AI and OTT use up, NextGen TV use drops at local TV stations
Sept. 5, 2025 — Not surprisingly, the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey finds some significant changes in the last year in using OTT, NextGen TV and, especially, artificial intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence
This is the second year we’ve asked what stations are doing with artificial intelligence. Almost a third of news directors (32.6%) report that they’re doing something with AI. That’s up from 26.6% last year.
OTT
TV stations doing “something” with OTT has been moving up, slowly, since we’ve been watching it. At 62.2% “doing something” has hit its highest point, two points above last year.
NextGen TV … ATSC 3.0
Overall, just 18.3% of TV news directors reported doing “something” with NextGen TV. That’s actually down from last year’s 20.9% — which was down from 25% the year before.
Read the Full Report
About the Authors
Bob Papper is Research Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and has worked extensively in radio and TV news.
Keren Henderson is Associate Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and has worked as a news producer and video editor.
Tim Mirabito is Assistant Professor of Broadcast and Digital Journalism at Syracuse University and worked in television, radio, print and online media.
This research was supported by the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Radio Television Digital News Association.
About the Survey
The RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey was conducted in the fourth quarter of 2024 among 1,918 operating, non-satellite television stations and a random sample of 4,763 radio stations. The television response rate is different for every question, but valid responses came from as many as 1,406 television stations (73.3%) and 599 radio news directors and general managers representing 1,632 radio stations. Some data sets (e.g. the number of TV stations originating local news, getting news from others and women TV news directors) are based on a complete census and are not projected from a smaller sample.