• by Wayne Friedman , February 29, 2008

Although the Internet may seem to eat into their local businesses, TV executives just got some good news about local news.

During a presentation at the annual Association of National Advertisers (ANA) conference at New York City's Marriott Marquis hotel, Hearst-Argyle President and CEO David Barrett said results from a recent survey showed viewers are more engaged with local news than other news media platforms.

Barrett said 55% of viewers say local TV is their primary source of news information. The Internet is a distant second place at 26%, and because of this local TV audiences believe local TV advertising is more effective that other news media.

Local TV news brands are also benefiting from the Internet space. Right behind the use of search engines, local TV news Web sites are the most frequently used for local news and weather. Viewers go to local new sites 37% of the time, followed by 31% for cable news sites. Twenty-four percent go for reality TV video, and 23% for broadcast network news Web areas.

The survey also noted what other news programming analysis has found: News, and local TV news in particular, is more DVR-proof than other program formats. Most viewers watch news live, so they are less likely to fast-forward through commercials.

The biggest problem remains a disparity between local TV Internet traffic and Internet ad dollars that are spent.

Barrett says local broadcast TV sites received only 9.3% of the online ad spending of $8.5 billion spent on local Web advertising in 2007--estimated to grow to $12.6 billion in 2008. He said Google got 43.7% and newspaper Web sites grabbed 33.4%. Newspapers are far ahead of local TV because there are more local ad salespeople working on local newspaper sites, he noted.

The research was conducted for Hearst-Argyle by Frank N. Magid Associates. The Magid survey included more than 2,700 local news viewers, ages 25-54.