Study: Local TV Top Choice for Hurricane Coverage

South Texans overwhelmingly turned to local TV for information on Hurricane Harvey, according to a study commissioned by the Television Bureau of Advertising.

Research Now, the company that conducted the survey, found:

  • 89% of respondents cited local TV news as their top choice for information, followed by station websites (45%) and national TV news (44%)
  • Looking at daily time spent, respondents spent the most time with local TV news, at 3 ½ hours compared to one hour for cable TV.
  • Adult respondents selected local TV news (67%) as the best information resource on how to prepare for dangerous approaching weather -- roughly two times more than cable news (34%), the second-highest source
  • Stations’ digital assets were the #1 source for digital news with almost two hours of usage, twice that of social media. This was further confirmed by data obtained from TVB member stations’ websites in the area, such as KZTV.com and KRISTV.com in Corpus Christi, which saw dramatic increases between about 300% - 700% in pageviews (Aug. 24-28)

The study was based on information from 724 respondents in the Houston and Corpus Christi markets, and where they got Hurricane news between Thursday, Aug. 24 through Saturday, Aug. 26.