BLIZZARD CREATES ONLINE WINDFALL FOR WLEX

Bad weather is nothing new in Lexington, Ky., but when it happens, it’s always news. The 64th DMA is far enough south that inclement outbursts usually take the form of thunderstorms, tornadoes or the occasional brief ice storm.

So when residents were hit by the biggest blizzard in more than a decade last weekend, it was a big surprise—and a big opportunity for WLEX, the Evening Post Publishing’s NBC affiliate there.

But the station was more than ready, according to Bruce Carter, director of news and marketing. After all, it's been preparing since 1999.

“When I first got here,” says Carter, “I noticed that nobody in the market owned weather. And, of course, research told us that weather and hard news credibility were both important.”

Within a year, says Carter, the station had re-branded itself with a new logo: LEX18—Coverage You Can Count On. “We try to live up to that branding every day by just being tenacious.”

Especially when it comes to weather, says Carter, whose early hires included award-winning chief meteorologist Bill Meck, who’s now synonymous with Lexington forecasting and a top personality at LEX18.

About a year ago, the station extended Meck’s presence to the Web with the daily Bill’s Blog, which averages 45,000 page views per month. The station also offers a daily Weather Webcast and makes it easy to find. For the past two months, a daily weather block has been displayed above the fold of the station’s home page.

“This is a market where you have a lot of severe weather, especially in the early spring and summer,” Carter says. “But not a lot of snow events. Our average annual snowfall is about 14 inches.”

So, about two weeks ago, when station meteorologists spotted a major snowstorm heading towards Kentucky, they began to cover it, especially online where Bill Meck could explain the forecast in detail without causing premature alarm.

But by Friday evening, “maybe” had become “certainly,” reports Carter. “We were the only station on the air at 6 a.m. Saturday morning. There was already 3.5 inches on the ground and it was coming down in buckets. So we stayed live until well past noon when the storm died out.”

Throughout their storm coverage, viewers were reminded of the constant Web updates and they responded in record numbers, says Carter. “On a normal Friday, we’ll average 50,000 to 75,000 page views. That Friday, we did 455,000 page views. Saturdays are lighter, averaging 25,000 page views. During the storm we drew 153,000.”

Similarly, Bill’s Blog drew 90,000 page views in two days, more than double its monthly average.

Alas, the station was unable to forecast one weather-related hazard: too much success. A last-minute decision to augment its home page weather block with streaming video of live coverage drew so much traffic that the WorldNow servers slowed to a crawl—a problem quickly solved by removing the feed. (Since then, the station and WorldNow have devised an early warning system to boost capacity as needed.)

“This is a market with around a million viewers,” says Carter, “and we had 455,000 page views. These numbers are kind of staggering. It’s a defining moment for us on the Web. We’re coming to the point where the online is as important as on air.”

But despite this blizzard of page views, confides Carter, the station actually lost money on its live coverage. “That’s because we had nearly the entire staff working on overtime to cover the weather event.”

Not that anyone’s complaining, least of all Director of Sales Chris Fedele. “We can use the huge numbers from this past weekend as a success story to boost the value of our Web avails.”

Previously the station sold its Web ads for a low CPM of $10—a $1,500 package of 150,000 impressions monthly. Sponsorships cost extra. But even without the snowstorm bonus, the station has been overdelivering page views on a regular basis, sometimes by 100 percent.

“We don’t plan to double our rates,” says Fedele. “But we’ll make sure our account executives are asking for more money. We’ll work with their clients to get rates up to $2,000 per month.”

Another option is to simply sell more packages, and enforce the 150,000 impression limit, which the station put into place to ensure that all advertisers reach their quota even if online inventory runs low towards the end of the month.

Fedele reports that most advertisers already consider the station’s Web ads to be money well spent, a view reinforced by computer-savvy shoppers.

“Business is definitely shifting to the Web,” says Fedele. “When people buy furniture or especially cars, they arrive with a printout of features and prices. If you don’t have that car on your lot, too bad. They’re off to the next dealer.”

Fedele says that advertisers recognize that the station’s online brand is strong enough to enhance their own. “We can get customers to their Web site a lot faster.”

WLEX even helps clients to create or enhance their Web sites, in collaboration with sister company Evening Post Digital.

Although the sudden snowfall has all but vanished, melted by a more seasonable warm front, Bruce Carter expects the on-air and online windfall to be long-lasting. He’s especially encouraged by viewer response during the storm to repeated invitations to send in comments and photos.

“I was amazed that we received over 1,400 photographs. We were playing the pictures on the air constantly. That reinforces the viewer interaction with the station which creates great station loyalty.”

Viewer comments continued to pour in after the storm, often to thank WLEX for its weather coverage. The comments have been turned it into a proof of performance spot. Click here to see it.

Market Share by Arthur Greenwald showcases successful local marketing every Monday in TVNEWSDAY. Are you growing a sales or marketing campaign in your own backyard? Don’t keep it a secret! Send the details to Arthur at greenwald@tvnewsday.com.