We all know that it is increasingly difficult to reach local TV news viewers during daytime because there are so many two-income families these days. Now, the DVR has become your enemy as you attempt to drive viewers from network primetime programming to your late newscasts.

A Comcast survey shows that – for the first time – a majority of primetime television viewers – 61% in fact – say they use their DVR to record and time-shift their favorite programs. 40% of them say they now regularly record their favorite programs and watch them later – at their convenience. In effect, your viewers are now programming their own “network” of their favorite shows. That means your primetime topicals are no longer reaching these viewers the same day – or same time – within an hour or two of your late newscast.

For instance, about a third of the people who watch NBC’s “Parenthood” time-shift the program. That program leads into affiliate’s late newscasts this fall. Fox’s hit program – “Fringe” – gains 39% more viewers through time-shifting. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” is time-shifted buy a third of its audience. Those are big chunks of potential late news viewers who are not getting your late news topicals in a timely manner.

So – what to do? I believe the first step is to make better use of the one constant platform you can rely on – your early evening and afternoon local newscasts. Typically – these are the higher rated programs during the broadcast day. Many stations try to sell ahead to the late news in these newscasts – but it is a haphazard effort with no special showcasing that makes it pop. It is time to take these “sells” out of the hands of your newscast producers – and have the marketing department create a special promo that will grab the viewer’s attention.

Don’t forget the Internet too. Many people are online in the evening – and it is a great opportunity to use your website to drive them to the late newscast. Social media is also another strong marketing avenue for you. One of my clients produces a 7:30 p.m. local entertainment program – and the host is texting and tweeting and online an hour or so before the program – letting people know what’s coming up.

The bottom line: It is time to be creative in new ways with your late news topicals – using better marketing tools and multiple platforms to battle the newest enemy – DVR time-shifting.

Jim

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 26th, 2010 at 7:20 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.