NEW YORK: Worldnow, a developer of online technology, content and revenue-solutions company for local media, has announced they wrapped up 2011 with multi-year extensions with Raycom Media and Young Broadcasting. The achievement marks a record year where Worldnow extended deals with almost 90 stations and formed new partnerships with 46 stations, covering 25 broadcast groups in total.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to continue supporting both Raycom Media and Young Broadcasting as they aggressively seek to grow their digital businesses," said Craig Smith, EVP Sales and Distribution for Worldnow. "2011 was truly an exceptional year and it is a testament to the advancements we continue to make with our publishing platforms, the revenue we are helping our customers create and the effectiveness of our strategic support to grow audience on all platforms, TV, web and mobile."

Raycom Media renewed 39 stations while Young Broadcasting renewed eight stations. Both continue to use Worldnow's website and video publishing platforms. Additionally, both work with Worldnow's national and local sales support for revenue generation.

"Worldnow's 13 years in the business continues to help us transform our business in this digital era," said Deborah McDermott, President of Young Broadcasting. "We did extensive due diligence and Worldnow continues to be a leader in the field for web content management and has consistently shown their unwavering commitment to helping us grow our digital business. Their unified system integrates directly with our newsrooms and provides a hands-on approach to customer service and creative ad sales programs."

"Worldnow has made significant strides in opening up their publishing platforms to give us the control we need to grow our business," said Pat LaPlatney, Vice President of Digital Media for Raycom Media. "They also lead the field with a simplified workflow, automation and integrations into critical legacy systems. This is allowing our newsrooms to work more closely together by having a system that makes it easy to contribute. We are now able to have 30 or more people in each of our newsrooms creating better content for our local communities and continued growth for our site and mobile platforms. Their well-integrated solution makes our workflow very easy and helps us tell great stories, allowing for a higher level of engagement and makes a significant difference in driving ratings, web audience and revenue."

"For the past 13 years our goal has been to have the web increase our broadcasters brand and loyalty in their market," said Gary Gannaway, President and CEO of Worldnow. "We are so excited with the development of the local marketplace and understand that our strategic guidance, innovative sales programs and training, and customer service make us a leader in this space."

The following groups extended agreements with Worldnow in 2011:
Allbritton Communications
Block Communications
Cowles California Media
COX Television
Dispatch Broadcast Group
Draper Communications
Duhamel Broadcasting
Lockwood Broadcasting
Midwest Television
Pappas Television
Raycom Media
Saga Communications
WCAX TV
Young Broadcasting

The following groups formed new partnerships with Worldnow in 2011:
Davis Television
Grant Television
Heritage Broadcasting
Hoak Media
Lilly Broadcasting
London Broadcasting
Meredith
New Age Media
Reiten Television
Sagamore Hill Broadcasting
West Virginia Media