SurveyUSA releases for the first time an unprecedented, in-depth look at the TV media landscape in media Market #7, Boston (Manchester).

This is not stale, generic, national research pulled out of some book, with limited and dated relevance to the Boston market. This is 1,700 PDF pages of fresh, local, detailed research on the Boston media landscape, conducted January 2013, with insight nowhere else found on the Boston media market and the talent that drives it.

Which of the following stations has the best local newscast?

• WBZ-TV, channel 4, the CBS affiliate, which goes by WBZ News.
• WCVB-TV, channel 5, the ABC affiliate, which goes by NewsCenter 5.
• WHDH-TV, channel 7, the NBC affiliate, which goes by 7News.
• WMUR-TV, channel 9, the Manchester NH ABC affiliate, which goes by News 9.
• WFXT-TV, channel 25, the Fox affiliate, which goes by Fox 25 News.
• NECN, the New England Cable News network.

Which areas are the stations in 2^nd and 3^rd place strongest in? Where is there opportunity for them to catch the #1 station?

SurveyUSA, America’s Pollster, interviewed a total of 950 Boston DMA adults, including 513 respondents who watch local TV news almost every day, and another 437 who do not watch local TV news.

SurveyUSA talked to your viewers. SurveyUSA listened to what they told us.

Listen to this marketplace assessment, by a 52-year old woman from Cambridge, who damns Channel 5 with the faintest of praise:

And, listen to this reaction to Fox 25′s Doug VB Goudie, from a 40-year old man from Braintree:

More than 100 actualities from your viewers are available for you to listen to and analyze. These real-time focus groups would cost many thousands of dollars to put together if you were to try to do it yourself.  SurveyUSA has done it for you.

• Listen as viewers tell us about Channel 5:  “The people are older than the the Pyramids” … “out of shape” … “just a mess.“
• Listen as viewers tell us about Channel 25: “Blood, guts and murders.“
• Listen as viewers tell us about Channel 7: How many “Body Parts Found on Railroad Tracks” stories can you stomach?

We are pleased to make this data available to the stakeholders most affected by it:

• General Managers
• News Directors
• Anchors
• On-Air Reporters
• Talent Agents
• Group Heads
• Research Directors
• Promotion Directors
• Program Directors
• Advertisers

Whether you’re a news director worried about slipping ratings, an agent trying to shop a client, an anchor trying to figure out if it’s time to jump to a PR gig, an advertiser wondering which station is really the best place to spend your dollars, or just an interested news junkie, there’s something here for you.

61 pointed questions, with fully crosstabbed results, giving you data on:

• Why roughly half of Boston-area adults don’t watch local news
• Why Hearst’s WCVB-TV, under ND Andrew Vrees and GM Bill Fine, is the overall #1 station in the market
• Where Fox’s WFXT-TV, under ND Paul McGonagle and GM Gregg Kelley, is closing
• Where Sunbeam’s WHDH-TV, run by ND Linda Miele and GM Chris Wayland, shows strength of its own
• How the most popular on-air talent in Boston is a weatherman.
• How the most popular news anchor in Boston is a part-timer at CBS’ WBZ-TV, run by ND John Verrilli and GM Mark Lund.
• Which station has the best on-air sports?
• Which station has the best website?
• Which station has the best on-air weather?
• Who is the best weatherman?
• Which station is in front when it comes to connecting with viewers using social media?
• Exactly what features regular news viewers would want to see if they could design their own perfect newscast.
• What’s turning off non-viewers.
• Which station is more than twice as popular with standard-definition news viewers as it is with HD viewers.
• The correlation between how much money you earn and how much you find local TV news to be “silly.”

Every major on-air talent in the Boston media market is analyzed. Not only is each talent rated relative to his/her competitors, but the ratings for each talent are broken down by:

• Gender
• Age
• Race
• Education
• Income
• Region of the DMA

A complete, in-depth comparison of the relative strengths and weaknesses of 30 of the Boston market’s most celebrated  news personalities:

1. Bianca de la Garza
2. Randy Price
3. J.C. Monahan
4. Ed Harding
5. Heather Unruh
6. Liz Brunner
7. Harvey Leonard
8. Adam Williams
9. Jeremy Reiner
10. Kim Khazei
11. Reid Lamberty
12. Pete Bouchard
13. David Wade
14. Paula Ebben
15. Jack Williams
16. Lisa Hughes
17. Jonathan Elias
18. Melissa Mack
19. Barry Burbank
20. Mike Nikitas
21. Latoyia Edwards
22. Tom Griffith
23. Shelley Walcott
24. Gene Lavanchy
25. Shannon Mulaire
26. Maria Stephanos
27. Mark Ockerbloom
28. Kevin Lemanowicz
29. Shiri Spear
30. Doug VB Goudie

Why trust SurveyUSA?

For 20 years, SurveyUSA has worked with local TV stations to improve their newscasts, and to help make their branding, positioning, and talent better. SurveyUSA’s entire focus is local. We understand local media markets like no other research company.

You have 2 ways to access these exclusive SurveyUSA research results

1.  To see just the high-level results of this survey and access the answers to every question asked, click here.

Or:

2. To see all of the results, including the complete interactive crosstabs, which, if printed, will be 1,700 PDF pages, and to be able to listen to the actualities from SurveyUSA’s real-time focus group, click here.