While some viewing is shifting from traditional television to streaming, a new study from TVB shows that local TV news continue to record solid viewership numbers, delivering audiences that are 8 to 12 times larger than the programs viewed on the six major SVOD platforms.
“In response to industry reports about growing streaming viewership, TVB did an analysis comparing local broadcast TV news audiences in five geographically diverse LPM (Local People Meter) markets and streaming service viewing in those same markets. The analysis included 4.942 programs on six SVOD services (Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+, and HBO Max) and up to 79 local news programs in each of the five markets,” explained Hadassa Gerber, Chief Research Officer at 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,” Gerber continued.
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 noted. Therefore, the company randomly selected the date of February 15, 2023, and five geographically diverse LPM markets available in Nielsen’s national system. The impressions cited are for adults 18+.
TVB included 4.942 programs on those six SVOD services and compared it to the news programs in each market, which had only 58-79 programs (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.
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