As has been widely documented over the past year of living in a pandemic, consumers' media habits have largely morphed amid our homebound, screen-dependent lifestyles. Yet as many are quick to highlight the exploding streaming video market, Nielsen is uniquely positioned to highlight the constant importance of local news, as well as how that genre is attracting a wave of new viewers-Gen Z.
That was one of the key messages Nielsen leadership shared at the recent NATPE Miami virtual 2021 conference, appropriately themed A New Day for TV Stations.
It's no surprise that April, which coincided with the start of the pandemic, was the highest total TV and news viewing month of the year, which it typically is not, said Justin LaPorte, VP of Local Audience Insights, during his presentation. News still represents a much higher percentage of people's viewing day, and in November 2020, it was 10 percentage points higher in share of viewing than a year ago.
When looking at 18-24 year olds (Gen Z), he continued, viewing rose the most on January 6th (during the Capitol riots), with a 142% increase for cable viewing and almost 50% for broadcast. This group represents a new demo for news, and while it still has a smaller part of the share for total news viewing, it's a group that is watching more news on TV over the past year than we've seen previously.
Media consumption has changed dramatically over the past year, with local TV gaining prominence during a heated political season, cries for racial justice and the ongoing pandemic, as Catherine Herkovic, EVP and Managing Director, Nielsen Local TV, discussed during a panel focused on transforming learnings from the past year into strategies for engaging viewers in 2021.
Given the unusual times that we are living in, I find it logical that viewers want information that will help them to navigate day-to-day uncertainty, and they are turning to local news, which is a shining bright spot for TV, said Catherine. In fact, people watched over two billion more minutes of news in November 2020 than they did a year ago, and with over 43% of total viewing allocated to news, local news is by far the strongest genre within that.
Importantly, however, local stations can't focus on age groups alone when it comes to growth opportunities. They need to be focused on content choices and ensuring that they are including diverse audiences in their programming options.
Diversity, equity and inclusion aren't just a nice to have anymore; they're an imperative, said Court Stroud, panel moderator and Founder of the Cledor Group.
Nicolas Valls, General Manager, WGEN Estrella 8 Miami elaborated: Pandemic conditions are shifting the way we approach content and news in particular, to be more reassuring and educational, rather than just running the headlines that are going to increase ratings, and that's been driven by consumer and viewer preference. They're telling us what they want, and we're pivoting to their changing choices.
While general news viewing has gone up, Meredith McGinn, SVP of COZI TV, NBCLX, and LX.TV, affirmed that the younger generation is increasing their engagement with local TV.
The younger segment wants depth and context, noted Meredith. We know from the research we conducted that younger viewers consume news. We've seen double lift increases in that audience for our new network.
While the influence of the pandemic and the events of 2020 have brought significant positive changes to local TV viewership and younger audience engagement, how did COVID-19 play into the impact on streaming and storytelling in the future?
Nielsen's Sean Cohan, Chief Growth Officer & President, International, participated in a panel moderated by Jeff Cole, Director of the Center for the Digital Future, to discuss these topics.
We think about local TV as an ecosystem which includes audio and digital. What's interesting is that when you unpack advertising spend, growth is coming from small and medium size businesses which tend to gravitate to these local forms of reach, said Sean. I see growth in marketer interest and spend continuing. I think that there's a fuel for the fire if local can continue to attract more users and viewers, which is an underlying fundamental that is very healthy.
News had an extraordinary year in 2020, as did drama, niche drama and big events through streaming.
Acceleration, increased demand for streaming content and an insatiable viewership appetite with traditional TV and streaming, as well as new streaming and platform adoption, were undoubtedly popular trends last year. There was a dramatic acceleration that we thought may happen over several years that happened over several months due to the pandemic.
He continued, We've been focused on keeping our people safe and coming up with innovation around remote installs, management of panels, and working towards a single cross-media solution, Nielsen ONE. For us, audience is everything, and the common thread among all of our clients is the need for reliable unbiased data to make strategic decisions.
The social unrest of 2020 also called attention to the need for fairly representing viewership and helping the industry to be more representative, by putting diverse talent in front of and behind the camera.
2020 was about innovation, adaptation and not wasting a crisis, and the importance of information and leadership to help navigate chaos and change, Sean said.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
06/07/2026
Long-developed relationships and informal access, three production models, and c...
06/07/2026
The deal follows Lumine's recent acquisition of Synamedia's video-networ...
06/07/2026
This former SportsCenter producer is shaping local-team studio coverage to surro...
06/07/2026
IMS Productions and FOX Sports deployed more than 100 cameras, 32 onboard feeds,...
06/07/2026
Lumine Group Inc. has announced the completion of its acquisition of the Video Network Business from Synamedia. The business will operate as a standalone compan...
06/07/2026
NASCAR has announced a content and commercial partnership with Motorsport Network, a motorsports and automotive media platform, to distribute NASCAR original co...
06/07/2026
Versant Media Group has announced a definitive agreement to acquire Full Swing, a sports technology company, from Bruin Capital and a group of minority investor...
06/07/2026
DAZN has announced global broadcast rights to 3ICE, a professional hockey format featuring three skaters and a goalkeeper per side, with no power plays or offsi...
06/07/2026
Bundle gains 100 new synths & more
Synth Anthology 5 the largest and most feature-packed edition of UVI's hardware synth emulation bundle, bringing toge...
06/07/2026
Available now via free firmware update
MOTU have just announced that three of their popular audio interfaces now boast official Milan Certification. The 16A...
06/07/2026
Rohde & Schwarz completes Hunter Preliminary Design Review for the Integrated Co...
06/07/2026
The R&S IMAGER from Rohde & Schwarz uses millimeter wave imaging to inspect the ...
06/07/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
06/07/2026
Digital Domain Appoints Industry Veteran Patrick Davenport as Executive Vice Pre...
06/07/2026
Gravity Media USA appoints Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development
Brie Clayton July 6, 2026
0 Comments
The strategic new appointment supports...
06/07/2026
Remote Editing Without Cloud Storage in Resolve
Michael Cioni July 6, 2026
0 Comments
This is a step-by-step guide that demonstrates how to setup your...
06/07/2026
Automatic Caption Translation in Adobe Premiere Pro
Colin Smith July 6, 2026
0 Comments
Here I showcase the innovative automatic caption translation f...
06/07/2026
Flavor's First Ever Managing Director Neal Cohen Retires; Longstanding Execu...
06/07/2026
How Adam Rosenwach Pivoted from Music to Medtech Without Missing a Beat What do the rehearsal room and the boardroom have in common? More than you might think...
06/07/2026
Zhongyi Optics unveils the Dreamy Zone T1 FF Cine Lens Series on Indiegogo with ...
06/07/2026
Techtel debuts insyght: making ST 2110 media discovery easy
intellisphereinsyght2026
6 July Written By Suzanne Costello
Sydney, Australia - 06 July 2026 T...
06/07/2026
Monday 6 July 2026
Sky agrees to acquire ITV Media & Entertainment, creating a ...
06/07/2026
Fresh from his World Cup heroics with Cabo Verde, Roberto Pico' Lopes will join the RT panel for Argentina v Egypt tomorrow and for the England v Norway q...
06/07/2026
Nations have long invested in domestic infrastructure to advance their economies, protect and use their data, and take advantage of technology opportunities in ...
06/07/2026
Every year, the International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML) reveals where thousands of AI researchers have decided to put their work.
This year's ...
06/07/2026
A death can be unsuspicious, but it has to be explained
What happened to Ke...
05/07/2026
We've gone to another level of integrating the graphics into the set architecture' - Zac Fields, SVP, Graphic Technology and Integration, FOX Sports...
05/07/2026
Browser-based and desktop apps available
Digital Sunset Studios have been busy working on an interesting project: a free software tool that provides compute...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
As has been widely documented over the past year of living in a pandemic, consumers' media habits have largely morphed amid our homebound, screen-dependent lifestyles. Yet as many are quick to highlight the exploding streaming video market, Nielsen is uniquely positioned to highlight the constant importance of local news, as well as how that genre is attracting a wave of new viewers-Gen Z.
