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Hearst Television’s Very Local streaming service launched in Sept. 2021, but it has already produced over 500 original episodes across a raft of genres — destination shows, contests, docuseries and true crime among them.
The trick has been shooting fast and on a lean budget, tapping local talent from non-TV media — think podcasters and social media influencers — as presenters to give its shows a fresh, and avowedly local, voice.
Laura Ling, a veteran documentarian, is Very Local’s VP of programming, and her programming decisions have driven the service’s fast growth and unique brand feel. In this Talking TV conversation, one that any broadcaster looking to diversify its local content slate should lean into, Ling explains how Very Local arrived at its identity and the prolific programming strategy that’s giving local content a national network-level feel and accessibility.
Episode transcript below, edited for clarity.
Michael Depp: If you don’t know Very Local, it’s a streaming app or a channel, if you like, from Hearst Television, and within there’s a series of lifestyle programs focusing on travel, food, there are some game shows, documentaries and true crime thrown in there. The shows are locally oriented, but they have the veneer of national programs, which in effect, they actually are.
I’m Michael Depp, the editor of TVNewsCheck. This is Talking TV, our weekly video podcast. Today, Laura Ling is here, and she’s an experienced documentarian and the VP of Very Local at Hearst. She’s the filter through which all