With local television audiences turning to cable, the web and print options for daily news, Forrester forecasts that broadcasters can recover local relevance only by extending their programming and promotion throughout the day to cable operators, newspapers and online providers. Forrester says “Stations must recreate themselves as providers of video programming and marketing services across all channels.”
“Local TV stations are losing news-audience share, ad revenues, and exclusive network content. And, to make things worse, new FCC ownership regulations will prompt a frenzy of mergers, swaps, and acquisitions over the next three years,” said Daniel O’Brien, senior analyst at Forrester. “The time has come to team up with other local media before these opportunities vanish.”
In order to ‘reconnect with local news audiences’ Forrester says that broadcasters must “collaborate with newspapers to cross-promote their headlines, share content liberally, and strive for all-day relevance”.
This relationship will benefit both newspapers and TV stations as input from print media with add depth to news coverage and boost credibility, negating the need for large cash investments on either side.
“Local stations should plan for all-digital, all-inclusive newsrooms, which will automatically format local and wire-services content for Web sites, radio, PDAs, news kiosks, and set-top boxes” says Forrester, detailed and intricate services available online must be exploited in order to connect to local audiences and reap the appeal of the medium to local advertisers.
“Station groups that want to grow rather than sell must create quick-execution templates for these local partnerships – and invest in central costing tools that let them function more like networks,” concluded O’Brien.
