NEW YORK—When Hurricane Dorian approached the Southeastern U.S. in early September, residents from the communities in its path overwhelmingly turned to their local TV stations to find out the latest news about the storm. This was a key finding of the “Hurricane Dorian Media Usage Study” conducted by Dynata and commissioned by the TVB trade association.
Speaking with 861 people in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia from Sept. 3-5, 84% of the respondents said they used TV station news to get the latest information on the hurricane and spent an average of three hours and 24 minutes watching local broadcast TV, more than twice the amount of time for network TV and social media. Local TV was also the top choice for 75% of respondents when it came to preparing for the severe weather.
And finally, 94% agreed that local news TV was the most trusted source of information regarding Dorian, with TV stations news websites and apps being the second most at 88%; social media was least trusted at 57%.
“Local communities continue to rely on their local broadcast TV stations to deliver up-to-the-minute and potentially life-saving coverage in times of emergency,” said Steve Lanzano, TVB president and CEO. “Data from the ‘Hurricane Dorian Media Usage Study’ revealed that local communities overwhelmingly chose TV station news over all other resources to deliver the most accurate weather coverage and critical safety information they need.”
The full report on Hurricane Dorian coverage can be found here.
