Complete Story
07/18/2017
TV station’s local news viewership continues decline
TV stations are counting heavily on local news programming in the coming years — even as their viewership continues to drop.
All four main local TV newscasts sank in 2016 versus 2015, when looking at combined viewership on ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates, according to Pew Research Center analysis of Nielsen results for the four sweep periods.
Late news sank 11% to 20.3 million in 2016, from 22.8 million the previous year. Morning news fell 9% to 10.8 million from 11.9 million. Early evening news lost 9%, from 22.8 million to 20.7 million.
These stats represent an ongoing downward trend since 2007 -- in which late news has dropped 31%, early evening news 19% and morning news has lost 12%.
