KMBC's parent releases study examining local TV viewership.
BOTTOM LINE: Hearst-Argyle Television, parent company of KMBC-TV9, Kansas City's ratings leader, will unveil this week the results of a study it commissioned from Frank N. Magid Associates quantifying the loyalty of local TV news audiences compared to other media. 03-25-2008
TV stations are betting the love affair national advertisers are having with digital media may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Aiming to turn marketers’ attention back to local TV news, Hearst-Argyle Television will unveil during this week’s annual Television Bureau of Advertising conference in New York the results of a study it commissioned from Frank N. Magid Associates quantifying the loyalty of local TV news audiences compared to other media. Using the TVB gathering to launch an industrywide marketing campaign, Hearst-Argyle aims to convince national buyers during the forthcoming upfront negotiations that local news shouldn’t be overlooked. It’s not unusual to hear that a national advertiser is moving dollars away from TV and into digital media. General Motors, for example, said it would migrate half of its marketing spend to digital and, in fact, has already shifted media budgets. A recent Forrester Research survey of leading marketers found that more than 50 percent planned to cut TV ads by 12 percent once DVR penetration hits 50 percent; 62 percent said they believed TV ads were less effective. Those advertisers may be missing out, broadcasters maintain. “There is a Good Housekeeping seal of approval for goods and services advertised on the trusted local newscast,” said Kathleen Keefe, vp of sales at Hearst-Argyle. “It’s like Oprah. It’s the face of the local TV personalities that make the advertising proposition more valuable.” Chris Rohrs, president of the TVB, added, “If advertisers overshoot the Internet runway, they run the risk of being disconnected with the consumer.” Among Magid’s findings: local news is one of the least DVR’ed program types, and TV is consumers’ first source for news and information (55 percent), followed by the Internet (26 percent). Respondents also said ads on local TV news drive the purchase of products and services more than other outlets (see chart). The TVB likely will package the study with its biennial media comparison report to be released at the conference. For the past two years, it found, consumers have spent more than half of their media time with TV (53 percent)—more than newspapers (3.4 percent), radio (22.5 percent), magazines (1.9 percent) and Internet (19 percent). The Magid study also tackles the perception of TV as an “old medium.” “The emotional connection people have with their local TV newscast is stronger than ever, and that has allowed us to take our content to the Internet and other platforms,” said Keefe.
