Local news orgs missed out on political ad money in 2024, and other takeaways from a survey of local media companies

Local news organizations said newsletters, video, and digital subscriptions were their top digital successes in 2024, according to the annual Local Media Industry Insights Survey conducted by the Local Media Consortium.

The survey, released this week, included responses from 87 local media companies — 66% local newspapers, 27% broadcast, 3% online-only, and 4% mixed format — about the year-over-year state of the local news industry. More than half of respondents were smaller community outlets, one in five were major metro publications, and 28% were multi-market companies. (LMC members include major legacy outlets The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and The Boston Globe; chains McClatchy and Alden-owned Lee Enterprises; public media such as Connecticut Public; and local TV networks like Circle City Broadcasting. The survey was open to both members and non-members.)

Roughly half (45%) of local news orgs reported overall digital revenue increased in 2024. Another 30% reported digital revenue remained flat and 16% reported a decrease compared to the previous year. The LMC defined digital revenue as any revenue from digital channels, including advertising, consumer, affiliate, e-commerce, and revenue from other online sources.

Looking ahead to 2024, most surveyed (83%) expected digital revenue to increase (68%) or stay flat (15%) at their local news org. Only 1% projected a decrease in digital revenue in 2025.

Though political ad spending was up nationwide with a record-breaking $11 billion (yup, with a b!) spent nationwide, the LMC results indicate respondents were not among the “recipients of the fruits of these political ad buys.” (An ad industry report found that nearly 70% of all political ad spending in the 2024 cycle had been spent in just a handful of battleground states.)

Only 4.6% of survey respondents saw a 50% increase in political ad spend in 2024 compared to 2023. Nearly 20% “did not see any lift at all” and another quarter (24%) saw less than a 10% increase.

Other tidbits from the survey:

• For 2024 digital advertising revenue — which includes display banner ads, video, audio, and newsletter ads — 41% of respondents reported an increase and 25% said it was flat compared to 2023. But the survey shows local news outlets worried about those figures; “advertising declines” were cited by more than half (53%) of respondents as their top challenge.
• A little less than half (46%) of respondents reported consumer revenue — which includes digital subscriptions and donations — was up compared to the previous year. Another 29% said consumer revenue remained flat and 7% saw a decrease.
• News content generated the most traffic and highest revenue in 2024, according to the survey. The next two best-performing categories were sports and arts/entertainment. The LMC also noted “health and wellness punched above its weight in revenue generation as compared with traffic.”
• Nearly half of respondents (47%) said they are planning to use AI to write content (including headlines and summaries) in 2025. “The 2023 local media survey revealed a ‘watch and wait’ approach to AI, but in 2024 the industry began to roll up their sleeves to utilize AI to move their businesses forward,” said Fran Wills, CEO of the LMC. But “AI can’t create local news, so we anticipate a heightened need for journalists to report on and validate local news, creating an opportunity for a more balanced value exchange with tech platforms,” she added.

Read the rest of the report — and compare stats from previous years — here.