TV Talk: Taking the temperature of Pittsburgh’s TV market
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Pittsburghers love TV, and data from a January 2023 Nielsen Insights report proves it.
Even though Pittsburgh is now the 26th largest TV market nationally, it’s No. 1 in TV viewing in the top U.S. markets with the most advanced Nielsen measurement.
Pittsburgh viewers ages 18 and older spend an average of six hours per day using their TVs across broadcast (one-hour-and-36 minutes on average), cable (2:30) and streaming/video games/DVDs (1:52).
“Even kids, grandkids who grew up with parents and grandparents watching television still watch television,” said KDKA/WPCW-TV general manager Chris Cotugno.
The biggest drawback? “We have an aging population,” said Charles Wolfertz III, general manager of WTAE-TV.
Pittsburghers have not jumped on the streaming bandwagon as quickly as viewers in bigger, younger TV markets.
“The market is slow to adapt to change,” Cotugno acknowledged, “which makes this market a great television market.”
When it comes to local TV news viewing, Pittsburgh was also No. 1 in the October 2020 Nielsen Local Watch report. It found viewers in Pittsburgh watch four-hours-and-10-minutes of local news on average weekly, the top market using Nielsen’s Local People Meter measurement system. Pittsburgh was No. 1 across all TV news consumption including national broadcast TV news (2:37) and cable news (4:35) for a total average of 11 hours and 22 minutes per week of news viewing by Western Pennsylvanians ages 18 and older.
Wolfertz said he doesn’t see additional news time period expansion in the immediate future for WTAE, an ABC affiliate.
“We’re just looking to strengthen when we’re already on,” he said. “We’d love to have that 10 p.m. time period back. That would be a great opportunity to put local programming in or news.”
So far only NBC has talked about the possibility of giving back the 10 p.m. hour to affiliates.
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KDKA-TV news director Shawn Hoder said while he’s comfortable with the station’s 11 p.m. news – it was No. 1 in May in households and the key demo of viewers 25-54 – he, like Wolfertz, sees viewing trends and has concern about the 11 p.m. news in the future.
“As people adjust their days, are they going to continually tune in at 11?” Hoder said. “What’s the viewer habit going to look like? What do we need to do to make sure that we stay relevant there?”
Morning newscasts start at 4:30 a.m. Can Wolfertz foresee starting at 4 a.m.?
“Sure. We’re a shift town. People get up early and get home late,” he said. “You look at our viewing at 4:30 a.m. and I’m sure that rivals some markets at 6 a.m., so I think a 4 a.m. is possible.”
It doesn’t sound like WTAE intends to expand its afternoon newscast earlier than 4 p.m.
“We like Kelly Clarkson. I think she’s a dynamic host,” Wolfertz said of “The Kelly Clarkson Show,” airing at 3 p.m. weekdays on Channel 4.
As for competing with KDKA’s new “Talk Pittsburgh” (3 p.m. weekdays), Wolfertz said, “I think more local programming in the market is great for the market. And we’ll see how that program does. But I like where we are.”
In May sweeps, “Talk Pittsburgh” on KDKA came in second in households behind WTAE’s “Kelly Clarkson” but ahead of “NBC News Daily” on WPXI. (In the 25-54 key age demo preferred by some advertisers, Clarkson ranked first with “Talk Pittsburgh” and “NBC News Daily” tied for second.)
KDKA’s Cotugno doesn’t see much room for additional news expansion on KDKA due to network commitments to CBS. WPCW, especially since announcing its plan to disaffiliate with The CW in September, is a different story.
“On the CW I have some things up my sleeves that I’m working on,” he said.
Cotugno notes KDKA/WPCW produces more hours of local content than the other two stations in town with “Pittsburgh Today Live,” “Nightly Sports Call” and other shows in the mix. WTAE produces its quarterly prime-time newsmagazine “Chronicle,” Sunday morning public affairs show “WTAE Listens” and a growing selection of local programs on its sister-streaming service, Hearst’s Very Local Pittsburgh.
“Television is not dying,” Cotugno said. “There’s better content on television right now than there ever has been … What’s dying is good content that people are interested in. Local broadcast is always going to be there. People are going to turn it on for news, weather, events. When you look at ‘PTL’ in total viewers and households ‘PTL’ out-delivers 90-95% of all the newscasts in the market. That says something.”
In May sweeps, “Pittsburgh Today Live” won its time period with a 3.6 household rating, the same rating as KDKA’s 6 p.m. news.
In recent years viewers have noticed a greater turnover in on-air talent with the arrival of younger reporters and anchors who stay for a few years and often move on.
“This is the next generation of Pittsburgh broadcasters,” Wolfertz said. “[They] are highly qualified and hopefully they’re going to write their legacy in Pittsburgh.”
What hasn’t changed is the high level of competition among local TV news outlets.
“The viewer in Pittsburgh wins,” Wolfertz said. “You get three TV stations that are trying their hardest and are as competitive as they can be.”
Cotugno agreed.
“As you know from checking out markets around the country, it’s typically a two-station market in a lot of other places” with another station in a distant third place, Cotugno said. “Here you have three incredibly strong television stations.”
In May sweeps ratings, KDKA ranked No.1 in households in four major news time periods (out of eight) with WTAE ranking No. 1 in three. WPXI ranked No. 3 in all of them.
But the difference between No. 1 and No. 3 in the key demo is as little as one-tenth of a ratings point in some time periods. In the May key demo, WTAE was No. 1 in three of eight news time periods; KDKA and WPXI each ranked No. 1 in two news time periods.
WPXI-TV general manager Kevin Hayes and news director Scott Trabandt did not respond to multiple requests for comment by email or phone. I even did the equivalent of a TV news reporter door knock and went to the station; Trabandt was out and Hayes said he was “too busy to meet with anyone,” per the security guard at the WPXI reception desk.