The first three Viacom stations that had their Web sites redesigned have experienced increased Web traffic.
Viacom Television Stations Group this week unveiled a new digital media initiative that includes the relaunch and redesign of each of its local station Web sites.
The redesign adds more function, greater interactivity and improved live and taped streaming video products. The sites will have more extensive local and national content and offer wireless alerts with up-to-the-second breaking news.
The newly formed Viacom Television Stations Digital Media Group manages the project. So far three station sites, www.kutv.com in Salt Lake City, www.wcco.com in Minneapolis and www.cbs4denver.com in Denver, are generating increased traffic.
The next group of stations to relaunch sites include San Francisco (www.cbs5.com), Chicago (www.cbs2chicago.com), Baltimore (www.wjz.com) and New York (www.wcbstv.com). In total, 17 CBS stations will relaunch their Web sites in 2005, followed by UPN stations in 2006. The Viacom Television Stations Group consists of 40 stations, including 21 CBS, 16 UPN and three stations not affiliated with major networks.
The initiative also will feature desktop, wireless and mobile distributed components, including breaking news, traffic, weather and entertainment alerts in voice and text and, eventually, video.
