Global TV launches video centre on revamped website; mobile content planned for later this year

Tapping into its strength as one of Canada’s largest carriers of popular television shows, Global Television has unveiled a redesigned website—its biggest digital makeover yet—equipped with a robust video centre that is expected to enhance user experience, attract more online traffic, and boost advertising. Unveiled April 16, the new GlobalTV.com is markedly different from the old site, which was relatively light in terms of interactivity. The new site offers viewers more in-depth coverage of individual shows on the network’s repertoire of 32 shows, some of them prime-time favourites. The video centre, where most of the shows can be found, features an improved organization and is easy to navigate. It also features full-length episodes, behind-the-scenes content, web-exclusive content, and widgets across the sites for easy manoeuvrability. “The ability to find content and the discoverability of content has been critical for us in this new design,” Paul Burns, VP, digital, Canwest Digital Media, told Tech Media Reports. Burns says it took six to seven months of behind-the-scenes work to rebuild the site. Its unveiling comes at a time of increasing financial difficulties for the broadcaster’s parent, Canwest Global Communications Corp. But the launch also comes in the wake of some good news for Canwest on the digital front. According to Comscore figures released in February, Canwest’s online network Canada.com grew by 39% , attracting 5.7 million visitors to its 80 websites, which include Global TV, specialty channels, and Dose.ca. Visitors to the portal that hosts Canwest’s 10 daily newspapers hit 2.9 million in December 2008, placing the media conglomerate ahead of online giants like the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, and the New York Times, according to a Canwest press release. Burns sees full-length video as being the main draw for new and existing visitors to Canwest sites. He wouldn’t reveal how much advertising they expect to generate from the revamped site, but notes that brand and content positioning will be the driving factors. For example, he says potential advertisers will be able to tag their brand to a show of their choice. “There’s a massive audience affinity to each of our shows and, whether that’s Survivor or Heroes or Bones, you know these are shows that have a cult-like following. So where we see advertising and where we see brands coming into play is a much more flexible and adaptable way to link those brands to each of those individual shows,” he says. Through this, advertisers will get an opportunity to own a distinct show area within the site. “There’s also the ability to sponsor the entire video centre... is essentially a library where you can get all of our video content in one aggregated central place. So this is an opportunity for advertisers to own a video hub in GlobalTV.com.” The proliferation of mobile devices is also prompting some Canadian television networks to exploit this new medium by designing sites that are mobile compatible. The CBC, for example, announced last August that it was upgrading its site for targeted advertising delivered on mobile platforms. Burns says a mobile-compatible site is a “top priority” for Canwest and GlobalTV.com, and work has already begun with some of its special channel programs. The first ones will likely launch this year. “It’s a heightened priority and ultimately that’s an exercise in giving users what they want, when they want, on the device that they want,” he says.

Global TV launches video centre on revamped website; mobile content planned for later this year

Broadcast | April 20, 2009

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