News that London Live has been given the go-ahead by Ofcom to cut its local output, albeit after a more radical proposal was thrown out, is the latest story to highlight the challenges facing local TV. It follows the pre-launch collapse of Birmingham’s TV venture and an announcement from Ofcom that it is “very unlikely” that all local TV stations it is licensing will succeed.
These stories may lead some to worry that the local TV experiment in the UK is in crisis. However, consumer research we commissioned with YouGov earlier this year shows that half of Brits (50%) said they would be interested in watching programming relevant to their city or town, pointing clearly to interest in the new stations and more localised content.
Is London’s audience too diverse for local TV?
One explanation for London Live’s request might be that it arguably has one of the most difficult challenges in creating local content, along with the largest opportunity. The opportunity is thanks to the potential audience being significantly larger than any other local TV station due to launch. However, with this greater opportunity also comes greater audience diversity, which makes it difficult to make the content feel ‘local’ to people in very different areas of greater London.
However, our research shows that there is an appetite for truly local content, with 70% of potential viewers saying they are most interested in watching local news programmes, followed by over half (52%) wanting to see documentaries about their local areas and almost a third (30%) keen to be shown the latest on their local sports teams. With these figures in mind, maybe London Live should follow the model of one of the more recent channels to launch, Made In Cardiff, which has taken a strong position on its need for truly local content. News editor Jeff Collins said: “We are bringing something different to the table. ITV and BBC Wales have to cater for the whole nation. The difference with Made In Cardiff is that we will totally focus on Cardiff. Viewers in the city will be able to see what’s going on it their home town.”
The tech is in place but where are the viewers?
Along with London Live, we’ve seen a host of new local TV stations go on air this year, including channels in Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, North Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, Norwich and Nottingham, which serve to show that the technology is in place to get these new services up and running relatively quickly. So it’s not the technology that is going to define the success of these new channels, but the content they offer and how they successfully engage their audience.
In fact, figures from our research show a need for more local promotion about the launch of these new services, with three quarters of British TV viewers (75%) not knowing that a local channel could be launching near them this year and a further 15% claiming to have heard of local TV but do not know where these channels are due to launch.
Sink or swim?
One thing London Live has done successfully is to gain instant access to a wealth of London-based news and reporting talent through its partnership with the Evening Standard, albeit through their both being part of the same media group. This gives the fledgling channel access to not only editorial staff and resources, but the opportunity to tap into existing communities through cross-platform advertising and promotions. In a world where many local newspapers and community websites continue to struggle to retain readers, and in turn advertisers, a partnership with a local TV channel offers an interesting opportunity for new advertising models across both media organisations.
Local TV is in the midst of a five year experiment to see if it can succeed where regional TV failed before it. While there are certainly challenges ahead, the opportunity is also clear and the keys to success will be ensuring these new broadcasters strike the balance between revenues and views. By finding a business model that works, ensuring they create great content and potentially even partnering with another local media outlet these new channels could certainly find their feet, but as Ofcom so bluntly put it – not all will succeed. The experiment will sink or swim in the next year.
Mark Errington is chief executive of BroadStream
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