• by Wayne Friedman , October 24, 2012

More local news TV promos spots do not mean more viewers for local TV news programs.

In looking at the key 25-54 viewers -- the strongest news viewers -- the optimum promo media plan, according to one Seattle TV market, came from seven to nine exposures. That yielded a 22% increase in tune-in from 10% before the campaign started, according to Nielsen.

Overall, Nielsen says people -- defined as viewers who normally did not watch this Seattle station’s early morning news program before the campaign -- made up 65% of the total program audience after the campaign.

Looking at other promo frequency levels, Nielsen found that with no promo exposures, tune-in rose 1.6% before the campaign to 7.8% after the campaign. From one to three exposures, there was 4.7% improved tune-in before and an 12% after the campaign.

More exposures from this point yielded lower results: four to six exposures saw tune-in rise 20.4% before to 24.3% after the campaign. When being subject to 10 or more exposures, there was a 43.1% tune-in rise before and 45.9% after.

Nielsen also notes that prime-time and early-fringe dayparts were the best times to reach a new, potential audience.