Spectrum Networks Averaged Over 3 Million Daily Viewing Households in April, the Most Watched Broadcast and Cable News Network Amongst Spectrum Customers Across its News Footprint

STAMFORD, Conn. – Spectrum Networks continued to grow its news audience in April, averaging more than 3 million daily viewing households, higher than any other broadcast and cable news network viewed by Spectrum customers across Spectrum Networks’ nine-state footprint. The viewership, aggregated from Spectrum Networks’ anonymized proprietary set-top box data, punctuated a month defined by major national news stories, including the Derek Chauvin murder trial and President Biden’s first address to Congress.

“We had record-setting audience gains in April, seeing increases in viewership and engagement on both our linear and digital news platforms for the month,” said Mike Bair, Executive Vice President of Spectrum Networks. “Our networks were created around community-based journalism. Communities deserve access to objective reporting and deeply-rooted stories that reflect all angles of an issue; our customers rely on Spectrum News for essential news they can trust.”

What Drove Spectrum News Viewership in April?

On April 20, the day of the Derek Chauvin verdict, Spectrum Networks recorded higher set-top box viewership than all broadcast networks where Spectrum has local news networks in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Massachusetts and Texas. On April 28, Spectrum’s live network-wide coverage of President Biden’s address to the joint session of Congress and post-address special recorded its highest-ever set-top box viewership for a national special, besting all broadcast and cable news networks’ averages in Spectrum News markets. 

Across the country, weather events, local politics, and news programming resulted in high engagement amongst Spectrum customers. Highlights for the month include: 

• Spectrum News Bay News 9 and News 13 in Florida: During major storms in Florida on April 11, Spectrum Bay News 9’s Nielsen ratings in Tampa (1.17) bested NBC (0.71), ABC (1.01), Fox News (0.88), CNN (0.48), MSNBC (0.60), and were seven times higher than the Weather Channel. In Orlando, Spectrum News 13’s viewership peaked from 1-2PM ET, drawing a larger audience than NBC, CNN and MSNBC combined.*
• Spectrum News 1 North Carolina: The debut episode of “Front Porch Politics” with political anchor Tim Boyum on April 7 saw 25 percent higher ratings across the state than the previous 30-day average during the 8-8:30PM ET timeslot. ** 
• Spectrum News 1 Ohio: The network’s new weekend morning news co-anchors Chuck Ringwalt and Brionna Rivers, who debuted on air in April, had an immediate impact on Spectrum News 1’s weekend morning audience, growing the network’s share of local news viewership by over a point from Q1. **
• Spectrum News 1 Kentucky: Since launching November 2018, Spectrum News 1 Kentucky’s engagement continues to grow, averaging higher engagement numbers than CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC combined. On April 5 the network introduced a new morning news format with more local news, stories and weather reports, co-anchored by Mario Anderson and Kayla Moody.  By the end of the month, Kentucky’s local news audience share grew 1.5 percent from 5-9AM and over 2 percent from 9AM-12PM. **

Traffic Spiked on the Spectrum News App in April 

The Spectrum News App, Spectrum Networks’ mobile-first local news app, added more than 140,000 new downloads, bringing its total to over 1.1 million devices through May 6, a 5 percent overall increase from the previous month. On April 20, the day of Chauvin’s verdict, the app had more than 47,000 visits, the most of any day since launching last July. Visitors spent nearly 350,000 minutes in the app collectively, the fourth-highest total time spent since launch while live stream viewership accounted for 34 percent of time spent in the app.  

 

*Nielsen metrics are based on Live+SD, Total Day household impressions in the following DMAs: Charlotte, Greensboro, Orlando, Raleigh, and Tampa.

**Spectrum set-top box data is sourced from all markets where Spectrum News has distribution, and are based on a minimum threshold of 5 consecutive minutes of viewing on one station to count as a viewing HH.

About Spectrum Networks

Spectrum Networks is a series of 24/7 news and sports networks owned and operated by Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), a leading broadband connectivity company and cable operator serving more than 31 million customers in 41 states. Spectrum Networks carry distinct, comprehensive, and exclusive local programming on over 30 networks across Charter’s footprint. More information on Spectrum Networks is available at spectrumlocalnews.com. 

Media Contact

Stacey Mitch

310-531-1570

Stacey.Mitch@charter.com