• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, April 4, 2014

Hearst TV has adopted Anvato’s technology for digital ad insertion technology in live streaming video at over 20 of its local TV stations. Eventually, Hearst will introduce the ad insertion tech at all 25 of Hearst’s news-producing stations -- most of its 29-station TV portfolio.

The technology will allow Hearst stations to insert user-targeted ads via their existing digital ad servers, including local and national spots. This means they can automatically replace original broadcast ads throughout their live video streams with broadcast-style ad pods specific to local markets.

Mike Rosellini, Hearst TV’s vice-president of digital operations, stated: “We wanted one integrated solution to deal with newscast video capture, proxy clipping, live streaming and ad pods. While there are a number of vendors that do bits and pieces, Anvato is special in that it solves a number of problems with one unified package.”

Rossellini added that Hearst was able to implement the technology without having to make big investments in new hardware.

Hearst joins a number of other big broadcasters that have already adopted Anvato’s technology, including NBCUniversal, Fox Sports, Scripps, Univision and the Journal Broadcast Group.

The Anvato partnership is just one of several new tech initiatives from Hearst.

Earlier this week, Pearl -- a joint venture of eight TV broadcast groups that includes Hearst TV -- announced that it would begin testing over-the-air interactive TV, which it hopes will deliver enhanced content and advertising to viewers with LG Smart TVs. Some of the early interactive capabilities being tested by Pearl members include map and photo overlays and personalized traffic information.