TVB , the trade association of America’s local broadcast television industry, today issued this statement 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 programs on six SVOD services (Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+ and HBO Max) and up to 79 local news programs 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.”