Visitors to WJLA-TV’s website in Washington DC were greeted this August with a story that started with the line, “Reader warning: Do not get too comfortable on this website.”
A short time later, WJLA.com redirected to TBD.com, an aggressive local startup news site launched by Allbritton, the owner of WJLA-TV. Its sister cable channel, Newschannel 8, rebranded to TBD and its site redirected to TBD.com, as well.
Just about every journalist on the planet agrees that TBD.com is a vast improvement over the old WJLA.com, from coverage to design. Its real-time focus capitalizes on the social media explosion. After all, it’s designed for the web, not to “replicate the experience of turning on your television,” as TBD explains.
But for many viewers visiting the site, the new experience is a “jolt,” as TBD admits in that summer warning. Many users undoubtedly paused and scratched their heads, wondering if they visited the wrong site. The TBD brand doesn’t include an ABC logo or a number 7. Gone were the TV franchise brands. And local video has virtually disappeared, although there’s a big link to watch ABC shows.
Meanwhile, Allbritton has created a promotional home for WJLA TV on ABC7DC.com, but it might remind you of 1998: websites mentioned on the air, a huge Oprah promo and links to TBD.com at the top.
The TBD brand change illustrates a struggle in local TV today. Brands built on call letters and channel numbers may not translate well to digital platforms if you’re striving to grow a unique online experience that goes beyond an extension of TV. Often heavy with promos and light on reporting, very few TV station sites have proven a match for their newspaper competitors. But changing course is not easy.
“I think the issue any web site faces when it’s connected to an existing legacy brand is the steely desire of some on the legacy side to preserve their own way of doing things, and by extension, their own existence,” said former TBD GM Jim Brady — who recently quit over disagreements with Allbritton brass — in an interview posted today. “That’s a difficult battle to fight, since the legacy folks are entrenched, better-known than new folks coming into an organization and – not insignificantly – still working for the parts of the business that generate more of the revenue.”
Social media complicates things further — more people than ever are discovering content on Facebook and YouTube, creating a debranding effect and leading to an explosion of niche content. Compelling content matters more than ever, but just repurposing it straight over from TV often falls flat.
NBC was the first to relaunch with new local online brands that broke from call letters and channel numbers — and into an entirely new niche. Back in 2008, NBC 5 in Chicago became NBCChicago.com, and 9 other NBC station sites quickly followed suit. Instead of focusing on hard news, the redesigned sites feature more local entertainment content and target younger, social-savvy users who are more likely to tweet than watch TV news. “Social capitalists,” is what NBC calls them. After some early struggles, the sites are now growing quickly, outpacing the slow or flat growth experienced by many local TV sites today.
“Our momentum not only reflects new product investments, but also the fact that our local news organizations have embraced expanding well beyond our core local broadcast business to provide our audiences with the information they seek,” said NBC Local’s Greg Sholl in October, praising social media for being a key driver.
A few weeks ago, NBC Local launched a spin-off vertical called TheFeast.com (above), which had lived in experimental form on its city sites. A restaurant and shopping guide, The Feast features a real-time ranking system that aggregates social media mentions and user reviews across the web. Unlike many local TV efforts on the web, The Feast did not spring from a television franchise.
Then earlier this year, CBS began to roll out a new strategy for its local TV sites, consolidating its TV and radio properties into rebranded city sites, beginning with CBSNewYork.com. “When you come down to it, it’s about creating local hubs for information in these local markets,” said CBS Local’s Ezra Kucharz at the time. Since then, CBS has rolled out hubs in LA, Chicago, San Francisco, Sacramento, Baltimore, Boston, Minneapolis, Philly, Pittsburgh and Dallas.
All three efforts are taking different approaches, and they should be applauded for making the often unpopular internal decision to create new experiences for the web that don’t follow hand-in-hand with TV. Of the three, TBD’s bet is the biggest, and the risks are high. But they’re only getting started.
Big disclosure: I work for msnbc.com which is a partner of NBC Local.
