New ‘Weather Means Business’ report highlights the growing influence of volatile weather patterns on business resilience, growth, and competitive advantage

ATLANTA – Oct. 2, 2024 – The Weather Company, the world’s most accurate weather forecaster,¹ has released a groundbreaking report, ‘Weather Means Business,’ highlighting the crucial role of weather intelligence in shaping business resilience, growth, and competitive edge as the world adjusts to escalating global temperatures and volatile weather patterns.

In 2024, the world saw 15 straight months of record-breaking temperatures and the earliest Category 5 Atlantic hurricane in history, Hurricane Beryl.² In 2023, the U.S. saw 28 separate billion-dollar weather disasters, totaling $93 billion in damages.³ It is more vital than ever for businesses to rethink their strategies when navigating these weather and climate challenges.

By combining accurate weather data with AI and human intelligence, businesses can convert data into actionable insights that drive better informed decision-making. From optimizing supply chains to refining advertising and marketing strategies to demand forecasting, weather intelligence has real-world applications with real financial impact to the top and bottom lines.

The report includes new survey data from Magid and reveals that 75% of executives say that weather has had a moderate or high impact on their business across all functions, with half indicating that this impact has grown over the past five years. Additionally, 100% of executives agree that weather intelligence can help gain a competitive edge, though how that advantage materializes varies by industry and specific business needs.⁴

The Weather Company’s ‘Weather Means Business’ report highlights the power of weather intelligence across a variety of business sectors including retail, CPG, pharma, insurance and travel & tourism. According to the findings, businesses that successfully harness weather intelligence can expect revenue boosts of as much as 10% and significant cuts in operating expenses.

“The critical role of weather intelligence as a change agent in modern business cannot be overstated,” said Sheri Bachstein, CEO, The Weather Company. “A weather strategy for any business- small, medium, or enterprise – is not one-size-fits-all. To be effective, the weather strategy must be tailored to the unique needs of each business function.”

The report further found that 78% of executives surveyed say incorporating advanced weather analytics into their decision-making processes could enhance their ability to anticipate and respond to market fluctuations, while 77% said using weather insights effectively can help them be better at their jobs.

Looking further at industry verticals, 80% of retail executives agreed that enhanced weather intelligence has the potential to contribute positively to annual revenue growth, while 90% of pharma executives said that harnessing weather data can serve as a strategic advantage for their organization. 93% of travel executives also estimated that environmental and weather conditions have impacted their operating costs and revenue by 50% or more over the past year.

For a detailed look into how weather intelligence can transform your business, and for breakouts covering the specialized impact on the retail, CPG, pharma, insurance and travel & tourism industries, download the full “Weather Means Business” report here.

Methodology 

This whitepaper leverages a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative research study conducted by an independent research company, Magid, involving 297 C-suite and VP-level executives from U.S. companies across five industries, representing a range of job functions from Revenue & Finance, Operations, Supply Chain to Advertising, Marketing, and  Customer Experience.

About The Weather Company
The Weather Company helps people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. With its deep industry expertise and highly accurate, high-volume weather data combined with advanced technology and AI, The Weather Company provides insights and solutions that harness the power of weather in a scalable, privacy-forward way. The world’s most accurate forecaster, the company serves hundreds of enterprise customers across media, advertising, aviation and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). For more, visit weathercompany.com. 

NEW YORK and ATLANTA – ReachTV, the largest streaming television network for travelers with 50M+ monthly viewers, and The Weather Company, the world’s most accurate weather forecaster,¹ today announced a national partnership to provide weather forecasts to travelers at ReachTV’s 90 airport locations.

As the exclusive weather provider for ReachTV, The Weather Channel, the flagship consumer brand of The Weather Company, will provide 1-minute travel forecasts customized for ReachTV’s expansive network of screens available at 2,400 airport gates and 750 airport venues including bars and restaurants. The localized 1-minute segments will include current conditions, today’s forecast and this week’s forecast at the airport and in the local area, as well as a national forecast showing potential weather-related travel delays across the U.S.

Travel forecast content is produced and customized using ReelSphere, The Weather Company’s newest innovation for the broadcast industry and streaming platforms. Backed by advanced AI technology, ReelSphere’s hyper-local video creation engine quickly generates and delivers compelling, relevant and impactful weather content 24/7 across CTV, mobile, social and other digital platforms.

“ReachTV always aims to not only entertain travelers with our robust line-up of original programming and live sports broadcasts, but also serve them with important information that can help them on their journeys,” said ReachTV CEO and Founder Lynnwood Bibbens. “The Weather Company’s accurate and innovative weather services are the gold standard and will provide incredible value to our screens at airports across the U.S.”

“Increasingly erratic weather conditions and more impactful severe weather has made access to reliable weather data even more important, especially for travelers on the go,” said Joe Fiveash, head of enterprise media and new verticals at The Weather Company. “Being part of ReachTV’s network enables us to continue to reach people whenever and wherever they need actionable weather forecasts, and our ReelSphere-produced content helps travelers stay apprised of the most relevant, compelling weather details to help them make more informed travel decisions around weather.”

About ReachTV
ReachTV is a free ad-supported streaming television network with more than 50 million viewers per month. The network is distributed in 750 venues, serving 2,400 airport gates, and 500,000 hotel rooms across North America. ReachTV brings together tech, data and storytelling to offer viewers a new connected media experience with shopability, featuring a rich library of live sports, and premium original content. ReachTV’s current content partners include the NFL, TikTok, LIV Golf, ACC Football, ACC Men’s & Women Basketball, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Business Traveler, Billboard, Nexstar Media’s CW Network, Stage Access, Drone Racing League, the Harlem Globetrotters, Brinx.TV, and more.

About The Weather Company
The Weather Company helps people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. With its deep industry expertise and highly accurate, high-volume weather data combined with advanced technology and AI, The Weather Company provides insights and solutions that harness the power of weather in a scalable, privacy-forward way. The world’s most accurate forecaster, the company serves hundreds of enterprise customers across media, advertising, aviation and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). For more, visit weathercompany.com.  

ATLANTA and Salt Lake City, Utah. – Breeze Airways, a premium leisure, low-cost carrier, has partnered with The Weather Company, the world’s most accurate¹ forecaster, to provide its passengers with an unparalleled travel experience, no matter the conditions. As the airline continues to grow the size of its fleet and add new routes, Breeze will leverage The Weather Company’s Fusion global weather and flight tracking solution. Fusion will provide Breeze with the critical information it needs for proactive decision making to help improve safety, reduce diversions and increase comfort for its passengers and crew.

Using industry-leading data science, meteorological expertise and technology, The Weather Company helps a majority of North American commercial airlines and many others globally integrate weather data into daily operations for real-time decision making. Pairing historical airport operations data with superior weather forecasts will improve Breeze’s visualization of airport congestion, taxi delays and runway configurations. This enables Breeze to predict arrival and departure capabilities and procedures more intelligently, thus improving decisions around operations and safety.

“As we continue to expand our airline’s network over the coming months and years, it’s critical to deploy key technology solutions to ensure operational teams are equipped with the right tools to make efficient operational decisions, all whilst bolstering a commitment to guest and crew safety,” said Travis Yost, vice president of Breeze’s Operations Control Center. “The Weather Company is an essential partner, providing a clearer picture of weather’s impact at the gate, as well as en-route hazards like turbulence. Together, we seek to deliver a world-class travel experience for customers through optimized, operational efficiencies and enhanced overall flight safety.”

Since becoming a dedicated Fusion user, Breeze has realized industry leading completion rates and sees opportunity for more upside long-term. Since launching in 2021, Breeze Airways has become known for providing affordable, nonstop flights from underserved markets across the U.S. Today, Breeze serves 64 cities across 30 states and has flown more than five million guests. By fall 2024, the carrier will move all scheduled service to its A220-300 fleet, making it one of the youngest fleets in the industry.

“As increasingly severe conditions continue to keep weather top of mind, it’s critical for airlines to utilize reliable, trusted weather forecasts, along with the best possible human expertise,” said Ravi Vanmali, head of aviation for The Weather Company. “Innovative airlines like Breeze are using advanced flight planning and predictive analytics to better understand disruptive situations and their impacts ahead of time to help minimize or even avoid them. This ultimately helps improve passenger safety and comfort, reduces fuel consumption, and saves time and money.”

To learn more about The Weather Company’s aviation solutions, visit www.weathercompany.com/aviation.

About Breeze Airways
Breeze Airways began service in May 2021 and has been ranked as one of the U.S.’ best domestic airlines for the last two years by Travel + Leisure magazine’s World’s Best Awards (#2 in 2022 and #4 in 2023) and is the first and only domestic carrier to be certified by Autism Double-Checked which seeks to make air travel a more accessible and pleasant experience for the autism community. Breeze offers a mix of more than 200 year-round and seasonal nonstop routes between 64 cities in 30 states. Founded by aviation entrepreneur David Neeleman, Breeze operates a fleet of Embraer 190/195 and Airbus A220-300 aircraft, with a focus on providing efficient and affordable flights between secondary airports, bypassing hubs for shorter travel times. With seamless booking, no change or cancellation fees, up to 24-months of reusable flight credit and customized flight features – including complimentary family seating – delivered via a sleek and simple app, Breeze makes it easy to buy and easy to fly. Learn more about Breeze’s flight offerings via www.flybreeze.com or the app.

About The Weather Company
The Weather Company helps people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. With its deep industry expertise and highly accurate, high-volume weather data combined with advanced technology and AI, The Weather Company provides insights and solutions that harness the power of weather in a scalable, privacy-forward way. The world’s most accurate forecaster, the company serves hundreds of enterprise customers across media, advertising, aviation and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). For more, visit weathercompany.com.  

The Weather Company has tapped D.J. Reali as its chief revenue officer. In this role, Reali will lead revenue efforts for both the consumer business – which includes digital properties for flagship consumer brand The Weather Channel app and weather.com – and the data enterprise business, which includes its newly launched data and insights platform, The Weather Engine™ and other innovative media, data and technology products.  

As the world’s most accurate forecaster, The Weather Company offers actionable weather data and insights to millions of consumers via The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com) and thousands of enterprise clients and marketers to help them make better decisions based on the impact of weather. 

A well respected and longtime veteran of the industry, Reali previously worked at The Weather Company for two decades. Earlier this year, he returned to The Weather Company as interim head of sales and will now take on a permanent, expanded role. At a time when weather has never been more impactful to the bottom line, it also has the power to drive performance across an enterprise.

“D.J.’s deep expertise across the advertising, ad tech, data and consumer industries is unmatched, and after nearly two decades at our company, his knowledge, relationships and passion for our business will help customers maximize value and drive opportunity,” said Sheri Bachstein, CEO of The Weather Company. “I couldn’t think of a better person to join our executive leadership team to help usher The Weather Company into the next phase of our journey to help make reliable weather data as pervasive as weather itself.” 

Reali has played a role in many different aspects of The Weather Company, previously serving in leadership roles such as head of sales, senior vice president of agency partnership and development, senior vice president of multi-platform sales and vice president of Midwest advertising sales. Prior to joining The Weather Company, he worked with Home and Garden Television (HGTV) and J. Walter Thompson Advertising in Chicago.

“As the effect of our changing climate makes weather more disruptive, it has become increasingly important to monitor conditions and harness the power of weather data to understand consumer behavior,” said D.J. Reali, newly appointed CRO of The Weather Company. “ Weather can be a competitive advantage, not just a fact of life. Every business needs a weather strategy and actionable insights from a partner they trust to help shape outcomes.” 

Reali will join the company’s executive leadership team and report to Sheri Bachstein, CEO of The Weather Company. 

The partnership aims to leverage weather data and insights to allow people to get their local OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™ as easily as their local weather forecast

ATLANTA and RACINE, Wis. – July 1, 2024 – As summer’s higher heat and humidity nears, people prepare for an influx of mosquitoes. To help individuals and their families better protect themselves from mosquitoes, The Weather Company and its flagship consumer brand, The Weather Channel, has teamed up with OFF!®, America’s #1 trusted Insect Repellent brand in 2024, to bring local mosquito forecasts to The Weather Channel app. Launched in the U.S. in 2022, Brazil in 2023, and Canada in 2024¹, OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™ predicts mosquito behavior and populations to help consumers better plan summer activities and optimize their outdoor time this summer.

Through The Weather Company’s newly launched data and insights platform, The Weather Engine™, OFF!® brand is enhancing its OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™ from SC Johnson’s Center for Insect Science with weather data and analytics from The Weather Company, the world’s most accurate weather forecaster², to include a mosquito index in The Weather Channel app, the world’s most downloaded weather app³.

How it works: Helping people become mosquito-ready
The collaboration focuses on combining OFF!® and The Weather Channel teams’ respective expertise to help people live well and enjoy the outdoors.

Incorporating over 15 billion climate data points and real-world mosquito data from 5,000 locations, the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast combines entomology research on local mosquito species with detailed weather data inputs to predict mosquito populations and activity levels by ZIP code. Historic activity patterns, varying weather conditions, and weather and climate factors are accounted for when building these regional models.

Now leveraging The Weather Company’s deep meteorological expertise, enhanced datasets include historical and forecast temperature, humidity and precipitation for predicting mosquito sources, as well as forecast conditions that drive day-of mosquito activity.

How to view your OFF!Cast Forecast

By integrating OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™ into The Weather Channel app, millions more consumers can now get into a routine of checking their local mosquito and weather forecasts simultaneously across multiple platforms:

• For those who already depend on the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™, it continues to be available on OFF.com, but now with improved weather data from The Weather Channel.  
  
• The OFF!Cast tool will also be visible in The Weather Channel app’s new experience on iOS. Check out the Daily tab and Outdoor Activity tabs for camping, hiking, golf and gardening for an at-a-glance risk level – low, medium, high, very high, severe– of mosquito activity based on local weather conditions for today and the days ahead.
• To know mosquito risk for the area, sign up for weekly forecasts on the OFF.com website or from within the OFF!Cast tool on The Weather Channel properties.
• Learn more about mosquitoes and how to avoid them with educational, integrated content across The Weather Channel app and OFF.com.
• When weather conditions are ripe for heightened mosquito activity, OFF! will share relevant, informative messaging on The Weather Channel digital properties and beyond.

“Mosquito activity is very dependent on weather patterns,” said Tom Mascari, principal entomologist with SC Johnson’s Center for Insect Science. “Checking the weather and local mosquito forecasts for the week can improve people’s ability to prepare themselves to spend time outdoors.”

What the partnership means: New, expanded mosquito forecasting resources

The Weather Company will now host the OFF!Cast mosquito model for users in the U.S., Brazil and Canada to start within The Weather Engine, a platform that combines proprietary weather data, first-party data and other supporting data sources to create multivariate models and analysis based on AI and 30 different weather variables. The result delivers deeper insights on the impact of weather with neighborhood-level precision to harness weather and scale its use across an enterprise.

“As weather patterns change and increasingly impact the health of both people and businesses, innovative teams like the OFF!® brand are using weather intelligence and factoring changing weather conditions into how they help consumers from the start,” said Sheri Bachstein, CEO of The Weather Company. “This partnership is a natural fit, and the inspired innovation by both companies turned a trove of trusted, scalable data into invaluable insights to activate across a business, helping people understand their mosquito risk and plan ahead for mosquito protection.”

Since 2022, OFF!® brand has been helping people and families plan ahead for mosquitoes with OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast.™ This color-coded 7-day forecast of mosquito populations uses the SC Johnson Center for Insect Science’s 65 years of entomology expertise to provide consumers with an accurate view of mosquito activity. Similarly, The Weather Company helps people plan ahead to prepare for weather’s impact on their lives, which all starts with having accurate, reliable, actionable weather data.

The purpose-driven collaboration leverages deep content alignment and organic integration of weather data and insights to help people prepare for mosquito activity and stay safe. Check out the OFF!Cast Mosquito Forecast™ from OFF.com and The Weather Channel app for iOS.

ABOUT OFF! 

OFF! brand is a pioneer in personal insect repellents for over 65 years. As one of SC Johnson’s leading pest control brands, OFF! is on a mission to make life better for the next generation. In addition to providing protection against mosquitoes, OFF! is a part of SC Johnson’s mission to develop mosquito prevention programs and supports scientific studies on mosquitoes that help make a difference in millions of lives. OFF! is proud to create products with proven effectiveness that repel mosquitoes, ticks and biting flies so families can have a trusted line of protection. No matter the activity or time outdoors, there is an OFF! product for every occasion. Ranging in both personal and area repellents, OFF! product offerings include: OFF! Deep Woods®, OFF! Clean Feel, OFF! Kids, OFF! FamilyCare, OFF! Defense, OFF! Botanicals®, OFF! Active, OFF! Backyard or OFF! products should always be used as directed. Effectiveness against pests differs by product and each OFF! product label should be read and followed carefully. Learn more at OFF.com.   

ABOUT SC JOHNSON
Founded in 1886 and headquartered in Racine, Wisconsin USA, SC Johnson believes that a more sustainable, healthier and transparent world that inspires people and creates opportunities isn’t just possible – it’s our responsibility.

A heritage of innovation and bold, transparent decisions is why our high-quality products and iconic brands – including OFF!® Raid®, Glade®, Windex®, Scrubbing Bubbles®, Ziploc®, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day®, method®, Autan®, Baygon®, Mr Muscle®, Duck®, Lysoform® and more – are in homes, schools and businesses in virtually every country worldwide.

As a global, purpose-led company, we are committed to making the world a better place today and for future generations. That means relentlessly bringing our expertise in science, innovation and partnerships to bear on some of the world’s most pressing environmental and health issues like reducing plastic waste and helping to eradicate malaria. Around the world, we use our resources to unlock greater economic and educational opportunities for people and communities where access may be limited, but curiosity and potential are limitless.

See how SC Johnson is a Family Company At Work For a Better World by visiting scjohnson.com or joining us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

About The Weather Company

The Weather Company helps people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. With its deep industry expertise and highly accurate, high-volume weather data combined with advanced technology and AI, The Weather Company provides insights and solutions that harness the power of weather in a scalable, privacy-forward way. The world’s most accurate forecaster, the company serves hundreds of enterprise customers across media, advertising, aviation and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). For more, visit weathercompany.com.  

Many air travelers who have flown in recent years have felt it — turbulence is getting worse. In fact, research backs that up: Recent studies have found that severe clear air turbulence (CAT) has increased 55 percent in the last 40 years, due to a changing climate.

Turbulence can impact not only crew, passenger safety and equipment maintenance, but also route planning including arrival and departure times. While clear air turbulence can be tricky to forecast, access to real-time, accurate and reliable data can help mitigate its impacts on airlines.

As the world’s most accurate forecaster¹ and a provider of industry-leading aviation solutions, The Weather Company offers scalable real-time weather data and insights to help  airlines effectively face this challenge. It also collaborates with trusted partners to help aviation customers better plan around weather and turbulence using the latest innovations in technology, AI and weather science.

The Weather Company has expanded its innovation with turbulence data provider Skypath. Skypath’s crowdsourced turbulence data is now available within The Weather Company Pilotbrief® and Fusion™ products. Integrating needed turbulence observations and live notifications directly into mission critical applications helps pilots, dispatchers and flight planners make decisions to avoid or mitigate impacts of clear air turbulence.

“As clear air turbulence becomes a frequent reality, Skypath offers the aviation industry a data-based ecosystem to avoid severe conditions. We enable dispatchers and pilots to make informed decisions that enhance flight safety,” said Guy Zunder, chief product officer for Skypath. “Working with The Weather Company allows us to continue toward that vision by blending our leading turbulence data with data from the industry-leading weather forecaster.”

Skypath and The Weather Company first collaborated in 2023, announcing the integration of Skypath for dispatchers available within The Weather Company Fusion product. The expanded integration now also includes critical alerting within both Fusion and Pilotbrief, as well as additional vertical profile integration of flights in Fusion.

“As weather grows more impactful due to a changing climate, managing turbulence is expected to remain a challenge for airlines and a continued safety risk,” said Ravi Vanmali, head of aviation for The Weather Company. “Airlines must incorporate the latest, most reliable data and forecasts, combined with industry-best expertise, such as that from my team and providers like Skypath, to manage more effectively around increasingly common and disruptive turbulence.”

In addition to collaborating with Skypath, The Weather Company is also working with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to integrate IATA Turbulence Aware data directly into Fusion and Pilotbrief tools as an additional data layer, available later in 2024.

For more on these enhanced features with Skypath, visit The Weather Company blog.

Even in an extremely divided country, there’s one thing both sides in the U.S. agree on: The Weather Channel is the most trusted media source.

The Trust in Media 2024 poll by YouGov is out and, once again, The Weather Channel is the most trusted news source by Americans. In fact, it has held the top spot in 2022, 2023, and now also 2024.

Read more at YouGov.com: Trust in Media 2024: Which news sources Americans trust

As weather is becoming increasingly more erratic and more impactful, it’s more important now than ever for people to have a trusted provider and partner to help you make better decisions around weather. As the most trusted news source, most trusted brand, and most accurate weather forecaster, The Weather Channel and its parent The Weather Company help turn weather into action.

Combine the Trust of a Local Meteorologist with Advanced Technology to Improve Reach, Engagement and Monetization on CTV and OTT without Added Staff or Resources

ATLANTA – April 11, 2024 – Weather is the main reason viewers tune in to their local news broadcast. In today’s media landscape, weather content also drives eyeballs – and dollars – across digital and streaming platforms. Content creators today face an enormous challenge to stay relevant and engage viewers, who turn to multiple sources for weather information because no single source is effectively delivering all of what they want. Viewers expect accuracy, reliability and relevance with lightning speed, or they’ll quickly move on to the next source.

Recognizing this challenge, The Weather Company today unveils ReelSphere, its newest innovation for the broadcast industry and streaming platforms. For decades, The Weather Company has embraced AI and married it with expert human insight to improve weather forecasts and products. ReelSphere, backed by advanced AI technology, delivers an easy way to help content creators reach and monetize audiences with compelling, customized and impactful weather content 24/7 across connected television (CTV), over the top (OTT), mobile and other digital platforms without additional staff or resources.

“By making weather videos even more timely, local and scalable, The Weather Company is helping improve how millions of consumers experience vital weather content each day,” said Andrew Finlayson, executive vice president of digital and AI strategies at SmithGeiger Group. “They continue to marry their weather expertise with the latest in technology innovation to solve consumer problems, helping weather storytellers of all types ‘super serve’ their consumers. Weather content is increased across all screens, including mobile, web and smart TVs, while improving workflows and controlling costs.”

According to a study by SmithGeiger, while overall satisfaction with weather forecasts is high, only 22% of respondents are completely satisfied with the forecasts and reports they receive, citing a need for increased accuracy, reliability and relevance. Connected TV offers huge potential for weather content. Over 80 percent of U.S. adults 18-64 would consume ReelSphere content at least once a week, and 65% trust an AI voiceover from their favorite meteorologist.¹

“Weather has never been more impactful for audiences or more critical for broadcasters and streaming providers, and we are committed to helping our clients become a one-stop-shop of weather information for their viewers,” said Joe Fiveash, head of enterprise media and new verticals at The Weather Company. “Our products use AI and cloud technology to solve urgent challenges like resource shortages and audience growth by leveraging remote workflows and resources across an enterprise to create scalable content for multiple platforms such as CTV, which audiences demand.”

How the tech works to create unique on-air weather stories

An effective combination of human and machine, ReelSphere increases flexibility by leveraging AI responsibly to deliver relevant content – a curated video “reel” created by local meteorologists – that can be tweaked as needed. Content generates automatically with location-specific graphics that appear and change based on the time of day, day of the week, and forecasted weather.

For example, forecasted precipitation levels will show up when rain is expected, or lifestyle content such as a beach forecast will be added before the weekend. AI technology provides captioning and an audio overlay for each video, using either a generic voice or that of trusted local on-air talent. For added expertise and context, meteorologists can further edit and enhance videos by integrating any of the rich graphical content they’ve already created within Max, a leading weather visualization tool from The Weather Company.

See a demo video below of ReelSphere in action, showing resulting video output.

ReelSphere leverages the power of artificial intelligence in an easy-to-use tool that helps content creators offer a dynamic, on-demand, valuable weather viewing experience that:

• Expands storytelling to streaming audiences: Create smart, snackable forecasts, weather alerts and lifestyle weather videos on demand and at scale.
• Increases audience engagement: ReelSphere’s hyper-fast video creation engine quickly generates and serves adaptive, highly customized curated CTV content that audiences crave.
• Shares critical severe weather news: Real-time weather reports customized by location are delivered with the understanding and trust of a local meteorologist.
• Improves content production efficiency: Meet the increasing demand for personalized weather videos across CTV and OTT without additional resources.
• Monetizes OTT content with relevance: Integrate sponsor content for advertisers who have expressed interest in this content, driving additional revenue. Stations can also use their first-party data to better target and deliver videos.

Research shows that audiences first expect accuracy, reliability and relevance from weather presentations. As the world’s most accurate weather forecaster,² The Weather Company combines 100 forecast models, including its own GRAF system, and then uses a proprietary mix of AI and human expertise to create the freshest, best possible forecast for any time and location requested, on demand. No other provider comes close to the personalized weather forecast and insights The Weather Company solutions deliver.

A market leader in broadcast weather solutions, The Weather Company will be showcasing ReelSphere at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) show in Las Vegas at South Hall Lower booth #SL3053. See a demo video above of resulting video output from ReelSphere in action. For more, visit weathercompany.com/media.

About The Weather Company
The Weather Company helps people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. With its deep industry expertise and highly accurate, high-volume weather data combined with advanced technology and AI, The Weather Company provides insights and solutions that harness the power of weather in a scalable, privacy-forward way. The world’s most accurate forecaster, the company serves hundreds of enterprise customers across media, advertising, aviation and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). For more, visit weathercompany.com.  

The Weather Kids campaign, created in partnership with the World Meteorological Organization and The Weather Channel, calls for urgent climate action for the next generations.

New York – March 21, 2024 – Global television audiences who tune in for their local weather reports today are in for a surprise – a special forecast from the year 2050. While the format is familiar, the forecasts – anchored by children – are not. These young TV meteorologists joined the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for its new Weather Kids campaign, created in partnership with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and The Weather Channel, the flagship consumer brand of The Weather Company. Supported by global celebrities and UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, including Oscar-winning Malaysian actor Michelle Yeoh, American actor Connie Britton and Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, the campaign is part of UNDP’s efforts to boost awareness on the impacts of climate change and to mobilize people around the world to take meaningful climate action for future generations.

Watch the 2050 forecast delivered by Weather Kids:

The segment warns viewers that rising temperatures will continue to bring more of the catastrophic climate change impacts that we are currently experiencing to people and the global economy. These include a projected impact on 94% of the world’s children, threats to food security and a potential rise in taxpayers’ bills globally of trillions of US Dollars. “Everything is crazy. Schools are closed because it’s too hot. Wildfires are burning whole towns. And floods are making everything wet and gross,” announces one young presenter.

The forecast ends with a powerful plea from the children: “It’s not just a weather report to us. It is our future.” Viewers are encouraged to sign a pledge to act by making financial decisions that align with sustainability and educating themselves on climate solutions and global climate action. UNDP’s new video series Climate Action Explained, narrated by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, which complements the campaign, highlights some of the concrete solutions that are already happening.

“The Weather Kids add a powerful voice to alert us to a future that will certainly materialize if we do not take meaningful climate action today,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator. “Continued inertia on climate change will lead to an increasingly uninhabitable planet for the ‘kids of today’ and future generations. We can only course-correct if we move at speed and scale now. That includes decarbonizing our economies and advancing access to affordable, clean energy for all; protecting and restoring our natural world; and empowering communities to have their say in their countries’ climate pledges.”

The Weather Kids campaign is part of UNDP’s efforts to inspire public conversation and mobilize action on climate change on the road to the COP30 climate negotiations to be held in Brazil 2025. COP30 will mark the ten-year anniversary of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement and is a critical opportunity to get the world on a path aligned with limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as countries submit a new round of climate actions and goals they plan to undertake. These plans – known as ‘Nationally Determined Contributions’ (NDCs) – are at the very heart of the global fight against climate change.

Weather Kids is underpinned by UNDP’s extensive work on climate change and climate action. The newly established UNDP Climate Hub delivers the UN System’s largest portfolio of support on climate action in nearly 150 countries. UNDP’s flagship Climate Promise initiative has supported action to tackle global warming by working with 85% of the world’s developing countries on their NDC submissions.

Designed to emulate weather reports television viewers see every day, the projected forecasts were developed using data from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and UNDP’s Human Climate Horizons data platform.

The Weather Kids will air on news channels in more than 80 countries around the world.

This global reach was made possible by a broad coalition of partners, many of whom donated their time and services for this common cause. In addition to our core partners the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and The Weather Channel, the flagship consumer brand of The Weather Company, UNDP would like to thank: Activista; Earth X; Pvblic Foundation, The-Artery, ICCO – the International Communications Consultancy Organization – and SAWA, the Global Cinema Advertising Association and its network of members. In amplifying the campaign’s global reach, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) also stands as a strategic partner, with several EBU Members actively participating in Weather Kids. Additionally, Eurovision News is supporting the campaign by aiding in the distribution of its content to broadcasters around the world.

Visit the campaign website at www.weatherkids.org

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Read more about the campaign on weather.com: Forecast 2050: “Weather Kids” Say There’s Still Time

Notes to Editors and Broadcasters

Broadcast footage: the Weather Kids campaign video, related interviews and media materials can be downloaded here

Additional Quotes   

Michelle Yeoh, actor and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador: “Climate change isn’t just a distant threat—it’s a present-day reality that’s devastating communities worldwide. From my experiences aiding earthquake relief efforts to witnessing the aftermath of natural disasters exacerbated by climate change, I’ve seen the urgent need for action. It’s vital that we work together to limit warming to 1.5°C, which is why I’m so excited about UNDP’s Weather Kids campaign. While their weather reports are fictional for now, it is crucial for us to take meaningful action to protect the planet for our children and future generations and mitigate the effects of the current climate crisis. I encourage everyone to sign the climate action pledge. Let’s stand together, empower vulnerable communities, and drive meaningful change for our planet’s future.”

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, actor and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador: “Climate change is the defining challenge of our time, and I refuse to stand idly by. Through my work with UNDP and projects like ‘An Optimist’s Guide to the Planet,’ I’ve witnessed firsthand the resilience of communities combating environmental threats. It’s time to harness our collective power and protect our planet for generations to come. Our children will be our future weather reporters, climate journalists, emergency workers and medical professionals. UNDP’s Weather Kids campaign shows us the faces of those who will be impacted the most by our climate actions. Solutions already exist that can help us to cut emissions in more than half by 2030, but it’s time to act. Sign the pledge and take meaningful action.”

Connie Britton, actor and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador: These Weather Kids know what’s up! As most of us know we are in the midst of a climate crisis. So let’s join UNDP’s Weather Kids to increase awareness of the impacts of climate change and energize people around the world to take meaningful and urgent climate action. Because our Weather Kids know there’s a future that they and all kids will have to face if our society doesn’t shift, but they also know that together we can harness our collective strength and lead the charge towards a greener, more equitable future!”

Celeste Saulo, Secretary General, WMO: “The climate crisis is THE defining challenge that humanity faces and is closely intertwined with the inequality crisis. The year 2023 was by far the hottest on record, as were the last 9 years. Extreme weather events are increasing, and have huge socio-economic impacts – heatwaves, floods, droughts, wildfires and intense tropical cyclones. Ocean heat and sea level rise are accelerating. Sea ice is melting, and we risk losing glaciers which are so vital for our precious water supplies and ecosystems. Meteorological and hydrological services and scientists worldwide are sounding the Red Alert and are scaling up efforts to deal with the challenge. Our decisions today will shape the future of many generations to come. This campaign is a call to urgent action for the sake of people and the planet.”

Randi Stipes, Chief Marketing Officer for The Weather Company: “At The Weather Company, we are fiercely committed to helping people understand what weather means for them and ultimately to make smarter, more informed decisions – whether that’s planning for the week ahead or leaving our planet in a better place for the next generation. We’re honored to support this UNDP campaign with the WMO to help kids forecast a brighter future.”

Liz Corbin, Deputy Media Director, Head of News, European Broadcasting Union: “As a strategic partner of the Weather Kids campaign, we’re proud to support our Members’ efforts to provide their audiences with the facts about climate change. By participating in this initiative, we are leveraging the power of Public Service Media to raise awareness of the risks and solutions, through imaginative and engaging content.”

Media contacts:
for more information on the campaign or to request an interview, please contact:

In the U.S.: [email protected]        I    +1 646 673 6350
                      [email protected]   I   +1 917 288 7900
In Geneva:  [email protected]                  I   +41 79 934 11 17

About UNDP
UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and the planet. Learn more at undp.org or follow at @UNDP.

About WMO
WMO is the United Nations system’s authoritative voice on the state and behaviour of the Earth’s atmosphere, its interaction with the land and oceans, the weather and climate it produces and the resulting distribution of water resources.

About The Weather Company
A global leader in weather data, forecasting and insights, The Weather Company provides scalable, proven solutions to help people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. The world’s most accurate forecaster serves the media, advertising, aviation industries and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). Visit weathercompany.com.

About EBU
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is the world’s leading alliance of public service media (PSM). We have 112 member organizations in 56 countries and have an additional 30 Associates in Asia, Africa, Australasia and the Americas. Our Members operate nearly 2,000 television, radio and online channels and services, and offer a wealth of content across other platforms. Together we reach an audience of more than one billion people around the world, broadcasting in 153 languages. We operate Eurovision and Euroradio services. To find out more about the EBU, please go to https://www.ebu.ch/about

Efforts will aim to produce more accurate forecasts and help make the world more resilient in the face of a changing climate

ATLANTA – March 18, 2024 – In an effort to mitigate disruptions from future weather- and climate-related events, The Weather Company today announced an expanded collaboration with NVIDIA in the field of weather forecasting. Leveraging both companies’ deep expertise and advanced science and technology capabilities, this collaboration will progress artificial intelligence-based weather prediction and provide improved simulation using real weather data from the world’s most accurate weather forecaster¹ to better visualize weather’s potential impacts on businesses, personal safety and society.

“Working to build future climate resilience as a society starts with having accurate, reliable, actionable weather data,” said Sheri Bachstein, CEO of The Weather Company. “By combining our leading weather data together with NVIDIA’s computing advancements, we plan to deliver forecasts from the first AI-based high-resolution numerical weather model as well as to improve digital twin climate scenarios for a more realistic view down to the scale of a thunderstorm.”

NVIDIA computing technology will help power The Weather Company’s data processing, one of the largest collections of global weather data in the world, and The Weather Company data and insights will help expand NVIDIA’s Earth-2 open digital twin platform, which strives to accelerate climate and weather predictions using interactive, high-resolution simulation. A digital twin is a virtual replica of a real-world physical asset to test and monitor changes, oversee performance and accelerate decision making.

“The impacts of extreme climate events are costing countries hundreds of billions of dollars each year,” said Dion Harris, Head of Data Center Product Marketing at NVIDIA. “We’re working with The Weather Company and other industry leaders to take advantage of accelerated computing and AI to make dramatic improvements in the accuracy of climate change predictions.”

The Weather Company has worked with NVIDIA for years on GPU acceleration of its groundbreaking high-resolution weather forecasting system GRAF, a physics-based, rapidly updating model that predicts more realistic, small-scale detail than conventional global models. Proprietary to The Weather Company and in collaboration with the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), GRAF is enabled by NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) to accelerate the computing power needed to process highly dynamic and complex weather data.

Building on previous work, the expanded collaboration will focus on two main areas:

The first-ever AI-based weather model focused on high-resolution forecasting

The Weather Company is working with NVIDIA to create a first-of-its-kind kilometer-scale, AI-based numerical weather prediction model. The model will initially generate products for the U.S. and Europe and, with continued collaboration, eventually cover the entire globe. AI-powered forecasts and insights have the potential to fuel products that have real-world applications for businesses, consumers and society at large.

NVIDIA Earth-2 APIs already include AI-based weather models, although none currently focus on high-resolution, granular forecasts. The Weather Company’s model will leverage its GRAF system to fill this gap, providing training data to inform the AI model and applying forecasting in a more energy-efficient, economical way.

AI models are only as good as the data and inputs that train them. As severe weather events grow in intensity amid a changing climate, current AI models simply don’t have the historical storm-scale data to predict some of the never-before-seen weather extremes that are now more common, such as record-breaking heat, devastating flooding and wildfires, and rapidly intensifying hurricanes. This collaboration aims to generate many years of retrospective GRAF forecasts to help develop AI techniques capable of emulating and understanding the physics of storm-scale weather.

The only provider of actual weather data for use within synthetic environments

A view of the actual weather in Boston, as visualized within Weatherverse Sim. The Weather Company’s Weatherverse capabilities will be made accessible on NVIDIA Omniverse.

As weather grows more disruptive, it’s increasingly clear that operational planning requires reliable weather intelligence. While other current simulations and digital twins use synthetic weather, The Weather Company’s Weatherverse™ solutions deliver real weather, based upon historical, current and forecasted datasets, into planning and simulation environments at a global scale. This results in better informed insights, more confident decision making and improved outcomes where weather is a contributing influencer.

The Weather Company’s Weatherverse capabilities will be made accessible on NVIDIA Omniverse,™ the platform for connecting and developing OpenUSD applications. This access enables customers building digital twins to better visualize and understand the actual effects of weather conditions in an interactive and intuitive manner.

Looking forward, The Weather Company will also explore adopting NVIDIA score-based generative AI within its Weatherverse solutions, its new high-resolution weather modeling products, and its Weather Engine™ solution that helps fuel business insights through weather intelligence.

Defense industry leaders such as BAE Systems and SimCentric Technologies are actively exploring how best to leverage Weatherverse solutions to help redefine military planning, training and simulation outcomes. Additionally, users of the Unreal Engine for visual rendering can take advantage of Weatherverse Sim, a plugin via API to visualize The Weather Company’s data for easier integration and deployment.

The Weather Company
The Weather Company helps people and businesses around the world make more informed decisions and take action in the face of weather. With its deep industry expertise and highly accurate, high-volume weather data combined with advanced technology and AI, The Weather Company provides insights and solutions that harness the power of weather in a scalable, privacy-forward way. The world’s most accurate forecaster, the company serves hundreds of enterprise customers across media, advertising, aviation and more, and is trusted by hundreds of millions of monthly active users via digital properties from The Weather Channel (weather.com) and Weather Underground (wunderground.com). For more, visit weathercompany.com.