We aim to increase engagement with our sites by providing the most relevant push notification experience possible. Automated push notifications deliver alerts tailored to each subscriber’s engagement behavior, informing them of new stories they’re most likely to be interested in.

The Frequently Asked Questions below provide additional details.

If you have a question that is not answered here, please reach out to Product Support by creating a ticket in the support portal, or by emailing [email protected]

1. What is the new automated push notifications feature?

This feature automatically sends push alerts to users based on their content preferences and engagement history, helping deliver more relevant news updates.

Example: If a user frequently reads or clicks on stories targeted to weather and local sports, the system may automatically send them a push alert when a new story is published about the high school football championship or storm coverage. Another user who engages more with national politics would receive different alerts based on their interests.

2. Who receives automated push notifications?

Website and app users have opted in to push notifications and meet engagement-based targeting criteria.

On web, this is an option that pops up in the lower left corner to Allow Notifications.

On the mobile app, when a user first downloads and opens the app, they are prompted to allow notifications on their mobile device for the app.

Users can later update their preferences in their device’s notification settings to enable or disable notifications if they choose.

The engagement-based targeting criteria at the time of launch was users who had read 2 stories in the last 5 days for a particular section. If a user stops reading articles from a particular section for the next 5 days, they will no longer receive any automated notifications for that section until that changes.

If a user happens to read stories on both the website and the mobile app, they will receive notifications based on what they read on that platform, so they may receive the same or different notifications on the website or app accordingly.  

3. How does the system determine which stories are sent?

Currently, the system checks which sections users have read stories from within a certain time frame (a configurable parameter, set to 5 days at the time of launch).  This process is based solely on section targeting, not topic tags or AI analysis.

Each time a new story is published or syndicated, the system evaluates whether any users meet the criteria and sends the push notification accordingly.

4. What sections are monitored for new stories? 

Stories targeted to any sections are eligible for automated push notifications; this includes stories targeted locally by producers or syndicated from other stations.

At the time of launch, only the Newsletter-Daily and Money sections are excluded from the automated notifications. 

5. Are there any limits to how many alerts are sent?

Yes, there are daily limits in place to prevent fatigue and over-notification.

At the time of the feature launch, the limit was set to a maximum of 3 automated notifications per day.  If an individual has multiple stations’ apps, they may receive up to the limit set per station.

Notifications sent by producers manually through StoryLine do NOT count toward this limit.  

If you have feedback regarding notification frequency and timing, please share it with Product Support, who will pass that information on to the team managing the configuration of automated push notifications.

6. Are there time-of-day restrictions?

Yes, automated notifications are suppressed during overnight hours.  This is another configurable item, and at the time of launch, the hours that automated notifications are suppressed are from 12:00 AM to 8:00 AM Eastern. 

7. Are notifications only sent for new stories?

Yes. Notifications are triggered only for newly published or syndicated stories.
Stories that are republished or updated are not considered for automated notifications.

8. Is there any prioritization of stories?   

No. Notifications are triggered purely by publish time.

If a user has already reached their daily notification limit, they will not receive earlier qualifying stories once the limit resets the next day. They’ll get the next qualifying story that is published.

9. Can users choose topics for notifications?

No. Automated notifications are based strictly on observed user engagement, not user-selected topics.

10. Can a station opt out of using this feature?

No. This feature is being deployed across all news stations.

If you have feedback regarding notification frequency and timing, please share it with Product Support, who will pass that information on to the team managing the automated push notifications system.

11. Should I still send manual push alerts for breaking news?

Yes. Manual alerts remain essential for urgent or high-priority news. Automated notifications are supplementary.

12. If a user has already received a story via an automated push, will a manual push resend it?

No. The system avoids duplicates.

If a user received an automated push for a story, they will be excluded from any subsequent manual push for that same story, and vice versa.

13. What do the push notifications look like?

The notifications display the station's call letters and the targeted section (e.g., “KOMO NEWS” or “WACH WEATHER”) as the title, along with the story headline as the message description.           

In the example below, the notifications with the heading “KUTV NEWS” were automated, while the station sent the others through StoryLine

14. Can I see which stories were sent and how many users received them?

Currently, this data is accessible only to the system administrators. Reach out to Product Support with any specific data requests and questions.  

15. Which stations are currently using this feature?

Released on 6/19/25:

 WSBT, WBMA, WLUK, WJAR, WLOS, and KUTV.

Release scheduled for 6/26/25:

KTXS, WGME, WPEC, WJLA, KRCG, WACH, KFOX, KEPR, KOMO, KATU, KABB, KIMA, KBAK, KBOI, KBTV, KDBC, KECI, KEYE, KFDM, KGAN, KHGI, KHQA, KLEW, KMPH, KMTR, KOKH, KRCR, KRNV, KSNV, KTUL, KTVO, KVAL, KVII, WBFF, WCHS, WCIV, WCTI, WCYB, WEAR, WEYI, WGXA, WHP, WICS, WJAC, WKEF, WKRC, WOAI, WOLF, WPBN, WPDE, WPMI, WRGB, WRSP, WSET, WSTM, WSYX, WTGS, WTOV, WTTE, WTVC, WUTV, WWMT, KATV, WHAM, WXLV, WZTV

16. How will this affect our current workflow?

There’s no change to your current push notifications workflow. Personalized pushes are additive and operate in the background.