Local TV inherited its audience. Now it has to build one

For a long time, local television had an advantage that was easy to miss because it felt so normal: It inherited its audience.

A lot of us grew up in homes where the local news was simply on. Maybe it played during dinner. Maybe it was the last thing on before bed. When weather turned bad, schools closed, an election was decided or something happened in town that made everyone stop what they were doing, people knew where to turn.

Nobody had to convince the household that local news mattered. The habit was already there. Parents watched. Their kids were in the room. The same anchors showed up year after year. Over time, a station became part of the rhythm of the community.

Then those kids grew up, and many of them carried the habit with them. That was a remarkable business model, even if nobody called it one.

But local television is no longer automatically inheriting the next audience. It has to earn it.

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