Station Digital Sites A Vital Storm Info Source

The Television Bureau of Advertising today released an analysis of recent East Coast and Midwest blizzard news coverage consumption that found local TV station digital platforms experienced dramatic online and mobile traffic spikes from viewers seeking emergency weather information. 

As documented in Keller Fay’s recent, “American Conversation” study, people seeking local and regional news visit local TV station websites more frequently than social media platforms, national TV websites and all other Internet sites. This research, TVB says, was validated recently when winter blizzards barreled through the East Coast and Midwest and local residents relied on their local TV station digital sites as a vital source of weather emergency information. 

Representative East Coast results for Winter Storm Jonas:

• In the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York, Pa., market: WGAL’s website reached nearly 10 million page views and 1.7 million sessions, five times their normal traffic.

• In the Baltimore market: WBAL doubled its app users, tripled its total online sessions and quadrupled page views.

• In the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville-Anderson, N.C./S.C., market: WYFF doubled its app users and reached 10.7 million page views on its website.

Representative Midwest results for Feb. 2, 2016 winter storm’s peak:  

• In the Duluth, Minn., market: KQDS’s mobile site experienced a 400% increase in page views from the previous day. WDIO’s website visits doubled the daily average in January 2016.

• In the Rochester, Minn., market: KAAL’s site and app traffic more than doubled compared to the previous day, and was six times higher than the daily average in January 2016.

• In the Minneapolis, Minn., market: KSTP experienced three times the number of visits to its app, mobile site and website, combined, compared to the daily average in January 2016.

• In the Sioux Falls, S.D., market: KDLT’s mobile page views more than tripled compared to the daily average in January 2016.

TVB President-CEO Steve Lanzano, said: “Data confirms that when vital information is most in demand, local residents not only predominantly rely on local broadcast TV for local and regional news updates, they are also utilizing local TV station websites as a primary source for timely updates and information, especially during weather emergencies. Local TV stations and their online and mobile sites are essential providers of urgent and up-to-date information that residents consistently rely upon.”