As Cleveland is a market known for its high-volume, high-quality medical care, Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital had long been an underwriting prospect for WVIZ/ideastream®.   In 2013, WVIZ was determined to convert the hospital from a prospect to a PBS KIDS sponsor, and with some creative thinking, was finally able to present a PBS KIDS-focused value proposition that resonated with Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital and its own mission.

WVIZ/ideastream® built a sponsorship package around the idea that its closed captioning service is one of the more visible and familiar examples of the station's public service. And with the hospital already actively involved in working with children with hearing disabilities, the new angle captured the hospital’s attention in ways that more traditional PBS KIDS programming and events packages had not.

WVIZ/ideastream®’s sponsorship presentation explained how closed captioning worked and what it is, as well as pulled in national and local data about the millions of Americans aided by closed captioning. The station effectively aligned the benefits of its closed captioning service with the accessibility, literacy, and connectivity characteristics of the larger public broadcasting mission, and with the brand trust, loyalty and other “halo effect” related benefits of a traditional PBS KIDS sponsorship.

The result? Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital came on board as the exclusive sponsor of WVIZ’s PBS KIDS closed captioning within 30 days of seeing the presentation and has renewed and remained on the air in this capacity ever since.

The sponsorship generates over $30K of incremental revenue for WVIZ/ideastream® per year, all around a service the station is required to provide, regardless of any revenue brought in to offset its costs.