NEW YORK—Consumers of local broadcast news continue to deem it as a valuable source of information—whether it’s political races, local sports teams or weather—regardless of accessing it on their TVs or digitally, according to a new study conducted by GfK/NIQ for TVB.
More than 3,100 respondents took part in the 2025 Local Broadcast News Survey, which examined how news consumers receive local news content, the value they place on local news and the influence of local news on their purchasing decisions.
The findings show that Americans value access to local news, whether on traditional television or digital platforms, and that this access strongly influences how they research products, make buying decisions and choose service providers.
The survey found:
- Local news is predominantly consumed on TVs, but 40% or respondents consume it on mobile devices or PCs, and 27% report consuming news on both.
- 95% of respondents said it is important to be able to receive local news on their local TV station.
- 72% of cable, satellite or streaming subscribers would likely seek out another provider if their current provider stopped carrying their local TV news stations.
- 95% of respondents said their local broadcast news station is important for providing information during severe weather and emergencies.
- 94% said the same of their local broadcast stations’ websites and apps.
- 93% of respondents said their local broadcast news station is important during elections.
- 92% of respondents who follow sports news value local broadcasters for the sports news they provide.
At a time when the trustworthiness of alternative news sources is a growing concern, local broadcast news receives high marks. Eighty-eight percent of respondents ranked local TV news as their No. 1 for trust, while 84% did so for local broadcast TV stations’ dedicated streaming video news apps and 82% for local TV stations' text/video on a website/app.
While respondents said local broadcast TV station news is among the least prevalent sources of fake news, 44% pointed to social media and 25% to cable news as the places where fake news is most prevalent, the research found.
The researchers also sought to find out how respondents consume local TV news. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said they watch live local TV news on a television set, and 60% do so on a mobile device. Fifty-six percent watch daily or a few times per week on local TV websites or streaming services; 51% watch via a local station’s dedicated streaming news app; and 53% watch via streaming service. Two-thirds reported being loyal to the same station for their local news.
The researchers also wanted to determine how TV ads on local news motivated consumers to do more research. They found the ads motivated 76% of legal service recipients to do more research, 74% of car buyers to do so and 69% of remodelers to do more research online.
The research also revealed four out of 10 respomdnts turn on the TV (41%) or click on stories to get more details (37%) after seeing local stations’ news content on social media.
It also found local broadcast TV news assets are important in influencing consumers to consider (58%) and actually purchase a product (53%).
More information is available on the TVB website.
