Report updated May 23, 2026
28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU)
For residents of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania seeking localized news, weather forecasts, and regional sports coverage.
28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU) is a challenged news app that is completely free. With a 4.6/5 rating from 2.6K reviews, it faces significant user friction. Users particularly appreciate local news and weather coverage provides essential daily information for regional residents, though frequent application crashes and black screens prevent access to live news content remains a common concern.
What is 28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU)?
28/22 News is a local broadcast news application for Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania, providing live streams, weather radar, and regional alerts on iOS and Android.
Users hire this app for hyper-local weather and news updates that national aggregators lack, but the current technical instability forces them to seek more reliable alternatives.
Current Momentum
v505.0 · 1mo ago
Active- Ships general bug fixes only.
- Maintains stable feature set.
Active Nemesis
WFAA - News from North Texas
By Tegna
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
NewsNo ranking data
Rating Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
What Are The Key Features?
Real-time broadcast of WBRE-TV and WYOU-TV news segments within the mobile interface
Visual weather tracking tool for Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania regions
On-demand access to in-depth investigative reports produced by the local newsroom
How much does it cost?
- Free access to all news, weather, and streaming content
Ad-supported model relies on high-frequency local engagement to monetize through display and video ad inventory.
Who Built It?
Nexstar Broadcasting
Delivering hyper-local news, weather, and sports updates to US regional markets through a network of station-branded mobile utilities.
Portfolio
13
Apps
What other apps does Nexstar Broadcasting make?
Explore the full Nexstar Broadcasting report
Portfolio breakdown, audience, momentum, and every app published by Nexstar Broadcasting.
What do users think recently?
High confidence · Latest 60 of 78 total reviews analyzed · Based on 78 reviews. Signal may be noisy.
How did the latest release land?
What is the recent mood?
Recent user voice shows a frustrated sentiment. Users appreciate local news and weather coverage provides essential daily information for regional residents, but report frequent application crashes and black screens prevent access to live news content.
What Users Love
What Frustrates Users
What Users Want
View the full user-sentiment analysis
Mood gauge, ratings & review-volume history, every praise / complaint / request, and sentiment over time.
What is the competitive landscape for 28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU)?
How's The News Market?
Market outlook for this category
Available very soon
Which niche is 28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU) in?
to stay informed on local news and weather
Explore the full Sports News Aggregators niche
Every app in this space — 148 tracked, the niche's live rankings, and Marlvel's editorial take on the job-to-be-done.
The rivals identified
Nemeses(1)
As a fellow Nexstar/Tegna-style local broadcast affiliate app, it represents the gold standard for local news mobile engagement.
Differentiators
- Maintains a high-frequency release cadence of six updates in six months to ensure platform stability.
- Leverages a massive, localized user base that creates a significant barrier to entry for smaller regional apps.
Contenders(2)
Provides a robust alternative for hyper-local news delivery that mirrors the target's core value proposition.
Differentiators
- Focuses on curated local storytelling rather than just broadcast re-runs, differentiating the user experience.
- Maintains consistent feature parity with major network apps through a steady six-month update cycle.
Sets the benchmark for local news app feature parity and consistent platform maintenance within the broadcast news category.
Differentiators
- Aggressive update schedule with ten releases in six months ensures rapid adaptation to OS-level changes.
- Deep integration with major network infrastructure provides a level of content reliability smaller local apps lack.
Same space(3)
Represents the premium subscription-based model for news consumption, contrasting with the target's free ad-supported model.
Differentiators
- Focuses on long-form investigative journalism and deep analysis rather than the target's daily broadcast headlines.
- High-frequency update cadence ensures a polished, premium UX that justifies a subscription-based monetization strategy.
Dominates the national news category, serving as the primary alternative for users seeking breaking news alerts.
Differentiators
- Offers a comprehensive live-streaming infrastructure that provides a superior experience for breaking news events.
- Global newsroom resources allow for a depth of coverage that local broadcast apps cannot replicate.
Aggregates local news at a scale that threatens the relevance of individual station-branded applications.
Differentiators
- Utilizes algorithmic content aggregation to provide a personalized local news feed that exceeds manual curation.
- High-velocity development cycle with 26 releases in six months enables rapid testing of new engagement features.
New entrants(1)
Demonstrates the power of niche-specific utility apps to capture high engagement through specialized real-time data.
Differentiators
- Integrates real-time geospatial mapping for emergency alerts, providing utility beyond standard news reporting.
- High-velocity release cadence of 20 updates in six months shows rapid iteration based on user feedback.
Compare 28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU) against every rival
All rivals in one side-by-side table — identity, store metrics, ratings & sentiment, and strategic intel — plus a head-to-head page for each.
The outtake for 28/22 News (WBRE/WYOU)
Strengths to defend, gaps to attack
Core Strengths
- Investigative I-Team content provides regional brand authority
- Interactive radar drives high-utility daily engagement
Critical Frictions
- Frequent application crashes post-update
- Aggressive ad density degrades user experience
- Restrictive ISP-gating limits content access
Growth Levers
- Expand content access beyond ISP-gating to capture traveling regional users
- Integrate geospatial emergency alerts to increase utility
Market Threats
- NewsBreak's algorithmic aggregation model threatens individual station relevance
- Persistent technical instability drives users to more reliable national news alternatives
What are the next best moves?
Ship stability fixes in the next release because crash reports are the #1 churn driver → restore baseline retention.
Sentiment analysis identifies frequent crashes and black screens as the primary friction point for users.
Trade-off: Push the planned UI redesign to Q4 — stability is the immediate retention priority.
Audit ISP-gating logic because user complaints cite restricted access as a primary frustration → increase addressable user base.
Reviews indicate users are blocked from live content based on their internet service provider.
Trade-off: Pause the ad-network integration project — expanding user access has higher immediate impact on sentiment.
A counter-intuitive read
The app's biggest risk is not the competition from national news aggregators, but its own technical instability, which is actively training loyal local users to seek information elsewhere.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- Algorithmic personalized news feed (available in NewsBreak but absent here)
- Geospatial emergency mapping (available in Watch Duty but absent here)
Key Takeaways
The app holds a loyal regional base through essential weather and local news, but persistent technical instability and restrictive access policies are eroding that foundation, so the PM must prioritize stability and access over new features to prevent further churn.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
The local news app market is consolidating around high-stability, algorithmically-driven platforms, leaving station-branded apps vulnerable if they fail to maintain basic technical performance. 28/22 News is currently exposed because its maintenance-mode update cadence cannot keep pace with the stability expectations of a modern mobile user base.
Persistent application crashes post-update erode the daily active habit, which compounds the rating drag already visible on Android.
Restrictive ISP-gating policies prevent regional users from accessing live content, accelerating churn pressure toward broader news aggregators.