TV stations continue big investments in digital products

Aug. 6, 2025 — Nearly three-quarters (73.4%) of TV news directors say they’re doing something new and important digitally in the latest RTDNA/Newhouse School at Syracuse University Survey.

That’s down 5% from last year. It marks a return to the usual pattern: the larger the market and staff, the more likely a station is doing something new digitally. 

As usual, the responses fell into three overlapping themes. And once again, content was king — more of it, more focused, more hard news, more investigative pieces, more features, and above all, more video.

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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.