Building on its 40 years of broadcast excellence, PBS is a leader in digital media, showcasing award-winning Web sites, online-only content, and a burgeoning array of new ways to access PBS content - especially online video - where and when you want it.

 

In 2009, pbs.org averages nearly 10 million unique visitors per month (Google Analytics, January – June 2009)

 

PBS’ Web site www.pbskids.org, attracted on average more than 8.6 million unique visitors and 394 million page views per month this year. (Google Analytics, January – June 2009)

 

Forty-eight percent of the pbs.org audience is under 35 years of age. (Comscore, May 2009)

 

The traffic for pbskids.org increased 31 percent from August 2008 to May 2009.

 

PBS.org ranked number one in traffic among the six leading commercial broadcast network Web sites in 2008, according to data from Internet measurement service Hitwise.

 

PBS offers Comcast VOD subscribers nationwide a diverse package of primetime series – both in High Definition and Standard Definition – such as FRONTLINE, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, NOVA and AMERICAN EXPERIENCE. All programs are available to viewers free of charge, up to seven days after their broadcast premieres. In addition, some PBS stations provide local cable operators a similar set of national programming as well as locally produced public television series.

PBS has made available an array of content on the iTunes Store, Amazon’s Video on Demand service, and the Xbox 360 – making it possible for users to purchase and download documentary specials and episodes from popular PBS primetime and children’s programming. Currently available for download-to-own are primetime programs: ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, FRONTLINE, NOVA, NOW, HISTORY DETECTIVES, SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS, CARRIER, e2, THE LAST ENEMY, WIRED SCIENCE and documentaries from KEN BURNS; as well as PBS KIDS and PBS KIDS GO! shows such as ARTHUR, SUPERWHY, CAILLOU, BARNEY, BOB THE BUILDER, THOMAS & FRIENDS, CYBERCHASE, WORDGIRL, DESIGN SQUAD and FETCH!

PBS also makes more than 100 titles available on Netflix’s Watch Instantly service, which allows Netflix subscribers to watch programs online as an alternative to DVD viewing.

In April, 2009, PBS launched the PBS Video Portal (video.pbs.org) featuring full-length videos from PBS. The offerings span all PBS genres and the system’s most renowned award-winning programs, as well as content from local PBS stations, and will ultimately include feature-length films and documentaries, and live events and performances, with more content arriving literally every week.

The portal will bring thousands of hours of PBS programming to the Web — together in one place for the first time ever — including iconic PBS programming such as AMERICAN EXPERIENCE, AMERICAN MASTERS, ANTIQUES ROADSHOW, BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, FRONTLINE, FRONTLINE/World, GREAT PERFORMANCES, JULIA CHILD COOKING WITH MASTER CHEFS, MASTERPIECE, NATURE, THE NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHRER, NOVA, NOVA scienceNOW and more. PBS producers are also planning to deliver regular Web-original content to the PBS Video Portal, which includes a state-of-the-art player and curated “collections” of content across PBS’ deep video library.

 

In addition, PBS makes available selected programs on free streaming services including Hulu, TV.com, Fancast, Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Sling.com, and Babelgum.

 

PBS also provides an increasing number of program excerpts and promotional spots on a variety of platforms, including YouTube (www.youtube.com/pbs). The PBS channel on YouTube features more than 2,000 videos and has received more than 27 million views.

 

Launched in September 2008, the PBS KIDS GO! video player — funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — showcases content from 14 different PBS KIDS GO! broadcast properties primarily serving children ages 6 to 8, an audience with limited age-appropriate media choices. The video player also includes interactive within-video games that allow kids to play educational games while they watch videos. The PBS KIDS GO! video player averages more than 1.3 million streams per week.

PBS offers a number of popular blogs:

 

The PBS MediaShift blog (pbs.org/mediashift) explores how new forms of digital media are dramatically changing American society and culture. Hosted by industry expert and longtime new media commentator Mark Glaser, MediaShift offers a continuing look at how digital media such as blogs, RSS, virtual worlds, citizen journalism, wikis, news aggregators and video repositories are altering the way Americans live, play and work.

 

PBS has coordinated the launch of an entirely new kind of blog, in which a diverse group of external bloggers comment on PBS programming. During the course of the blog, called Remotely Connected (pbs.org/nights/blog), a number of the most popular bloggers in the world took the opportunity to comment on and explore a broad variety of PBS programming. Remotely Connected will be expanded to include new shows and new bloggers in the coming year.

 

PBS Parents (pbsparents.org) features a wide-ranging parenting blog written by the “Supersisters” — three engaging moms who are also sisters, with nine children among them, who give a real-world perspective on parenting. An Expert Q&A blog offers site visitors the opportunity to interact with a diverse array of experts, including experts in the fields of child development and education, noted authors of parenting and children’s books, and producers and hosts of PBS and PBS KIDS programs. Most are parents themselves and thus can speak as parent experts as well.In January, 2009, PBS Parents launched the "Booklights" blog, which focuses on children’s literature, and offers help for struggling readers and strategies for encouraging kids to develop a lifelong love of reading.

 

“PBS Engage” is a broad multi-year initiative to harness the power of social media to give the PBS audience a voice and allow users to interact with PBS, member stations, television program producers and each other. PBS Engage includes a feature called “Five Good Questions,” which allows people to submit questions to PBS talent and insiders. PBS President and CEO Paula Kerger and NEWSHOUR WITH JIM LEHER senior correspondent Gwen Ifill have already fielded queries and comments from the online audience. In addition, PBS Engage recently launched an ongoing series of live online chats, allowing audiences to talk directly with those responsible for the award-winning content found on PBS. Viewers and online users will be able to ask questions and get answers from prominent journalists, filmmakers and producers, among others. All chats will take place at www.pbs.org/chat.

PBS is a leading provider of podcasts, featuring a variety of content, from PBS KIDS to news and public affairs. Many podcast users say they are downloading PBS podcasts and returning to PBS programs they had previously stopped watching on television because of busy schedules.

 

One PBS podcast alone — THE NEWSHOUR— has nearly 200,000 downloads each week.

 

PBS now offers more than 30 individual audio and video podcast feeds from more than a dozen PBS primetime programs. All are available at www.pbs.org/podcasts.

 

PBS on Facebook — facebook.com/pbs

PBS on Twitter — twitter.com/pbs and twitter.com/pbsengage

 

August 2009