Across the Android phone and tablet apps, iPhone and iPad apps, and its channel on Roku players and TVs, these updates have improved the discoverability of local stations and provided consumers with more content choices with the addition of new categories, such as entertainment, education, parenting and sports.

Since its launch, NewsON increased its supporters to a total of seven strategic investors, and has 138 active participating stations across the US — that total should grow to over 150 in summer 2016, it said. It also has increased availability to 97 markets including 46 of the top 50, and will surpass 100 total markets in summer 2016. Population coverage to 78% and will reach over 80% in summer 2016.

To go along with all of this activity, NewsON also has activated its advertising platform, enabling advertisers to serve ad units via the NewsON mobile app as well as the NewsON channel on Roku connected televisions.

“Since we announced the formation of NewsON a year ago today, we have become an invaluable service for audiences across the nation,” said Louis Gump, CEO of NewsON. “So many accomplishments, including committed participation from over 150 TV stations in 100 markets covering 80% of the US population, rapid viewer growth, and our recent 'Best App' award recognition, give us confidence that we are meeting consumers' needs for local news on demand. This success is a testament to our team’s and partners’ visions to provide access to timely, relevant local news across platforms. We look forward to capitalising on this momentum and achieving major new milestones in the coming months.”