Study: Local US TV news 10x larger audience than SVoD
June 7, 2023
TVB, the trade association of America’s local broadcast television industry, has published an analysis regarding local TV news and subscription streaming audiences.
“In response to industry reports about growing streaming viewership, TVB did an analysis comparing local broadcast TV news audiences in five geographically diverse LPM markets and streaming service viewing in those same markets. The analysis included 4,942 programmes on six SVoD services (Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max) and up to 79 local news programmes in each of the five markets,” said Hadassa Gerber, Chief Research Officer, TVB.
“In each market, local broadcast TV news had 8-12 times more adult 18+ viewers than the streaming platforms combined, Due to measurement reporting limitations, the streaming audiences included both ad-supported and ad-free subscribers. Ad-supported platforms are what marketers need to reach consumers, so it is important to note that if the ad-supported streaming audiences could be culled from the total streaming audience numbers, local broadcast TV news audiences would surpass subscription streaming by even greater than 8-12 times margins.”
About the analysis:
Industry numbers, such as the Nielsen Gauge report, show that streaming has a higher portion of the viewership pie than linear platforms. It should be noted that the Gauge report includes all streamers, even those that advertisers cannot reach because they stream without ads. Even so, TVB said it wanted to get a better idea of the size and scale of these streaming viewers, and how they compare to local broadcast television, specifically, local broadcast news.
TVB did an analysis comparing one-day viewing of local broadcast news to streaming services, which included Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max. Because of the different methodologies that Nielsen uses to accumulate SVoD audiences and linear audiences, the only way to have an apples-to-apples comparison is to look at one day of SVoD audiences versus the same one day of linear broadcast TV audiences. TVB randomly selected the date of February 15th, 2023 and five geographically diverse LPM markets available in Nielsen’s national system. The impressions cited below are for adults 18+.
It should be noted that TVB included 4,942 programmes on those six SVoD services and compared it to the news programmes in each market which had only 58-79 program,es (depending on the market). Still, local news in each of the five markets had 8-12 times the daily impressions than the streaming platforms combined. And that includes those viewing with and without ads.
Key takeaways from each market:
- New York: 59 local broadcast news programs totalled 6,610,000 A18+, while 4,942 programmes on the streaming services reached just 718,000.
- Los Angeles: 79 local broadcast news programmes totalled 4,979,000 A18+, while 4,942 programmes on the streaming services reached just 663,000.
- Chicago: 64 local broadcast news programmes totalled 3,860,000 A18+, while 4,942 programmes on the streaming services reached just 329,000.
- Dallas: 60 local broadcast news programs totalled 3,023,000 A18+, while 4,942 programmes on the streaming services reached just 310,000.
- Atlanta: 58 local broadcast news programmes totalled 2,168,000 A18+, while 4,942 programmes on the streaming services reached just 229,000.