Local TV news profitability falls sharply
By Tim Mirabito, Keren Henderson and Akshaya Chandrasekaran
Local television news profitability fell sharply in 2025, according to the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey.
Just 30.8% of news directors reported their newsroom was showing a profit, down nearly 19 percentage points from last year’s 49.7% — itself the first time the figure had dropped below 50% since 2010. Even accounting for the 34.6% of respondents who said they didn’t know their station’s profitability, the overall numbers offer little encouragement, falling well short of the highs seen in 2015 and 2020.
Profitability varied widely by market and staff size, with the largest newsrooms and biggest markets generally faring better than mid-sized ones, though small sample sizes in some categories make those breakdowns less reliable. News directors also reported that, on average, local news programming accounts for 47.6% of total station revenue, though 77% said they weren’t sure of the exact figure, underscoring how much uncertainty still surrounds station finances. TV website profitability likewise declined, with only 29.9% of stations reporting a profit, down 13 points from a year earlier, while losses ticked up to 6%.
On the budget side, the picture was slightly more encouraging: after budgets hit a two-decade low the previous year, more stations reported increases (+7 points) and more held steady (+7.7 points), while fewer reported cuts (-9.9 points). Still, researchers caution that rising costs across the board may be eating into any budget gains. Taken together, the data point to a TV news business under continued financial strain, even as some newsrooms see modest budget relief heading into 2026.
This annual survey, conducted in the fourth quarter of 2025, drew responses from more than 1,100 television stations and nearly 600 radio stations, and is supported by the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and the Radio Television Digital News Association.