In the first NAB since The Weather
Company (TWC) purchased Weather Central last year, TWC will be highlighting
some of the advantages of the combined operations, demoing a number of major
upgrades to its products, and unveiling a new logo, explained Mark Gildersleeve,
president of WSI: The Professional Division of The Weather Company in a pre-NAB interview.
As
part of their efforts to combine the operations, Gildersleeve noted that WSI
will become the lead brand at TWC for professional weather products and that
they have launched a new logo. But he stressed that the Weather Central brand
is not going to immediately disappear and that TWC is committed to supporting
and significantly improving products from both WSI and Weather Central.
"Last
August when we announced WSI and Weather Central coming together, we promised
our clients -- those on the Weather Central platforms, and those on the WSI
platforms- not only that we would continue to support and develop on both
platforms, but also that we would carryover the best data and features from
each platform across to the other platform so that they would have the best of
both worlds," he noted.
As
an example of their commitment to supporting and improving both platforms, he
noted that they've taken the best technology from each company to enhance all
their products.
"At
NAB, we are showing Max Studio -- which leverages all
the great advantages of the Weather Central platform in terms of
interactivity," he said. "Likewise, we are showing social on Weather Central
Fusion -- leveraging WSI capabilities."
He
also noted that they have drawn on technologies from both operations to
introduce new products.
One
of them is Max Studio, a new interactive solution allows on-air talent to
interact with graphic content, data video and maps while remaining on-air in
chromakey or using a touchscreen device.
In
addition, they were demoing Fusion Social, a new tool to strengthen social
media efforts for the Fusion platform.
In
terms of overall strategy, the company is pushing to provide broadcasters with
more tools to strengthen their online, mobile and social media operations.
"Over
90% of adults consume weather at least weekly- for most adults, it is content
they consume multiple times per day on various devices," he noted.
"Broadcasters have done a great job maintaining, and in fact growing share of
the weather audience on TV. But the average broadcaster only has around one
third of that TV audience share on web, and around 12% of that TV share on
mobile. As eyeballs have shifted from TV to digital and social platforms, the
typical broadcaster has lost share of the total weather audience in their DMA.
Our mission is to help broadcasters gain back that share."
