Situation Analysis

The challenge to overcome in a medium-sized Midwest market is one that many stations face: How to gain traction with a morning newscast at a Fox affiliate against a dominant legacy station that easily wins the dawn patrol race? Our client knew that just building a good morning newscast would not work – they had to be different and better. Teaming up with AR&D research and consulting, the station carried out a plan that set them apart from the competition in a distinct manner that was valued by viewers.

 

Strategy

There’s a tendency for many news managers to focus on the evening newscasts, but AR&D believes local morning news is the new “prime time” so we made the morning a priority at this station. The strategy was to break the rules and create a different and better morning newscast that fit the lifestyle of the market like a glove.

We created a Morning News Task Force from all station departments to develop concepts that included the following:

• A newscast with an upbeat, fun environment that included live local bands in the studio, the craft lady, and the grill guys cooking outdoors in the middle of the Midwest winter in addition to the staples of weather and overnight news. Stations must break through the sea of sameness in their markets by being different and better.
• “Forecast First” – a quick look at the daypart forecast coming out of every commercial break. Some of those quick forecasts are done on the outdoor WeatherDeck – where guests also drop by with information on charity events.
• A fail-safe plan for owning coverage of these two important images in the morning. Research of morning news viewers showed that breaking news and severe weather coverage were critical to success.
• To stay on track, the station utilized AR&D’s “Buy-In Day” concept. The general manager conducted station-wide and individual meetings. Management detailed individual responsibilities with employees signing the memo agreeing to meet those goals. The idea was for everyone to understand that what they do individually and as a team are the keys to winning. Total station buy-in and involvement is critical to success. As a result, they were relentlessly consistent every morning, paying attention to every detail — from the tone of the music and teases, to their brand of journalism.

Results

 

The Fox station became dominant with 25-54 viewers.

In fact, a Nielsen analysis showed that some women in the demo stay with the morning newscast for two hours every morning. It has truly become a part of their daily routine.

The other stations have reacted by increasing their morning resources. They’re also trying to imitate the Fox newscast. But, as is usually the case for copycatting, the other stations are making little headway in their quest to overcome the newly dominant morning newscast in the market.