RTDNA/Hofstra Study Looks At Newsroom Profitability

Study

In the latest release from the RADIO TELEVISION DIGITAL NEWS ASSOCIATION-HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY annual electronic media newsroom survey, the news on profitability was unclear for radio newsrooms nationwide. HOFSTRA Professor Emeritus BOB PAPPER noted, "There were no consistent patterns this year on which radio stations made a profit on news. Usually there's something, but the only thing I can report this year is that stations in the WEST were way less likely to report making a profit on news."

PAPPER added that he normally does not report the percentage of radio station revenue generated by news because "so few news directors say they know the answer," but added that the numbers he did get show the average station revenue percentage from news was 9.7% (down from 21% in 2014) with a median of 5% (up from 2% in 2014).

Radio station website profitability dropped from 15.4% to 8.1%, particularly in large and major markets, but PAPPER said that it's possible that the numbers merely reflect that different stations fill out the survey each year, although it's also possible that "something bad is going on at radio websites."

Read more by clicking here.

« see more Net News