Election, Climate Stories Drove Out-Of-Market Viewers to VUit

KTSF-TV, San Francisco, again most streamed station on platform

VUit, a streaming platform that lets users watch television stations in other markets, said that elections and climate stories drove viewership in 2022.

The market most-streamed by VUit uses was Philadelphia as viewers got details on the Senate race between Democrat John Fetterman and former TV host Mehmet Oz. Fetterman won and so did the stations. During the three months before the elections, mostly profit from ad revenue on VUit increased by 51%. Revenue is split between the platform and the local stations.

Florida stations were highly viewed on VUit as destructive Hurricanes Ian and Nicole blew through the state. WSVN-TV in Miami and WSNN-TV in Sarasota were among the top 10 stations streamed on VUit during the second half of the year as viewers checked in on friend, relatives and properties.

“While 2023 will be an off-election year, we think political news will still be important to viewers in local elections.  Hyperlocal events are a huge growth opportunity, as local stations can provide additional content to their viewers than what is available on their airwaves.  We see large increases in viewership where big news is unfolding, and the long-tail of viewership after these events provides unique opportunities for the stations on our platform to engage these viewers,” said Jack Perry CEO of VUit. “With continued churn in the SVOD space, VUit provides local broadcasters and content creators with brand-safe opportunities for viewers that they cannot get elsewhere.”

Launched by Syncbak, VUit carries 250 stations covering 78% of the markets in the U.S. Participating station groups include Gray Television, which is an investor in VUit, and Hearst Television, Cox Media Group, Citadel Communication, Morris Network and News Press Gazette.

The single most-watched station on VUit in 2022 was KTSF-TV, San Francisco. The station airs Asian-language programming and was also the top station on VUit in 2021. Viewers tuned into KTSF from markets including Sacramento, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Seattle-Tacoma, San Diego, Monterey-Salinas and Portland, Orego.

The other most watched stations on VUit in 2022 were WFMZ-TV, Allentown, Pa., ; WWTV, Cadillac, Mich.; WSAZ-TV, Huntington, W. Va.; WKYT, TV, Lexington, Ky.; WBRC-TV, Birmingham, Alabama; KTUU-TV,Anchorage, Alaska; WSNN-TV,Sarasota, Fla.; KTVK-TV, Phoenix and WVUE-DT, New Orleans.

The market receiving the most out-of-market viewing for political coverage between October 15 and November 15 were: Philadelphia, Madison, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Orlando, Phoenix, Atlanta, Tallahassee, Las Vega, Charlotte and Green Bay.