2012 TV and Radio News Staffing andProfitability Survey
Part I: TV News Staffing Soars to 2
nd
Highest Level Ever with More HiringProjected; Profitability Rises Again
By Bob Papper
-
TV news employment up to second highest level ever; profitability up, too
-
More TV news hiring projected this year
-
Radio news little changed, as usual
The latest RTDNA/Hofstra University Annual Survey found that
TV news staffing soared in 2011
- adding 1,131 jobs - to reach total full time employment of 27,653.That's a gain of 4.3% over last year and the highest average full time TV news staff ever.However, overall, it puts 2011 in second place for total TV news employment. Firstplace is still held by year 2000. The average station newsroom employment then waslower than today, but more stations originated local news.Overall, there are now 725 TV stations originating local news - running that news onthose stations and another 242 stations for a total of 967 stations airing local news.The average TV station hired 5.4 replacements during 2011 and 1.5 new, additionalpositions.
Top replacement hires:
1) reporters2) producers3) photographers4) anchors
5) multimedia journalists6) weather 7) associate producers/news assistants8) web, and9) tape editor and sports.
Top new hires:
1)producers2)reporters3)web4)anchors5)photographers6)multimedia journalists7)tape editor 8)weather, associate producers/news assistants and executive producer In contrast, the latest numbers for the newspaper industry found that newspaper newsroom staff fell 2.4% from a year ago. The American Society of News Editorsreported that the total newspaper news staff of 40,600 is at the lowest level in the 35years that ASNE has been conducting the survey. Overall, newsroom staff has fallen28.6% from its high in 1990.
TV Staff Size – 2012
Avgfull-timeMedianfull-timeMaximumfull-time Avgpart-timeMedianpart-timeMaximumpart-time Avgtotalstaff MediantotalMaximumtotal staff All TV38.232240 5.1 3194 43.636 240Big four affiliates40.734240 5.3 3194 46.439 240Other commercial23.3131104.0 3 15 23.0 14 110Non-commercial4.6481.9166.57.510Market size:1-2567.770 240 7.34.536 75.880.524026-5046.752 945.14 17 51.656.59451-10039.03885 4.1320 43.943 100101-15026.525 92 6.6 2 194 33.530.5209151+19.52140 3.0 2 15 23.1 24 40
The median number of full time staffers rose by two from a year ago, and the averagenumber soared by 2.6. That's a huge one-year increase. Not everyone shared in thegrowth. Markets 26 - 50 actually dropped, but markets 51+ all went up noticeably, andthe biggest markets, 1 - 25, skyrocketed.
Staff Size Changes - The Past Year
IncreaseDecreaseSameDon’t know All TV news42.9%10.1% 46.2%0.9%Big four affiliates41.89.947.41.0Other commercial64.012.024.00In the last year, the percentage of stations saying they increased staff rose by more than11%, and the percentage saying they decreased staff fell by 10%. Generally, the larger the market, the more likely that the station increased staff. Fox affiliates were morelikely than any other group to increase staff size. Stations in the South were more likelyto have added staff than stations elsewhere.
Planned Staff Changes - The Next Year
IncreaseDecreaseSameNot sure All TV news36.7%2.4%54.6%6.3%Big four affiliates36.22.756.15.0Other commercial56.00 24.020.0 As with last year, a majority of news directors expect no staff size changes in 2012, butalmost 15 times as many news directors expect to add staff as cut. Last year, the ratiowas 10:1. Most of the market and staff sizes are similar in number, although thebiggest market and staff groups are more likely than others to expect to add staff, andthe smallest market and staff sizes are the least likely to expect growth. Affiliationmakes little difference, although fewer NBC affiliate news directors expect to add staff than others, and fewer stations in the Midwest expect to add staff.News directors can be a surprisingly optimistic lot, but last year's survey projections onhiring turned out to be dead on what took place in the following year.
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
Recommended
More From This User
Notes
Load more
