GSTV Unveils New Content Slate and Original Content Featuring Creators, Comedians and Celebrity Talent
National Video Network Announces Partnerships With Matador Network,
Name That Tune, Benzinga and Tank’s Good News Ahead of 2023 NewFronts
DETROIT, MI – May 3, 2023 – At its NewFront presentation this Wednesday, GSTV, the national video network engaging and entertaining targeted audiences at scale across tens of thousands of fuel retailers, will unveil a slate of new partners, as well as original content coming to its network this year. The upcoming content slate will further cement GSTV as a video entertainment platform inspiring and engaging GSTV’s 116 million unique monthly viewers across the U.S. ahead of key shoppable moments.
New partners include Matador Network, Prestige Entertainment, and Benzinga, and a refreshed series with Live Nation. Matador Network, the number one travel destination on TikTok, engages millions of viewers with its all-new travel-inspired programming series, Must-See America. Developed in partnership with GSTV, it will highlight travel trends, tips, inspiration, seasonal travel guides, holiday-themed destinations, and more. Benzinga educates and entertains GSTV viewers with snackable financial journalism as it relates to blockchain, cryptocurrency, trading, NFTs and more. In addition, Prestige Entertainment will bring beloved game show Name That Tune to GSTV screens nationwide. Promoted by music icon Randy Jackson, the series will allow viewers to test their music knowledge, unveiling key clues as they fuel up. In keeping with this music focus, GSTV Sounds Bites powered by Live Nation brings musical artists ranging from Macklemore to Nickelback and more to GSTV screens as they share interviews from touring on the road and what drives them every day.
“By doubling down on new content partners and unveiling new original programming, we want to further distinguish GSTV as a video platform where advertisers can organically integrate with or place advertising content adjacent to our entertaining, informative, and family-friendly content,” said Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO of GSTV. “Our personality-driven content features familiar faces for viewers across America. Our goal is to continue evolving the GSTV experience, providing an entertaining, engaging respite for consumers as they fuel up.”
GSTV also unveiled pilots for four new original content series produced by its in-house content studio, Ignite. These personality-driven series allow for flexible custom integrations for advertisers and include:
Tank’s Good News: Featuring digital creator Tank Sinatra, this series will feature a positive feel-good news story in 20 seconds each week.
TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read): Comedian, actor, and podcast host Chuck Nice will rush viewers through a quick recap of the hottest novels or timeless classics, offering up the intel needed to help them sound smarter than the rest of the room without turning a page.
On This Day: Voiced by celebrity guests, this feature will take a look at the happenings that transpired on that particular day in history, drawing parallels to help viewers better understand their own circumstances.
Laughing Gas: Shot onstage at Gotham Comedy Club and produced by Harlan Halper of Downstage Entertainment, and Gotham’s Chris Mazzilli, this segment features some of New York’s best comedians, such as Dominican American stand-up star Julio Diaz, in 20-second quips about friends, family, and fueling up.
The new programming will appear in GSTV’s line-up of best in class short-form content providers including Cheddar News, Heal Squad with Maria Menounos, What’s Trending, So Yummy, kiwilimón, LaLiga and more. Maria Menounos is also host of the 2023 IAB NewFronts.
To learn more, tune into GSTV’s NewFront presentation, “Attention & Action: Reaching Consumers During The Moments That Matter” on Wednesday, May 3rd from 4:50 PM-5:10 PM ET in-person or virtually. Advertisers can register for the presentation on the IAB website with code GSTV23NF.
For Brands Seeking True Attention, Perceptions of DOOH and Place-Based Must Change
By: Sean McCaffrey, President and CEO, GSTV | via OAAA
We’re in the thick of IAB’s NewFronts week, when brands tune in to presentations from Snap, TikTok, YouTube, Roku, GSTV, and others. Presenting alongside notable digital and video platforms, OTT and CTV newcomers, and others across the media and entertainment landscape, how does a platform like ours — rooted in legacy “placed-based” association, yet boasting video partner-like capabilities — fit in?
Historically, it wouldn’t. Part of our reason for being here is to continue shifting the narrative around what that means, because for us and others, it has evolved dramatically and demands a closer look. There is significant opportunity for brands seeking real attention and engagement and the ability to reach consumers at scale to deliver meaningful business outcomes.
Media buyers are tearing up playbooks and focusing on proving to clients that their investment drove sales lift and ROI, creating massive opportunity for DOOH publishers to change perceptions and refocus marketers’ thinking on what true scale, attention and impact can mean. Why? Because efficiency and impact are more important than ever to earn a place in media strategies.
We need to move beyond screens and towards obsessing over audiences, behaviors and impact — and how DOOH has a valuable place in media plans to deliver on those outcomes.
The OOH industry classically prioritizes the physical nature of billboards and screens — geographic location; proximity to destinations; display and resolution; one-to-many audience ratios — context and cost. Location is important, however, marketers miss a bigger POV by not investing in DOOH. The DOOH industry has rapidly evolved from static environments into dynamic, engaging, attributable video platforms with similar, and sometimes larger, audience scale and measurable returns than other household name video publishers.
Consider how DOOH platforms fit consumers’ state of mind, the place in their journeys before and after as behavior shifts, and how we connect, amplify and impact the entire comms planning strategy and media mix.
Video buyers are aware that DOOH platforms have become dynamic and share traits of traditional video platforms they love, but perceptions are hard to change. In a recent OAAA Lunch Break, Essence Global Chief Media Officer Adam Gerber shared that while both watching a show on the couch or scrolling through the phone and seeing a billboard are valuable from the POV of agencies and marketers, those experiences aren’t equally weighed.
What differentiates them is the notion of attention. While TV and walled gardens may be the de facto buy for premium experiences and captive environments, what marketers forget is consumers are screen surfing and likely to see both while not paying attention to either.
We hear this regularly from buyers new to GSTV who are surprised to learn that we are more than our 24,000 locations, and more than just video: Our platform engages a captive audience surrounded by important purchase decisions, during a moment when consumer attention and engagement is at the forefront.
The renewed interest in DOOH, and its rapidly evolving definition, has opened the window for companies like ours and others to make these points clear. We should embrace disruption and seize opportunities to accelerate the pace of change. “Place-based” is an oversimplified idea that fails to capture the depth and evolution of DOOH, and reconsidering the DOOH opportunity for consumer attention, engagement and action are in the best interest of every ROI-focused brand.