Consumers turn to multiple sources for local news
Adriene Hill: A study out today from Pew Research Center finds people get their local news from pretty-much everywhere. And the findings may have big implications for advertisers.
Marketplace’s Alisa Roth explains.
Alisa Roth: Television is still the most popular source for local news: Three-quarters of Americans tune in at least once a week, mainly for the weather and breaking local news. Only about half turn to newspapers, which are still considered the top source for local government news. And almost that many are logging onto the Internet, to get things like restaurant recommendations.
Tom Rosenstiel: So we know that fewer people are congregated around any one of these news outlets on a given day.
That’s Tom Rosenstiel, one of the study’s authors. He says breaking down news by categories shows how fractured the local media landscape has become, which has implications for advertisers.
Rosenstiel: If you are an advertiser, probably this data would suggest you need to be in more places.
Newspapers are still widely read. But the survey also suggested that they’re not indispensable. Sixty-nine percent of respondents said if their local newspaper ceased to exist, it wouldn’t have a major impact on their ability to get local news.
Newspapers may be in better shape than radio, though. Just over half of respondents said they used radio for local news, mostly for traffic reports.
There’s one finding that offers no hope for advertisers. The second most popular source of local information: word of mouth.
In New York, I’m Alisa Roth for Marketplace.
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