the complexity and high costs of encoding content for the Internet, apps and OTT offerings by providing a simplified workflow with seamless integration for broadcasters to prepare, deliver, display and monetize content. The need for multiple vendors becomes obsolete, as the platform spans the spectrum of the online video supply chain — from ingesting and encoding content to securely delivering content over an enterprise-grade, global content delivery network and enabling monetization through advertising and subscriptions.

Hearst Television owns and operates local television and radio stations serving 26 media markets across 39 states, distributing national content including programming from ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, My Net and more.

Hearst and Verizon have recently announced several other joint initiatives, including the formation of Verizon Hearst Media Partners, the formation of a company to acquire Complex Media and Verizon’s execution of an agreement to join Hearst as an investor in AwesomenessTV.