LAS VEGAS — No longer is it enough for broadcasters to regard online channels as the shop-window for core analog platforms – now digital is part and parcel of their core business, says one man who powers web output for hundreds of TV stations.
“A lot of the broadcasters used to have websites as a marketing arm to their core TV business,” according to Lakana‘s president Phillip Hyun. “Now that digital has really become a real viable business, a lot of the marketers are seeing their digital strategies having to be run as real businesses.”
St Paul, Minnesota-based Lakana was formed in April when Nexstar Broadcasting Group merged three of its units – Internet Broadcasting Systems, EndPlay and Inergize Digital – to create a multiplatform company supporting broadcaster efforts.
Hyun says Lakana powers the websites and digital initiatives of around 250 local US TV channels and has a combined audience of 100 to 130 million people. When those channels want to publish thousands of videos each day and breaking news streams, cost can become prohibitive, he says.
We interviewed Hyun at the NAB Show. Beet.TV’s coverage of the show was sponsored by Akamai. Please find more coverage from Las Vegas here.
