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Local TV Makes Bucks From Obits

A CBS affiliate in Saginaw, Mich., is generating revenue by running obituary ads on-air and online. The TV and online obits could be "one of our top billers within two years," says Jeff Guilbert, sales manager of WNEM. Turns out that three of the region's four daily newspapers, which regularly run obituaries, have reduced publication to three days a week.

WNEM owner, Meredith, expects to roll the concept out to its other stations and says it is also in licensing discussions with other station groups. Tom Cox, VP at Meredith's local media group, says funeral directors and mourners "are now comfortable [enough] with the technology."

Here's how it works: For $100, the station will run the deceased's name and photo on-air and publish a full-length obituary on ObitMichigan.com. Full-screen graphics listing names of people who have passed away are broadcast during the local station's morning and noon shows Monday through Friday, as well as on weekend morning shows. Viewers are pushed to the website for more information about the deceased as well as funeral-services information.

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