When Topicals Get Shortchanged
Posted on Wed, Aug 10, 2011 @ 06:30 AM
When I look at local news topical promotion (and teases), it often appears that not much effort is going into them. Or maybe it’s just misguided effort. Many stations continue to produce a list of headlines and think it’s enough to get viewers to watch. Copy that’s vague, confusing or simply teases the wrong things is, unfortunately, very common.
So, here’s something to think about as you gear up for fall. If you want to do one simple thing to have an impact on your ratings, improve your topical promotion. Because topical promotion is more important than ever. The days of appointment vie
wing for local news are all but gone. You have to grab viewers when you can get them – at the point of purchase, during your lead-in.
Your ability to move those viewers from your lead-in program into and through your newscast is absolutely crucial. It can and often DOES determine whether you win the ratings battle on any given day. Its importance simply cannot be overstated. That air time – and the opportunity to persuade viewers – is valuable! You don’t want to just throw it away.
When topicals get shortchanged, that’s exactly what happens – that valuable air time is wasted. Yet too often they are shortchanged. Shortchanged on the time and effort given to produce them. And, backing up a step, on the time and effort given to understanding the audience that will see them. Who’s watching? What kinds of stories interest them most? Do they respond best to seeing anchors and reporters or are they more likely to sample if the focus is on the content? These days it’s easy to get those answers with a quick and effective online study.
But if that’s not possible, you can still take action that will have an impact. Get as much information as you can about your lead-in audience, get everyone involved and, most of all, improve the writing. (Let us know if we can help with a training session.)
We know from research that viewers make decisions based on topical promotion. You want to convince every viewer you can to decide to watch your newscast and your best opportunity is with those viewers right there on your doorstep. So the bottom line is, improve your topicals; it’s well worth the effort!
- Donna Petersen