Boston's local news ratings in a freefall

[DavidZ]

"Viewers are abandoning Boston TV news at an alarming rate, ratings comparisons show, forcing five stations to compete for a shrinking audience.

Over the past seven years, overall viewership has dropped by more than 140,000 people, ratings show."

Full story from today's Boston Herald - http://www.bostonherald.com/news/columnists/jessica_heslam/2017/06/heslam_boston_s_tv_news_blues

 

[DavidZ]

Obviously that should be 'local' not 'locale' in the heading.

Wish you could edit the title as well.

 

[blackgold]

I saw the article online and I'm shocked! Local TV news has fallen from grace since the days of Chet and Nat.

 

[PTBoardOp94]

I would bet the same is true in many markets, but I've rarely seen a ratings breakdown in a newspaper give more detail than a ranking.

Anecdotally, I'd say folks who cut the cord are about 50/50 on whether they keep any means (i.e. antenna) to watch live OTA TV. That probably accounts for a big chunk of the drop off, and it is not an effect that is limited to Boston.

 

[DavidZ]

Thanks to the moderators for fixing the title for me!

 

[TheBigA]

Nice that the article admits that this isn't simply an issue for TV news:

"The challenging media landscape isn’t just impacting TV news, of course. Newspaper print circulation — including here in Boston — has experienced substantial drops."

 

[newsbot2]

For WHDH, cannibalization has become an issue as well; with people no longer having to watch at 6PM, they can now watch at 6:30P or 7P. That said, WHDH's spokesman is full of it.