Local News Out-performs Streaming

TVB Broadcast Members: when logged in, the Study deck will display below for download. Create a TVB member account | Request forgotten password

Some industry numbers, such as the Nielsen Gauge report, show that streaming has a higher portion of the viewership pie than linear platforms. It should be noted that the Gauge report includes all streamers, even those that advertisers cannot reach because they stream without ads. Even so, the TVB wanted to get a better idea of the size and scale of these streaming viewers, and how they compare to local broadcast television, specifically, local broadcast news.

TVB did an analysis comparing one-day viewing of local broadcast news to streaming services, which included Netflix, Amazon 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. We selected the date of February 15th, 2023, and five geographically diverse LPM markets available in Nielsen’s national system. The impressions cited below are for adults 18+.

It should be noted that we included 4,942 programs on those 6 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 (if you have been reading the press, you know that Netflix subscribers predominantly choose to subscribe to the ad free service and Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ are entirely ad free).

Here is a look at each individual market:
  • New York: 59 local broadcast news programs totaled 6,610,000 A18+, while 4,942 programs on the streaming services reached just 718,000.
  • Los Angeles: 79 local broadcast news programs totaled 4,979,000 A18+, while 4,942 programs on the streaming services reached just 663,000.
  • Chicago: 64 local broadcast news programs totaled 3,860,000 A18+, while 4,942 programs on the streaming services reached just 329,000.
  • Dallas: 60 local broadcast news programs totaled 3,023,000 A18+, while 4,942 programs on the streaming services reached just 310,000.
  • Atlanta: 58 local broadcast news programs totaled 2,168,000 A18+, while 4,942 programs on the streaming services reached just 229,000.
Key study slide:
Source: Nielsen NLTV & NPOWER 2/15/23 Persons 18+ Live+1 Impressions. Local News for the 7 Broadcast Networks & Independent stations and Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, Apple TV+, Disney+, and HBO Max SCR Ratings for 5 LPM Markets: New York, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Atlanta.

For more information, please contact Hadassa Gerber, Chief Research Officer, TVB