For several years, the popular refrain among many radio industry observers is that younger, Generation Z and Generation Alpha audio content consumers aren’t tuning to FM radio, and may have no idea what AM radio even is. While that’s debatable, a newly released study suggests Gen Z and Gen Alpha video consumers are largely tuning out local TV news — at least on the television.
The “stark generational divide” seen for local television news consumption is based on consumer research released today by #FutureOfTV.Live, a quarterly research initiative from Ring Digital, an advertising services company focused on “precision digital marketing.”
Furthermore, the research study was sponsored by Big Blue Marble, described as a “cloud and streaming solutions provider serving sports, news and broadcast clients globally.”
While this suggests a pro-streaming media bias, given the source, the findings are nevertheless a reminder that younger audiences are different than their parents when it comes to where they learn about what’s happening in their community.
How sobering is the data for the local TV news industry, which has invested a significant amount of dollars in recent years on AR/VR technology to enhance local newscasts, new studio equipment, new cameras and, of course, ATSC 3.0 infrastructure empowering NEXTGEN TV?
Just 10% of 18–24-year-olds watched local TV news during the previous week, compared with 64% of adults 65 and older.
Daily television viewing shows a similarly large divide: some 31% among 18–24-year-olds watch “TV” each day, versus 81% of adults 65 and older.
Ring Digital surveyed 1,376 U.S. adults, and the results are weighted by age and gender to U.S. Census population data.
Ring Digital founder Brian Ring commented, “The challenge for local broadcasters isn’t simply that pay TV is declining. It’s that the next generation of viewers is developing an entirely different relationship with news and television. The question is increasingly how broadcasters bring their programming into those new viewing behaviors—and then turn discovery back into tune-in.”
The report also found mobile news consumption is substantial. Based on the data, #FutureOfTV.Live estimates 108 million U.S. adults watch news video on their phones daily. Among surveyed mobile news-video viewers, Facebook and YouTube Shorts each reached 46%, followed by TikTok at 37% and Instagram Reels at 33%.
