Top Personalities Leaving, Local TV Facing Major Declines in Revenue

Top Personalities Leaving, Local TV Facing Major Declines in Revenue

Top-level local television news staff have been quitting at a high rate in the past few months in the Providence market.

In recent months, each of the network-affiliated news stations has lost high-profile, long-time reporters and personalities.

In recent days, WPRI-12 has seen both morning news co-host Danielle North and Micheala Johnson, the co-host of the advertiser-sponsored Rhode Show, resign.

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Katie Davis, the long-time investigative reporter at WJAR, left the station in October. She was the remaining member of the I-Team, the storied team once led by Dyana Koelsch and the late Jim Taricani.

At ABC6, the station has lost all three of its weather personalities — Tim Studebaker, Jeff Desnoyers, and Chelsea Priest.

Now, the station's weekend weather personality Kelly Bates, who left WJAR-10 in 2021, is the primary meteorologist.

While the decline of newspapers is getting a lot of attention, the emerging story is the challenges local TV news is facing. Cable cutting and streaming are impacting both distribution and viewership — TV is no longer the primary source of news.

 

Digital Is the Leading Source of News

According to the Pew research group, digital is dominating as the primary news source for Americans.

"A large majority of U.S. adults (82%) say they often or sometimes get news from a smartphone, computer or tablet, including 49% who say they do so often. This is similar to the 51% who said they often got news from digital devices in 2021, but lower than the 60% of those who said the same in 2020," found Pew.

"The portion that gets news from digital devices continues to outpace those who get news from television. The portion of Americans who often get news from television has also decreased, from 40% in 2020 to 31% in 2022. Americans turn to radio and print publications for news far less frequently than to digital devices and television," adds Pew.

 

 

 

Strong Revenue Year in 2022 Due to Politics, Revenue Projected to Plummet in 2023

The mid-term elections were a boon to the conglomerates that own the local TV stations in the market.

2022 was a strong revenue year for the TV conglomerates like Nexstar, which owns WPRI and Sinclair, which owns WJAR.

But 2023 is expected to be a year of dramatic belt-tightening, staff reductions, and lower revenue.

Media Post reports, "Local TV stations will see a major decline next year of 22.9% -- which was expected in a non-political advertising year. This will wipe out most major gains this year -- up an estimated 22.7% to $24 billion, due to a record-breaking political advertising year."

 

 

TV will continue to be impacted by the long-term erosion of reach and live viewing with new digital platforms and non-traditional platforms, according to the authors of IPG Mediabrands’ Magna Global report