In our first “Interacting With…” segment, we had a conversation with Jacki Petersson, the Local Sales Manager from E.W. Scripps station and Megaphone TV client WRTV Indianapolis. We discussed how interactive sponsorships have helped WRTV improve connections with local advertisers and boost station revenue.
Can you tell us a bit about WRTV?
WRTV is an ABC affiliate and owned by Scripps Corporation. We proudly serve the community in Indianapolis, Indiana. This great city has about 2.5 million people and about 1.2 million TV-viewing households.
Indiana may not be the biggest TV market in the country, but it’s home, and I think WRTV has the best team, audience, and viewers in the business.
What specific challenges were you facing before choosing to work with Megaphone TV?
WRTV is a smaller station. We’re consistently number 4ish in the Indianapolis market. So, we cannot rely on ratings to attract advertisers. We have to be better, smarter, and more creative than the other local stations to attract brands.
At the same time, the world of television advertising continues to shrink and fragment into many other advertising channels.
The days of huge national brands spending big money and buying all of the inventory in a market – those days are gone. And for many local stations, all of this can be scary.
But I saw this as an opportunity for local direct clients to be on TV, which they had never been able to do before.
How has Megaphone TV helped you address these challenges?
When we went to market, many advertisers told us they were looking for an easy way to run contests and giveaways on TV. And there just wasn’t a way to do that.
Megaphone TV has been an amazing tool because it solved the problem of helping TV advertisers do contests and giveaways.
When we first met with Megaphone TV, I learned about interactive sponsorships and saw the platform in action. I was like, “That is my answer! That’s how we run TV contests!”
But it’s also so much bigger than a contest because, #1, it is 1000% customized to an advertiser’s brand, and #2, it has many interactive levels.
I mean, it’s a television contest, but you’ve got a QR code for tracking engagement, and you’re getting all of the digital conversion tools. Clients see instant, real results running these interactive campaigns.
Megaphone TV has become our secret weapon.
WRTV seems to have focused a lot on our Interactive30s format. What is it about this format that WRTV finds so appealing?
I love Interactive30s because they can live anywhere. I run these spots on television and OTT.
There are so many applications to it.
They are so much better than a typical contest run. I can program these commercials strategically throughout the day to capture the exact audience a brand needs to reach.
We did one with the opera singer Andrea Bocelli, and we knew that demographic was going to be older. So, we were very specifically targeted on which programs we put it in based on who will be watching that program.
Interactive30s is Megaphone TV’s unique commercial format. It allows any station to provide advertisers with interactive content directly in their commercials, transforming a regular 30-second spot into a lead generation machine.
I have to tell you—with only one exception—that every client I have presented this to has said, “I have to do that!”
Because we’re the only station in Indianapolis doing Interactive30s, I’m not competing with anyone else because of this product. Brands are coming to our station just to run these campaigns, which is a massive differentiator for us in our market.
So clearly, I love it so much.
Can you share a specific success story from using our platform?
We have an organization called Real Alternatives, a network of Crisis Pregnancy Services. They were interested in reaching young women in their 20s. Right now, we’re grateful to have Caitlin Clark at the Indiana Fever.
So, we did the women’s college basketball contest with Real Alternatives. We ran their spots as 45s—15 seconds for the contest, and the Real Alternative message was a 30.
I put it in college basketball games. I put it in pre-shows. It was a huge success. The client loved the results, and we sold out our inventory on the buy.
How has Megaphone TV impacted your advertising revenue and sales strategies?
Megaphone TV is a $100,000 revenue tool for us – and that’s from just one account executive, and the year is just half done! The rest of the team hasn’t started selling interactive sponsorships yet, but that will change in the upcoming weeks.
So, I fully expect that number to grow by 2025.
Megaphone TV allows us to bundle and sell larger commercial ad packages that include everything from 15s to 45s. I’ve never had anything like it that has worked so well.
What features of Megaphone TV do you find most valuable?
The custom pitch decks and mock-ups you provide us. They are a huge part of our sales success at WRTV.
Your interactive mock-ups really help me illustrate what a campaign looks like and what the viewer experience would be like.
Sure, I can put YouTube links to my proposal so they can see them, but having the actual mock-up and the live demo has been invaluable. Once clients see it, the lightbulbs go off in their heads, and they get super excited about their campaigns.
Megaphone TV clients receive personalized, interactive mock-ups and pitch decks like this when approaching a new sponsor for sales. Clients who utilize our pitch decks achieve a 46% close rate on interactive sponsorship sales.
I was on a call a couple of weeks ago with a potential client, and Megaphone TV put together the mock-up and the live demo with the QR code. So, during the presentation, I was like, “Get out your phone and scan the QR code.”
And as soon as they start interacting with it, the conversation quickly turns to how soon they can have their campaigns live on air. Your pitch decks and mock-ups are that effective.
Would you recommend Megaphone TV to other broadcasters?
Absolutely. I recommend Megaphone TV to any local broadcaster or station looking for new and creative ways to boost revenues and sales. It’s been a game-changer for our team.
(Just as long as you’re not in Indianapolis. I don’t want to give up our secret weapon!)