Listen on:
Travel is often described as painful. You’ve been there—from overcrowded terminals to late, overbooked and canceled flights—travel experiences can often make or break your day. Luckily, there are hacks that can help you get through the grinding terminal experience—from reimagined stores and duty free shops to restaurants, bars and spas…and even TV’s. One company, ReachTV, is rebooting travel media, with captivating entertainment for business and consumer audiences in airports around the world.
On my latest trip, while waiting on a very delayed flight, I checked out ReachTV, and was encouraged by the fresh targeted programming. So intrigued, we called the CEO, Lynnwood A. Bibbens, to join me for an episode of the Reboot Chronicles to unpack how the company survived the anti-travel COVID era and how he is upgrading travel experiences—one TV at a time.
Truth and Positivity
ReachTV is the largest airport television network, targeting 128 Million monthly travelers, with 31 million monthly dedicated viewers across North American airports, showcasing top network and production partners from around the world, along with a growing slate of original programing,
Truth and Positivity is a slogan and a mindset that Lynnwood maintains in his company, and in the content that is shown on ReachTV. As he puts it “When people travel, they feel a little guilty, and there’s a lot of pressure” which is why ReachTV’s goal is to remove that pressure, and through truth and positivity make the traveling experience easier for everyone. This is also why Reach has decided to step away from news and politics and focus on lighter topics. Topics like trivia, fun facts, local food spots, and even sports which is partly thanks due to a partnership formed between ReachTV and the NFL which gives Reach the rights to air national NFL games.
Bring Outside Culture Inside Airport
Airports are a fast-paced environment, with all types of people and reasons for traveling. Bringing the local culture into the airport is one of ReachTV’s biggest goals, so even if you are someone who doesn’t know the local area, or is only in that airport for an hour layover, you will get an idea of the “local flavors of those communities” through the stories being told on ReachTV’s programs.
Through those stories, ReachTV also creates empathy and connects the passengers to the owners of the local concessions. “That’s one of the things we’re proud of. We have to create that content and tell these stories. It’s connecting the passengers and viewers to the people who own the airport concessions.”
Roadmap Moving Forward
Although ReachTV has grown a lot in the last few years having partnered with some big names like the NFL, TikTok, and NBCUniversal, and through the acquisition of all the CNN Airport Networks, their growth does not stop there.
“We’re going to be in 30 countries over the next 12 to 24 months. [The] expansion will be in flight. We’re already powering sports24 in partnership with Endeavor where we do a lot of the advertising and partnerships with them. We’re also bringing content in, so if you’re 24 months from now, Reach will probably be on most of your airlines in the mobile apps as that free entertainment when you’re in the sky.”
Looking past that, he is looking to get back into the business of e-commerce. Having come from e-commerce, with intentions to buy Sky Mall before someone else acquired it. Now his plans are coming back around to that original business plan, hoping that in the future shopping is another feature Reach will bring. “I have always been a retailer at heart. So yes, in our plan we will be growing into where shopping is available.”
