In the face of WIN’s regional cuts, Reech TV pitches itself as a new local platform
On the day WIN News announced it’s shutting TV newsrooms in regional centres including Wagga Wagga, Orange, and Dubbo, Adam Drummond pitched a local advertising and content platform to serve those markets.
Last night, Drummond pitched Reech TV to a live Wagga Wagga audience, at the Jobs for NSW Regional Pitchfest, which he says is a viable alternative to “expensive” commercial regional TV.
Drummond was unsurprised by the WIN cuts
However, despite trying to get a regional content startup off the ground himself, the news of the WIN cuts is unsurprising, said Drummond.
“It’s just too expensive. Our platform is a much more viable distribution means for local content and advertising. Our plan is to acquire content, not create it, and from there partner with content creators and platforms to ensure locals are getting the experience they desire – and for free,” he told Mumbrella.
“Most households have a $60 per month threshold for subscription models so advertising is our best bet. We then revenue share with the creator and they get the lion’s share in real time with real analytics.”
Drummond founded WaggaWagga TV in 2015 to provide local content for local audiences, but soon discovered it wasn’t “big enough”. So, with Joe Barber, he founded Reech TV.
The proposed Reech TV
“People have an appetite for local news and local sport, the problem is more around the sustainability of the revenue model for terrestrial or broadcast television – and even radio to some extent,” Drummond said.
“This is proving to be too expensive – infrastructure costs are high, satellites are involved and it just can’t justify the number of advertising dollars coming in considering they’re so much lower than what they were even 15 years ago.
“This is where we can offer a solution – everything that we do, the tech that we’re developing, the personnel required, it’s all low cost and a lot more sustainable for the long term.”
Drummond says the platform will allow small businesses to advertise to qualified, local audiences.
“Our platform rewards audiences for ad engagement, whilst distributing to them in a non-disruptive fashion,” he said.
“The more they engage, the more they are rewarded, and advertisers only pay for what is used. The whole model is transparent, sustainable and scalable. Eventually the ad tech will go beyond Reech and be possible on any medium, print, podcasts, streaming services or yes even broadcast TV and radio.”
Should last night’s pitch be successful, Drummond explained the next step will be to test the market with investors, with the ultimate goal of launching a fully-functional local content platform.
Brittney Rigby was Mumbrella's deputy managing editor - news and analysis. She left Mumbrella in April 2021.
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