Local TV News Is the Hot Media Ad Property
TV, like most other media, is experiencing significant changes to serve 21st-century media consumers. Local TV news must be doing a good job because a new Spectrum News/Morning Consult poll found 87% of respondents has a positive attitude toward local news and 83% said they trusted it the most.
These results should certainly be a prime selling point in your ad presentations. The strength of local TV news becomes the anchor for an ad schedule that includes other programs news viewers also watch.
Of all local news outlets, almost half (48%) considered TV the top source for local news and 62% said they watched it every day, compared to 55% who said they watch national news daily. Driving those poll results was viewers’ familiarity with local TV news teams.
Slightly more than three-quarters (77%) said because local TV news anchors and reporters live in the community, they have more interest in sharing important stories. Even more (82%) of the surveyed Americans said they trust those local TV reporters. Interestingly, both a majority of Democrats and Republicans expressed in trust local TV news, or 91% and 79%, respectively.
Survey respondents didn’t just watch local TV news or found the anchors and reporters trustworthy, but 72% think what they report helps to create a better community and 63% think they excel at uncovering questionable business practices and compelling local government to explain its decisions and actions.
Among other sources of local news, only news apps, which are often a platform of the local newspaper, scored well as the prime source of news at 40%. With just 19% of survey respondents saying they read a printed local newspaper daily and 15% a printed national newspaper, those news apps are likely generating most of the audience for those newspapers.
Considering how much misinformation is peddled on social media, it isn’t surprising just 17% of Americans access it for news. Somewhat surprisingly, Democrats and Republicans trusted social media the most at 50% and 44%, respectively.
Many daily and weekly local newspapers have been pivoting to the hyperlocal news concept, focusing more attention on local issues and often underreported communities. In retrospect, local TV news has always been hyperlocal, making it the smart first choice for local advertisers.
