Strategic investment and two-market rollout in Salt Lake City and Austin bring visual commerce and end-to-end attribution to broadcast, letting advertisers connect a moment on screen to a measurable customer journey.

HOUSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun. 17, 2026-- IRCODE, a computer vision and AI company that makes television interactive and shoppable in real time, today announced that Sinclair, a diversified media company and a leader in local news, sports, and broadcasting, has made a strategic investment in IRCODE. Alongside the investment, Sinclair will roll out IRCODE-powered interactive television through IRCODE Lens, a 24/7 real-time interactive channel that lets viewers engage directly with what they see on screen to buy, win, connect, and explore, across its stations in Salt Lake City and Austin beginning in July, with additional markets to follow through the year. This will allow the stations to make interactive television a native capability inside its own platforms, giving brands and audiences a direct path to the products and experiences on screen.

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Mock User Experience

At the center of the partnership is IRCODE Lens, a white-label engagement and attribution layer that turns any piece of content or advertising into a measurable consumer touchpoint. IRCODE Lens runs entirely inside the broadcaster's existing apps, so every engagement and conversion stays first-party and owned by the station and advertiser.

“Television has always delivered the audience. What it could not deliver was the proof of what happened next. IRCODE changes that,” said Matty Beckerman, CEO of IRCODE. “We give broadcasters and their advertisers the infrastructure to make every moment on screen interactive, measurable, and connected to a real outcome. At Sinclair's scale, this is a new foundation for how television drives business results and how viewers connect with what they watch.”

IRCODE's real-time image recognition works like Shazam for images. It identifies what is on screen instantly, without QR codes, and connects the viewer to relevant content and commerce in the moment. The same technology already operates across 52 countries and recognizes broadcast and on-screen content in real time at frame-level accuracy, format agnostic and built to create a frictionless customer journey from ads, to premium content, live sports and news.

“Television remains one of the most powerful mediums for reaching audiences at scale, but advertisers increasingly expect the same measurement, attribution, and performance insights they receive from digital platforms,” said JR McCabe, Chief Business Officer, Sinclair. “Our investment in IRCODE represents an important step in bringing those capabilities to broadcast television. By combining the reach, trust, and impact of local media with interactive technology and real-time attribution, we can create more meaningful experiences for viewers while delivering measurable results for our advertising partners.”

Viewers in the launch markets of Salt Lake City or Austin open their Sinclair station app, point their phone at the TV screen and move directly from what they are watching to the product or experience behind it. Because the interaction happens inside the station’s own app, the audience is identified and opted in, and every step of the journey, from first scan to conversion, is captured as first-party data.

For brands, interactive television closes the distance between awareness and action. An advertiser running a spot in Salt Lake City or Austin can now measure who engaged, what they did next, and whether it led to a purchase, with the same precision they expect from a digital campaign. Engagement, conversion, and return on investment become visible at the campaign level, and the data that proves it stays first-party to the ecosystem.

For viewers, the experience adds a path to act without interrupting the show. The product on screen, the local offer, the sponsor's promotion, each becomes something a viewer can reach in a single gesture, on the device already in their hand.

“Using their cell phone cameras and our app, viewers can participate in real time polls, comment on local news, and interact with our advertisers. IRCODE is a powerful technology that provides an easy-to-use interactive experience that adds enormous value to our content. Now, we can plan on integrating user experience into our traditional over the air broadcasts,” said Del Parks, President of Technology, Sinclair.

The rollout is designed to extend across Sinclair's portfolio over time, including sports properties where live engagement and real-time commerce are especially powerful. By embedding interactive television across both national and local programming, Sinclair positions its advertisers at the front of the shift toward performance-driven television.

For more information about IRCODE, visit ircode.com.

About IRCODE

IRCODE is a computer vision and AI company that transforms live broadcasts, on-screen content, and advertising into interactive, shoppable, measurable consumer touchpoints. It enables networks and local stations to turn TV content into real-time engagement and end-to-end attribution without changing the viewing experience. Its white-label infrastructure keeps all data inside the broadcaster's ecosystem, giving media companies and advertisers the visual commerce and performance measurement they need to compete in a performance-driven television landscape. Learn more at ircode.com.

About Sinclair, Inc.

Sinclair, Inc. (Nasdaq: SBGI) is a diversified media company and a leading provider of local news and sports. The Company owns, operates and/or provides services to 177 television stations in 79 markets affiliated with all major broadcast networks; owns Tennis Channel, the premium destination for tennis enthusiasts; and multicast networks CHARGE!, Comet, ROAR and The Nest. Sinclair’s AMP Media produces a growing portfolio of digital content and original podcasts. Additional information about Sinclair can be found at www.sbgi.net.

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Media Contacts

I RCODE:
Brittany Hershkowitz
CMO
bh@ircode.com

Sinclair: Jessica Bellucci jbellucci-c@sbgtv.com

Source: IRCODE