Sky Tyne and Wear, the satellite broadcaster's local news service currently being piloted in the North-East of England, has today launched a new mobile app for people to access its content on the go.
In February this year, Sky launched the Sky Tyne and Wear service to serve people in the area with region-specific news, sport and events listings on the move.
The move, similar to the STV Local service operated in Scotland by broadcaster STV, is intended as a way of serving communities with more tailored news and information.
Following the launch, Sky Tyne and Wear built an audience of nearly 180,000 monthly unique visitors in March and racked up around 106,000 video views, including popular content such as 'Fight breaks out in Whitley Warriors ice hockey match against Blackburn Hawks' and 'Singer could be the third X Factor winner from South Shields'.
After observing that nearly one in four visitors came to the service via a mobile device, Sky has decided to extend the pilot by investing in a dedicated Sky Tyne and Wear mobile app.
The full-screen app is available to download now for free on the iPhone, and will soon expand to Android devices. The Sky Tyne and Wear website has also been optimised for mobile smartphones and tablets, said Sky.
Users of the mobile app will get the most up-to-date news and views from across the region, covering local stories and sports.
People can even contribute to the news by uploading photos, videos or reports via the app, as well as see what events are close by them via GPS.
Simon Bucks, the associate editor at Sky, said: "We are really pleased with the reception which Sky Tyne and Wear has had since launch. There is a great buzz about it in the area, and we are especially gratified that our videos have had 100,000 plus views.
"It confirms our belief that there is a real appetite for high quality video coverage of local news, sports and events. Our reporting of sport, especially at a grass root level, has attracted a lot of interest and has been widely shared via social media.
"This new iPhone app means people will be able to access the service more easily when they are on the move. It will also be even simpler for them to upload their own photos and videos."
As national news services on TV and online become ever more saturated, many media organisations view local news as an important tool for more effectively serving consumers, as long as it can be done in a financially sustainable way.
Negotiations are currently underway over the creation of a raft of new local TV services across the UK, but that could take a while to come into operation. In the mean time there is demand for alternative news services to the BBC.
It is unclear at present whether Sky intends to expand the Tyne and Wear beta to other areas, but this will presumably depend on whether the experiment has been deemed a success at the end of the pilot.
