This month, I’m very proud to announce a new initiative. We are launching Unison TV. I’ll walk you through the backstory of how this came to be, and why we are doing this now. Our flagship newspaper, Unison News, is part education, part entertainment, and what we refer to as a social enterprise - that is, advertisers buy ad space in the newspaper, and we distribute it to 32,000 older adults every month. As a social enterprise, the newspaper must make a profit, and that profit goes to supporting some of our charitable activities. There’s some math in how we determine whether the newspaper is profitable enough to carry on. As with many print newspapers, many are having to change their business model and revenue models. For Unison, more of our advertisers or sponsors share that their company is no longer investing in print advertising. They are primarily using digital or other social media advertising. This is where serendipity enters the picture. Unison News is a viable project today, but we know it has a short runway. We knew we would need to replace the revenue generated by advertising with other types of revenue if we were to continue providing charitable services.
The Covid-19 lockdown taught us a great deal about accessible services and programs, and this gave us an incredible opportunity to pivot to the online universe. After a steep learning curve, we recognized great value in building an online community for seniors who had not had any previous connection to Veiner Centre or Kerby Center. Using technology like Zoom allowed us to expand our reach and support quickly. It was not just yoga classes. It was webinars about how to write a will or plan your estate, how to downsize and move, and how to apply for the CPP. We also learned that Zoom sessions could be recorded and uploaded to YouTube to become evergreen educational content for any senior with an Internet connection. Eventually, digital spaces will replace the physical newspaper and this is where Unison TV comes into the picture.
We have hired a full-time on-air host. This person has worked for Chat TV in Medicine Hat and Global News in Calgary. Our host will be producing daily streamed programming, which will help us to continue to entertain, educate and inform as well as build an extended virtual community, but this content will also grow to be a more sustainable platform for revenue generation. To support this new initiative, all you need to do is watch, like, and subscribe to our channel. We are very excited about Unison TV because it allows us to create a vehicle for financial stability, and to reach more older adults, and build a bigger and broader community. Watching our YouTube videos is essentially equivalent to donating to Unison. It’s a win-win!