TV still trumps web for election news
Cory Bergman May 19th, 2008
A study conducted by Crawford, Johnson & Northcott concludes that Americans are turning to TV in greater numbers than the web for election news. The top three sources given by respondents ages 18-65 are broadcast network news, cable TV news and local TV news. “Rumors of the death of traditional television news have been greatly exaggerated. And it’s not just older people—young adults are relying on television news too,” said John Altenbern, CJ&N President.
True enough, TV news isn’t dying, and it will remain an important source for years to come (especially local). But as I’ve predicted before, more people ages 18-54 will get their news from the web and mobile than from any other platform in the next 3-5 years. That said, I think studies like these are a helpful reminder for Wall Street that TV still commands a large audience (and financial margin) and TV groups don’t deserve such a thrashing on the stock market these days. But the study shouldn’t feed the misplaced beliefs inside TV newsrooms that TV will always be the top “go to” source for news.
6 Comments Add your own
1. Rob | May 19th, 2008 at 5:45 pm
Cory sez: “But the study shouldn’t feed the misplaced beliefs inside TV newsrooms that TV will always be the top “go to” source for news.”
I sez: True. But that won’t stop TV managers from spinning memos like this so they can cling to the notion that TV is still king and the web is still ‘new media’, so the lion’s share of the resources they’ll justify will continue to be poured into TV while the web will continue to get a pittance.
2. tdc | May 19th, 2008 at 6:21 pm
i’m told cnn didn’t even pan the crowd of 75,000 yesterday in portland.
so much for the power of tv.
3. tdc | May 19th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
and as for “go to”- you’ll see the study concluded that folks went to friends and family for news at twice the rate of local tv.
TWICE THE RATE.
4. discreet_chaos | May 19th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Before I read the article, my first thought was of the blur between tv sites, archived video and television in general, but it looks like they may have covered it. (Though, I’m not seeing the questions, so I don’t know for sure)
Of course since I can’t see the questions and because the results don’t make a lot sense, I kind of think that the respondents didn’t purposefully mislead, but they just gave the answer, they usually give.
71% used the three broadcast networks “a lot” for coverage of the presidential race? On non-primary days, if you total all of the network’s morning interviews, repetitious news breaks, plus the stuff from their evening news, you’d be lucky if it added-up to as much as twenty to thirty minutes.
Television may have been the first thing the respondents thought about, but if the “a lot” are just the five minutes on the underwatched 6:30 report, then either we have an uninformed electorate or a lot of people who answers surveys out of habit.
5. Anonymous | May 20th, 2008 at 1:57 am
TV news is great. Nostradamus reads the results 2 hours esrly and back to whatever.
6. Chris | May 21st, 2008 at 11:09 am
Why is this so often seen as an “either/or” situation. With both having their strong points, it seems to me the solution is probably somewhere in the middle with each complimenting the other and pushing “viewers/consumers” in whichever direction they feel most comfortable.
Just give “viewers/consumers” as much good content as you can and let them decide, sorta like an a la carte menu.
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