Trusted and Believed According to a March 2017 survey, 59% of respondents said they accessed local news “somewhat or very often” on TV. Social media was a distant second, at 38%; followed closely by print media and local radio stations, at 36% each. A 2016 Pew Research Center study revealed that 46% of survey participants said they “often” watch local TV news, and another 27% “sometimes.” The average rating (on a scale of 1 to 10) of more than 2,400 TV viewers participating in a May 2017 survey for “believe local news anchors and reporters” was 7.7.

Early Morning News’ Mojo Nielsen research has found that local early morning TV news attracts considerably larger audiences in many markets than Fox and Friends, Morning Joe, New Day, Good Morning, America, Today and CBS This Morning. For example, WGN Morning News (Chicago) attracted an average of 127,770 local viewers from 5 am to 8 am during the February 2017 “sweeps.” Fox and Friends was a distant second, with 33,520 viewers. The same was true in New York, where WABC had 241,630 total viewers, compared to CNN’s 47,120; and KTLA in Los Angeles had 152,100 viewers, compared to Fox News’ 39,180.

Identifying Today’s News Consumer According to a 2016 Pew Research Center report, 57% of Americans “often” accessed news on TV, compared to 38%, online; 25%, radio; and 20%, newspaper. Of those 57%, local TV has the largest share, or 46%; followed by cable, 31%, and network, 30%. The challenge for all TV news outlets is that the largest audience who obtain their news from TV are 50 years of age or older. Of those who preferred to “watch” their news, 80% did so on TV, while 59% of those who preferred to “read” their news did so online.

Younger Adults Turn to Stations’ Websites With young adults preferring to obtain their news online, it may be comforting to local TV stations that they visited stations’ Website in much greater numbers than watching the early evening news – at least in Cincinnati. Not surprisingly, the weekly cume indices for early evening news in Cincinnati among adults 18–34 during winter 2017 were well below 100: WLWT (NBC) had the highest index, at 60, and WKRC (CBS) and WCPO (ABC), the lowest, at 36 each. The indices were much higher, however, for adults 18–34 who visited the stations’ Website: WLWT, 112; WXIX (Fox), 101; WCPO, 96; and WKRC, 90.

Active Citizens Are the Largest Group of Local TV News Viewers An interesting 2016 study from Pew Research Center found that 63% of local citizens who considered themselves “highly attached” to their community obtained community news from local TV news. Local TV news was also first among those citizens who always vote as well as those who don’t always vote, at 63% and 46%, respectively. It’s important to understand that, as with overall local TV news viewership, adults 50–64 and 65+ consider themselves more attached to their community than younger adults, and this is also true based on their voting habits.

Young, Affluent News Consumers The Media Audit’s Winter 2017 Dayton, OH survey revealed that adults 18–44 in the $100K–$150K income bracket had considerably higher indices than adults 18–44 with a $150K income for weekly cume viewership of late local TV news. Another data search indicated that TV stations’ Website were the place to target adults 18–44 with a $150K+ income, as their indices during the past month were two to three times greater than watching late local TV news. Advertisers who are specifically targeting younger, affluent adults may find it advantageous (in Dayton, at least) to buy late night local TV news and the stations’ Website to reach both higher-income brackets.

Local TV News Viewership and Major Consumer Purchases Using Denver as an example, The Media Audit’s Winter 2017 survey of that market clearly showed that KUSA (NBC) was where the vast majority of adults 18+ was watching early evening news. An obvious conclusion among advertisers selling high-ticket consumer products is to buy KUSA only, but that could be a mistake for advertisers selling specific high-ticket products. For example, adults 18+ planning to buy new furniture during the next year indexed much higher for weekly cume of late news on KMGH (ABC) and KDVR (Fox) had a higher index than KUSA for adults 18+ planning to buy a major household appliance.

Accessing News Is No Longer a Static Activity Although a higher percentage of younger adults obtain news on their mobile devices, adults 50–64 and 65+ had the largest increases from 2013 to 2017. Pew Research Center reported a similar trend among US adults with lower incomes, with those with an income less than $30K having increased their access of news on a mobile device by 42 percentage points during the same period. A March 2017 study found that teens, or the youngest cohort of Generation Z, obtained their news “yesterday” on TV, but only 17% cite TV as their preferred choice.

Succeeding in the Digital Environment To improve engagement with viewers, especially younger viewers, TV news departments and on-air personalities should communicate with digital natives and their entire audience with real-time content during actual broadcasts. During summer 2016, Sinclair Broadcast Group launched Circa, a digital platform targeting Millennials with fast-paced original video content and reformatting of video reports from TV newscasts of SBG’s local stations. Another trend or opportunity for local TV news departments is to promote mobile journalism among Millennials and Gen Zers, welcoming digital natives’ submission of on-the-spot videos of breaking-news events.