The Owner Community Meeting Committee decided by majority consensus on April 10 not to devote additional staff or financial resources to promoting the Monona Go mobile and TV app during the current contract period.

The committee’s discussion followed a presentation of usage data by Will (Monona Community Media staff), who said the app has far fewer active viewers than the channel’s YouTube presence. “About 275 people downloaded the app on their Apple devices, and about a 20 or something downloaded on their Android,” Will said, adding that views of individual videos on the app were “real single digit views” while the mirrored YouTube postings drew substantially more viewers.

Committee members said the data and user behavior make YouTube a more effective distribution channel for Monona Community Media content. Dave Bruner, a committee member, noted that viewers commonly prefer watching longer video content on a TV and that YouTube already meets that need. Amanda (committee member) and others also cautioned that investing staff time in promotion could be wasted if the city or vendor discontinues the standalone app later.

Why it mattered: the committee pays an annual fee for a dedicated Monona Go app. Will reported the streaming system and the dedicated app package cost about $5,200; dropping the dedicated app would retain web streaming while saving “about $3,000,” he said. Committee members said they were not opposed to the idea of an improved future app that bundled additional city services, but they concluded the current Monona Go offering did not justify further promotion now.

Key discussion points included: whether promotion should focus on getting people to download the app or on increasing actual usage; outreach tactics (library, senior center demonstrations, high-school tabling, QR-code handouts, short promo videos); and whether to pursue in-app notifications or vendor feature requests. Will said the committee could request download counts from the vendor before and after any campaign to measure impact, but that the vendor controls most app functionality.

The committee did not adopt a formal written motion; the chair called for a straw vote and reported a majority in favor of not putting additional effort into app promotion during the current contract year. The meeting record shows the group will continue streaming content and will instead prioritize where viewers already go to find it, notably YouTube and WVMO broadcasts.

Other meeting actions: the committee approved the minutes from the previous meeting by voice vote at the start of the session and later moved and seconded to adjourn; both procedural items passed by voice vote.