With so much buzz over streaming TV, social media and digital, it might be easy to lose sight of the true value of linear television broadcasting.
Despite the unquestionable growth of these platforms, television remains a vital source of news, entertainment and ad content.
The findings of a new TVB survey reveal broadcast television offers the broadest reach of any media platform and that people spend more time watching linear TV than other alternatives. Local TV news also is regarded as the most trusted source of news when compared to other platforms—even among streamers.
A total of 4,000 people responded to the survey, which was conducted by GfK for TVB. The goal was to find out how Americans of different age groups use different media, focusing on more than 20 traditional and digital platforms.
I spoke with Hadassa Gerber, chief research officer at TVB, about the survey and what the findings mean to broadcasters.
A summary of the 2024 Media Comparisons Study is available on the TVB website.
(An edited transcript.)
TVTech: Your study finds that when it comes to reach and the time people spend with linear television stands head and shoulders above other media platforms, such as digital and social and streaming. At least based on personal viewing, watching broadcast TV and viewing streaming content aren’t mutually exclusive. What did your survey find?
Hadassa Gerber: They're not mutually exclusive, and we're not saying that people are not viewing streaming.
There are two different types of [ad-supported] streaming. There’s paid streaming with ads, and free streaming with ads, the AVOD [Ad-Supported Video on Demand] and FAST [Free Ad-Supported Television] platforms of the world. Then you have the other tier that doesn’t have ads.
We show each one of those. We're not saying that those numbers or percentages [with regards to reach and time spent with other platforms] are 10%. They're not. They're in the 40% area. However, we show that these people do not view streaming in isolation. They're not just viewing streaming; they're also viewing broadcast television.
TVTech: You found for 18- to 34-year-olds, 25- to 50-year-olds and those over 35 as well as Hispanics and African Americans that TV has the greatest reach of all media platforms. Do you expect these numbers to change as the generation that's younger than 18 years old matures? Others have pointed out their propensity to consume media on smartphones and other digital platforms.
HG: First, let me just state that we said the reach was highest for 18- to 34-year-olds and 25 to 50. We didn’t say there were no differences in their usage even within 18- to 34-year-olds.
With 18- to 34-year-olds, did we see that there was a greater usage of digital? Absolutely, more so than 25 to 50. Certainly, more so than 35-plus. So, that was there, even for 18- to 34-year-olds. However—and this is something that the industry doesn't recognize—the highest reach and time spent was with television, specifically broadcast television.
So, were there differences in the age groups? Absolutely. Is the reach of television among the 18- to 34-year-old respondents lower than that of their older counterparts? Yes, but it's still higher than anything else that's out there.
TVTech: As people mature, do they gravitate back towards linear TV?
HG: We don't trend and follow people as they grow up. But we do look at the individual segments, and absolutely there's a greater usage of broadcast television as you age up. In fact, you see greater usage of even radio as you age up, which is ironic because once upon a time if you wanted to reach young adults you would use radio. Now, you use digital, and radio is older skewing, but it still doesn't come anywhere near television.
TVTech: The survey revealed local TV news wins when it comes to trustworthiness of alternatives and that it is the go-to source for local traffic, weather and sports when compared to other platforms like digital and social media. Do you have any thoughts about how broadcasters can better leverage this trustworthiness? Maybe pursuing hyperlocal news and advertising with NextGen TV or their own web presence?
HG: To your point, you said there's a lot of use of social media. Yes, people use a lot of social media, but we have seen this consistently on every survey that we have done: the lowest level of trust for news is in social media. So, people use it, but they don't necessarily trust it.
We're not saying they don't use social media. They do. But it's a race to the bottom actually in this survey between podcasts and social media for the least trusted. Social media just seeks it out as being less trusted.
Consistently, local broadcast TV news is the most trusted platform, and we found that even among those who stream that was also the finding.
For local broadcast TV, it [trust in local TV news] remained the same whether they were a paid streamer [ a subscriber to] the Netflixes of the world that are taking ads or they were a free streamer with ads. It was the exact same percentage. Looking at each of those as their own universe, it was the same percentage that said they trusted local news, and it was No. 1.
TVTech: There have been decades of commercial zapping, but still you found that six out of 10 respondents said TV ads motivate them to research products further and in some categories that percentage was even higher. Among car shoppers, for instance, 72% said they start their shopping journey with TV.
Are you seeing local broadcasters doing anything to leverage the possible synergy between what their linear TV ad would be and some sort of digital presence whether it's on their website or something else like a knowledge base about cars or something like that?
HG: You hit on a good point and that's the fact that broadcast television assets are not only broadcast linear television. Broadcasters are also out there selling digital. In fact, one of the things that we found is if you take broadcast as a base, and you add on cable, that doesn't even add on a whole reach point. It rounds up to an added 0.8% reach point.
But if you take broadcast TV and broadcast websites, and add broadcast websites onto broadcast TV, your reach goes up 4%.
So, the two do work together and very well. It is not an either-or. It's an add on that works. The reason that we make it such a big point about television, motivating people to go online, is so many advertisers are just looking at the last click. Then they make their analysis based on the last click. Well, how did they get there in the first place? What drove the traffic there? Everyone has to recognize that there are other things that get them to go there and that they work together. You really need broadcast television to be able to do that.
TVTech: What other takeaways from the finding should broadcasters keep in mind?
HG: The main thing is when a new platform comes out—when digital and streaming come out—it has all of the buzz with the write ups. So, it's sometimes easy to forget the power and vitality of broadcast television.
Yes. All of these things are coming into play. But broadcast television—linear television—is really quite strong and has the reach. You have to remember that all these other options are so fragmented that it will be very difficult to get the audience reach you want if you don't use broadcast television.
