Legal broadcast streaming service provider Didja has announced the addition of programmatically decisioned dynamic ad insertion (DAI) to its LocalBTV platform.

Los Altos, California-based Didja provides a free streaming app supported by Roku, Android TV, Apple TV, as well as Samsung and Vizio smart TVs, designed to enable consumers to stream local broadcast stations ... with the actual blessing of the broadcasters.

Also: Didja Raises $12M More to Fuel ‘LocalBTV’ Plans

The privately funded Didja aims to avoid the pitfalls of Aereo and Locast by actually working with broadcasters, gaining explicit permission from local broadcast signal owners for inclusion in its unique authenticated geo-fenced “antenna TV without an antenna” service. Didja claims to provided broadcasters with an OTT audience they otherwise might not get, one now monetized with real-time, location-aware DAI, processed in the AWS cloud.

Didja said that station sales teams can now enhance their clients’ linear over-the-air ads in LocalBTV with in-market, geo-fenced creative versioning. The can re-sell those avails as new inventory for digital-only advertisers. Broadcasters can also choose to tap into LocalBTV’s exclusive ad sales rep firm partnerships and/or Magnite’s SpotX programmatic sourcing platform for “hands-free” ad revenue generation.

“The utility of LocalBTV has enabled our broadcast stations to reach viewers in environments we intrinsically couldn’t reach with pay TV alone," said Josh Castro, general manager of the My Central Valley TV station group in Fresno, Calif. “In addition to entertaining new audiences, the inclusion of DAI/DAR is a brand-new revenue stream for our stations. As broadcasters, we have never been able to monetize live, linear digital video avails until now."

Added LocalBTV CEO Jim Long: “I’m very proud of how our world-class tech team is solving the very hard problem of integrating impressions-based digital ad insertion into traditional local broadcast TV ad breaks. I believe we are the only company in the world doing this, and it shows the power of our patented Edge Video Platform as a compelling way to create more revenue for broadcasters.”

LocalBTV provides more than 700 stations, as well as around 100 "hyper-local" community channels, across 21 designated marketing areas, serving around 30% of the U.S. Didja said around 200 of the stations provided by LocalBTV are enabled with DAI.

Didja has locked up digital over-the-air networks, including Cozi TV and EstrellaTV, but it's still trying to nail down deals with Big Four broadcasters. ■

Following an earlier trial in Phoenix, Didja has teamed with a group of broadcast TV stations in the Bay Area to deliver live, local signals over-the-top to web browsers and mobile devices alongside with an optional DVR service.

RELATED: ‘PhoenixBTV’ Streams Batch of Local Broadcast Nets to Mobile Devices

Didja’s LocalBTV offering, branded as BayAreaBTV in the local area, is a free app that also supports an optional cloud DVR service that costs $4.95 per month for 1 terabyte of storage (under the default setting, recordings will auto-expire after 28 days, but users have the option to keep individual recordings longer).

BayAreaBTV is initially supported on web browsers and apps for iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. The service is also accessible via Chromecast streaming adapters and Apple TV boxes (via AirPlay). Didja plans to extend support to other TV-connected platforms.

Didja believes that the offering will be particularly appealing to millennials and other younger audiences that like to watch TV on mobile screens, as well as bilingual households in the region. 

On a more general basis, Didja is trying to capture cord-cutters who have fallen out of the pay TV ecosystem, as well as consumers who have never taken a traditional pay TV service. It also views itself as a service that could complement a growing crop of virtual MVPDs such as YouTube TV, while also giving local broadcasters another, easily accessible distribution outlet in their local markets.

BayAreaBTV is launching with a lineup of more than 35 channels that include a mix of non-English speaking channels offered in the area, some local English-language stations, as well as a batch of national “diginets.”

A representative list of channels available via the service in the Bay Area includes TV Azteca (Spanish), Skylink and U Channel (Chinese), DiyaTV (South Asian), Viet Bay and Net V (Vietnamese), KPOP (South Korean music videos), Blues Television Network, Bounce, GetTV, and Escape.

BayAreaBTV as well as the Phoenix-area version – a service called PhoenixBTV that has a lineup of about 25 channels -- currently do not deliver live local feeds from major broadcasters such as ABC, NBC, Fox and CBS, though the company’s intention is to add them to its local OTT lineups, eventually, according to Jim Long, Didja’s CEO.

Long said the aim is to offer a lineup of between 60 to 70 channels at some point. Didja likewise plans to expand coverage to 40 metro areas in the U.S., with Los Angeles being its next target market.

Unlike the model that the now-defunct Aereo used for a short-lived OTT TV service that attempted to deliver local broadcast TV feeds without carriage agreements, Didja’s service carries only the broadcast networks via its OTT service that have offered consent, and access to those lineups are limited to the consumers if they are currently in the local area.

For example, Didja estimates that BayAreaBTV is available to about 2.6 million households in an eleven-county that covers Santa Clara County to the south, Mendocino County to the north, Contra Costa County to the east, and every geographic area in between.

Didja’s platform, currently limited to its first two DMAs, captures over-the-air TV feeds from partner programmers at a local data center, where that feed is then prepared for streaming to supported devices in the local region. 

BayAreaBTV and its OTT distribution model is appealing to KPOP in part because a portion of its audience doesn’t have a TV or an antenna to receive the signal.

“But they always have their phone, and they are always on their phone,” Kelly Quan, KPOP’s CEO, said in an interview, estimating that about 70% of KPOP’s audience consists of English-only speakers. 

Quan also believes the service will also deliver new audiences to KPOP. “I see this as a perfect time for this kind of app,” he said.

“The Launch of LocalBTV is a great avenue for independent content creators and networks to expand their reach and engage new audiences. It also addresses an audience that is loyal consumer of broadcast stations that are over the air but can’t watch their favorite programming on the go via mobile,” Eric Ratchman, EVP of content distribution for Univision, said in a statement. 

More about Didja’s offering and how it appeals to broadcasters such as KPOP will be featured in the October 30 issue of Multichannel News.