Sell Local News!
Many reliable research sources and Media Group Online have reported on how important news has been for Americans during the pandemic. A late-April 2020 survey from Gallup/Knight Foundation found surveyed adults were less attentive to international, national and local news than a similar March 2020 survey. “News overload” could certainly be a factor.
The good news for you, your station and its advertisers is viewers’ attentiveness to local news is still strong. April’s 32% share did decline from March’s 44%; however, 32% is significantly more than 25% for March 2018 and 23% from a December 2019 survey.
Attentiveness to national news decreased 10 points from March’s 56% to April’s 46%, but 47% according to the fall 2019 survey. International news attentiveness decreased the least, or 4 points, from 32% for March to 19% for April. By comparison, the July 2019 share for international news was 22%.
Another important insight from the Gallup/Knight Foundation survey is how well adults rated news coverage from local and national news sources. A majority, or 55%, of adults said “TV stations in your local area” had either done an excellent (14%) or good (41%) job.
National newspapers was first in the “excellent” category at 20% and national network news second at 15%. They were the only news sources with better excellent ratings than local TV stations. They had the best good rating, or 41% of survey respondents, with newspapers in your local area 38% and news radio station in your area 36%.
Maybe, a more compelling comparison is the percentages of adults who rated these news sources as “terrible.” The booby prize goes to national network news at 15%, followed by national newspapers 13% and national cable TV news 12%. The actual winners was local TV news, with just 6% of surveyed adults rating it terrible while local newspapers and news radio stations were close at 8% each.
The survey also asked adults to rate local news’ coverage of coronavirus-related information. “Tracking the spread of the coronavirus in your state and local area” was top rated, with excellent 25% and good 47%. Adults were less positive about local news “providing information on how to purchase household necessities,” with just 6% rating it excellent, 34% good, 42% fair and 17% poor.
