Generally speaking (I’ve lived in small and large markets in both USA and Australia) salaries are more or less the same. Key industries like finance and banking pay FAR more in the US, but entertainment and general “office” jobs pay around the same. Production costs from what I know are less in Australia - as in the US they really STAFF up news divisions and they have unions. They are staff heavy and production costs higher in the US as they spend more money by far.
Revenue I think would be higher in Australia. The TV market in the US is far more fragmented than Australia. Cable dominates, has higher penetration and there are more local Channels spreading ad revenue thinner in the US. Their FTA decline is about 5 years ahead of ours. For example the 6pm news in Sydney gets around 300k (market pop 5 million) which is the same as LA / NY (market pop 18 million +)
From what I know affiliate costs are much higher in Australia. But for that 50% stations get 100% of their programming. In the US networks supply 2-8 hours a day - and the individual station has to buy programming or fund the rest.
All in all, having worked for Seven in Sydney and also networks and affiliate groups in the US - and knowing both systems reasonably well, I’ve never been able to understand the massive discrepancy in the amount of local news a station in the US and AU pumps out.
My honest take is this: Local TV executives in the US WANT local news, the same way the station manager at 7 Perth or 9 Brisbane recognizes how important local news is to his station - in the US they recognize that at all size stations. In smaller markets viewers over consume local news even more.
Stations there have local news legacies like NBN or 7 Tasmania for 30 years. They invest, market, strategize, promote, and beleive in their product. And when they do that - its a success and brings revenue. The same as 7 Tasmania or 7 QLD. Strong local news = strong station,
In short - its the mindset, The Americans in large cities and small towns believe “if you build it they will come” - even in cities as small as Albury, Toowoomba,
That mindset does not exist in Australia,
My honest take is - it’s mindset - not economics.
Can you imagine a station like 7 Perth or 9 Adelaide not thinking their local news at 1130am, 4pm and 6pm is the key to their success - and not investing significant resources and talent into that? In short - that mindset exists at stations of all sizes in the US and Canada, Right down to 1 million sized markets (say regional VIC) or even smaller markets (200,000) The $ they have to work with is smaller - but gosh damn do they put that $ to work to make sure they win the ratings. They are all so competitive.
In Australia that mindset stops at Adelaide, maybe Gold Coast & Tasmania. In the US - it continues right down the chain to stations with audiences and ratings a fraction of any WIN sub station.
Many loal news services in the US are sustained with 5000 viewers at 5am and 10,000 viewers at 6p. You would be shocked if you saw the viewing numbers relative to the amount of money they spend oil the product
A market the size of say Canberra - 500,000 or so.
You might have the NBC primetime Lineup having 10,000 viewers all night - network reality drama and comedy.
But local news at 5pm and 6pm would rate 25,000
They’ve invested in it, left it there, they promo it and nutriré it. This the community turns to them.
When your local 6pm news rates 250% above your network primetime - you invest it it. But it gets those ratings as they’ve invested in it, market it and nurture it
Australian station groups have axed. Moved slots. Changed formats. Reduced and flipped around local news every 2 years for decades now. Instead of investing in it - they cut form it. Instead of promo -ING and nurturing it - they ignore it. Hence why it’s not viable. Often viewers in these markets (Canberra) choose the Sydney news - as the local has been murdered And treated like crap
Interestingly enough - the stations that have kept local news at 6, invested in and nurtured (gwn, nbn, 7 Queensland 7 Tasmania) see dominant ratings that often make it the number one show just like the US
Funny how that works….
