‘Your TV station is on fire’ — but here’s what Nieman Lab’s survival guide misses about saving local TV news

I usually write about professional topics on LinkedIn, but when I saw how well my Scott Galloway blog post performed here, I decided to reconsider.

This (ryanwelton.com) is nothing beyond a business WordPress.com site, but it gets fantastic organic search placement. Makes me want to party like it’s 2007.

Speaking of 2007, the topic of this blog post is something I’ve advocated for in my various local TV roles since then. A recent piece from Nieman Lab triggered the idea. The story was titled, “Your TV station is on fire”: A local TV news “survival guide” calls for stations to prioritize digital…yesterday

Cue the David Byrne video from 1983. Same as it ever was.

For the billions of you who don’t know me, I spent eight years leading a digital content team at the ABC affiliate in Oklahoma City, via Internet Broadcasting and Hearst Television, and another eight (almost) leading digital content teams at two CBS affiliates in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, through a local company called Griffin Media.

Prioritizing digital… yesterday is a sentiment I often preached, one that was most often listened to when the companies at hand brought in consultants. It’s funny how a ton of money gets paid to outsiders who echo what the insiders have been saying all along.

It’s the professional equivalent of dining out.

Sometimes the food just tastes better at a restaurant. I get it.

And I promise you, this Nieman Lab article is making the rounds in every TV newsroom, to the bane of most digital content executives.

So, let’s take a look.

From the second paragraph:

The new “survival guide” from Northeastern’s Reinventing Local TV News Project does not mince words. Building on a survey of more than 1,000 adults ages 18 to 34, it lays out local TV broadcasts’ irrelevance to young audiences’ digital- and mobile-first news consumption habits with a brutal call to action.

Oh, we’ve seen the demo ratings. They’re not watching local TV broadcasts for sure.

The story indicates that the report was aimed at “presenting best practices” for connecting with younger audiences. Usually, the 18-29 year olds would eventually turn into husbands and wives, moms and dads who watched local news as part of a routine to keep up with weather, local schools, maybe crime and politics, too.

That happened with Millennials and with my generation, Gen X.

But it will not happen again for more than a multitude of reasons. The skinny, though, is this: linear TV has become obsolete in the face of mobile, streaming, CTV, and so on. Beyond the platform itself, linear TV no longer aligns with anything we do as human adults.

It’s all small screen on the go, and small screen plus ‘biggest screen wins’ at home. This movie ends the same way every time: linear TV loses. Not only does linear TV lose, but unless it’s an awards show, a presidential debate, or sports, live TV loses, too.

Live events and live sports are the one clear linear TV winners.

Otherwise, from here forward, it should be all about on-demand consumption.

OK, so what did the report prescribe exactly?

Hire a “Digital Content Creator” immediately.

This is the report’s core ask of local TV stations. It describes this position dedicated to creating original content for digital platforms — and not just repurposing TV stories for social — as a “life raft role” and “the most important hire any newsroom can make right now.” To be successful, the authors recommend that this position be involved “early and everywhere” in story planning and production.

Other research published this year suggests repurposing TV stories as digital content remains the default for most local TV stations. A survey of local broadcast stations by Harvard’s Shorenstein Center found that half of respondents place a “very high priority” on developing digital content and platforms. Yet just 16% of respondents said they’re producing a substantial amount of stand-alone digital content, whereas 28% said their digital content consists of stories previously aired on broadcasts, and another 55% described digital content as “heavily based on broadcast content.”

What does that even mean exactly?

I’ll repeat. What does that even mean exactly?

I understand what the report thinks it means, but I’m here to assure you that “digital content creator” could mean something different to everybody. Is it:

• The mom who reviews to-dos for kiddos?

• The food influencer who charges $250-500 per Reel for reviews?

• The sports bro who has grown a big audience spouting hot sports opinions?

• The wanna-be documentarian?

It could be any of these people, or all of them. What will actually move the needle in your newsroom isn’t a philosophical discussion about the audience, the perfect “digital content creator” or which platforms to focus on.

It’s getting to work. It’s quantity at a prolific, impressive level across all the platforms at once. If your TV station is at a place where the digital revolution needs to happen, you need data — and you get data only by posting a crap ton of content in varying formats on a wide variety of topics done in a large number of different styles for several months.

You need to be experimenting at scale and with speed.

Here’s where I’ll give you evidence of this: comedy and sports. If you don’t enjoy either of those things, then a) I’m not sure we can be friends, but b) this might not apply to you. Think instead of something that dominates your Facebook or Instagram feeds, especially.

The operators in comedy and sports who succeed are posting vertical-first digital content at a rate that would probably trigger anxiety across most of your newsroom. This is the gap between most TV newsrooms and how this is actually done successfully, with success being loosely defined as the regular capture of attention with the hope that some of it will funnel to periodic local TV news viewership, with the ultimate dream that it converts (as they get older) to some level of loyalty.

But with the ever-increasing likelihood that digital is the real business unto itself.

Are you following me?

The Nieman Lab article acknowledges that most TV newsrooms don’t have the staff for this. I agree. Most TV newsrooms are filled with dedicated but on the edge of burning out journalists just doing their best. Hiring one content creator to fill that need is putting a heck of a burden on them, and a $50,000 salary isn’t likely to get you somebody who can actually do this both at scale and within the guideposts of proper journalism.

So, what’s the choice?

I’ve long thought that TV newsrooms need to cut the number of newscasts they air at least in half, and redirect their efforts to better, longer packages and more digital work. The Nieman Lab article includes a graphic detailing a day in the life of a digital content creator, and it doesn’t appear they’re producing more than one story, unlike their TV counterparts. To be fair, the graphic does say “shooting stories,” but then there is 5% of time dedicated to driving linear TV viewers to online, to which I have to ask…

Why exactly?

The vast majority of TV attempts to promote something on digital are gargantuan wastes of time, both in terms of efficacy and precious newscast time. You’d be far better off with the ubiquitous QR code, which helps especially if the clip is posted online. Somebody a year from now could get to the link.

And then there’s this from the Nieman Lab story and the report:

The magic video length, per Reinvent’s testing, is 50 seconds, plus or minus 10 seconds. Respondents watched three versions of the same story, and a majority said videos of this “medium” length “were both the right length and contained the right amount of information.” Perhaps more surprising, given a “shorter the better” zeitgeist, respondents were more likely to watch the entire medium-length video than the short one.

First, this is just a marketing effect. When given three choices, people most often pick the middle.

Second, this contradicts another Nieman Lab piece that just came out, predicting that longer-form video will be the hot new trend for younger news consumers in 2026. I get it, though. The reports pertain to information communicated by others. However, in my universe, the more recent report is correct: If anything, we’re trending longer.

I’ve been a news creator for the past 11 months, and (yes) I’m making money from the videos I post to TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram, albeit not a life-altering amount. Because watch-time is emphasized so much by these platforms, 1:00 in length is the minimum news creators should be hitting — and you’d often be better off at 1:30 to 3:00, but no more than 3:00 so that the video will work on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube all at once.

All that to say:

1. You won’t make any money if you don’t hit 1:00, and newsrooms can absolutely turn their social media into a revenue producer — enough to pay for their digital content creator. In my final year at Griffin Media, the station generated $125,000 in social revenue. That more than paid my salary.
   
2. The platforms wouldn’t be emphasizing that amount of watch time if users weren’t watching. Full stop. The variables are the creative, the hook, and timeliness (speed).

Then there’s this from the Nieman Lab story and the report:

Other video pro tips:

“One story must take many forms.” The same story can be turned into a short-form vertical clip, a headline reel, an explainer carousel, a longer YouTube segment, or an animation-driven pull quote, “but only if appropriate time and resources are dedicated to each one.”

Animation helps capture and direct audience attention, and increases retention of key information.

Packaging matters – details like titles, thumbnails, metadata, and captions help connect videos with audiences, and should be platform-native.

Young adults are looking for stories about local breaking news (41%) and weather (37%) on social media. And almost four in 10 “want a fun and informal approach to the news.” One-third of respondents each were looking for: positive, local stories; stories that feel “personal and authentic”; and stories about local arts, entertainment, and events.

This is the best part of the article and the report, and I sincerely concur. Great stuff.

• Giving a story many forms is Content Logistics 101, a distribution exercise. Any TV stations hiring a digital content creator might actually be better off hiring a content distribution expert.

• Animation in this case means movement, and if you’re a talking head, that animation could absolutely be your hands.

• Agreed on packaging, but don’t overestimate or overthink platform nativity. Gary Vaynerchuk calls this PAC (Platforms & Culture), and while what the Nieman Lab story says is true, if you’re a TV station trying to get your sea legs in digital, you can pick that up later. For you, to start, digital is a game of quantity and speed, and you need major reps.

I know there will be folks who tell you I’m wrong about that, but the quantity-over-quality strategy as you grow your audience is a truth hill I will die on. I’m right. Sorry.

But I express that with a sense of humor and lots of love.

The Nieman Lab story ends with a blurb about comments being “worth the hassle,” meaning that leaving comments turned on is worth the hassle. What I tell clients is to not only leave comments turned on, but also to interact with folks as appropriate, because comments are a significant signal to social platforms that a piece of content is worthy of bigger reach.

I do recommend that folks “post and ghost” to start so that you don’t eat up a ton of time staring at a piece of fresh content. Setting aside some time each day to respond to post or Reel comments, however, can nurture loyal fans or viewers and result in more eyeballs.

Attention is not a passive sport, folks.

Reach out to me anytime: ryan@doabledigitalmedia.com.

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Connect with me on LinkedIn, or visit my Substack called ‘The Independent Journalist.’