Every week, according to Nielsen, Fayetteville, North Carolina, radio reaches 282,794 adults. This is more consumers than use any other medium, including local TV, local cable, streaming video, social media, online audio, and newspapers.

Reach, though, is only one component used to calculate ratings.  The other metric that contributes to the rating formula is the time spent using each medium. So, although for the past 10 years, AM/FM radio's reach has been significantly higher than the reach of local TV, consumers spent considerably more time watching TV. As a result of the math, TV has enjoyed higher ratings than radio.

For the first time, however, AM/FM radio ratings have exceeded local TV ratings by three percent among the key advertising demographic of 18-49-year-olds, according to Nielsen's Total Audience Data for the third quarter of 2023.

In the Fayetteville area, there are 204,319 18-49-year-olds, the majority of whom are millennials, a generation that now accounts for nearly one-third of all retail spending.

The combined weekly reach of Fayetteville, North Carolina's broadcast television stations has slipped to 62.7% of all adults, according to Nielsen. These stations include area television stations like WRAL, WECT, WTVD, and, WUNC.  

The combined Fayetteville TV audience now falls behind cable programming at 69.5% and just ahead of streaming platforms at 57.1%. To put this virtual dead heat into perspective, none of the three video media is a match for Fayetteville radio which reaches more than 81% of local adults every week.

But although the reach of broadcast TV, cable, and streaming are neck-and-neck, the share of time consumers spend with each of these media is dramatically different.

According to Nielsen research, 241,00 people in the Fayetteville, North Carolina area will likely participate in the upcoming election on November 8th. To sway these voters, candidates and political action committees are expected to spend a record amount on advertising.

AdImpact, a company that measures advertising expenditures by political campaigns, says more than $3.6 billion have been spent to reach voters so far in 2022. This puts spending on a course to obliterate the record level of campaign dollars set during the 2020 presidential elections.

Despite crumbling ratings, through August 1st, 58% of all political spending has been dished out to local TV stations, according to AdImpact.

Nielsen reports that since 2017, the reach of broadcast TV stations WRAL, WECT, WTVD, and WUNC has decayed by 10%.

Every week, 333,567 Fayetteville, North Carolina consumers watch something on TV.

Not too many years ago, when a Fayetteville consumer sat down to watch TV, the program options were limited to what was on Raleigh stations WRAL, WECT, WTVD, WUNC, or, maybe, what was on a handful of cable channels.  That was then. This is now.

Today, according to Nielsen, each time a TV is turned on in a Fayetteville living room, the viewer has more than 817,000 options not only from broadcast stations and cable systems, but also from streaming video platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Peacock, YouTube, Amazon, Tubi, Crackle, and FreeVee.

Of course, Fayetteville consumers don't even need to sit down in front of their big-screen LCD, anymore. Most of the 817,000 available programs can also be viewed on their computers, tablets, gaming devices, and smartphones. But as far as viewers are concerned, though, it's all just television.

Right now, at least one of the 9,852 businesses located in the Fayetteville, NC area is thinking about using the phrase 'March Madness' as part of upcoming advertising and marketing plans. Why not? It's a great use of alliteration. It's a familiar term. And, it's that time of year.

A furniture store in Hope Mills might think it would be clever to use 'March Madness' in its commercials on Fayetteville radio to promote a big spring sale. A non-profit in Fort Bragg feels it would be a good way to describe its charity fun run on social media and online advertising. A sports bar in Spring Lake believes it would be a no-brainer to use the term in streaming video and audio ads to bring in scores of basketball fans.

It is, indeed,  tempting for a Fayetteville small business owner to use this term for advertising or marketing purposes. But,  to avoid a costly legal battle, the use of this trademarked phrase should be a non-starter. Here's why.

Every week, 218,000 Fayetteville, NC adults watch video programs delivered via the internet. This content goes by several interchangeable names, including OTT (Over-The-Top Television), CTV (Connected TV), and Streaming Video. For this article, we will refer to this type of content as Streaming TV.

Unlike traditional TV, cable, and satellite where the viewer needs to be in a fixed location, Fayetteville consumers can access streaming TV anywhere using an internet-connected device. These include SmartTVs, Firesticks, Roku, smartphones, computers, laptops, tablets, and gaming consoles.

In all, according to Nielsen, 92.1% of Fayetteville households have one or more devices capable of connecting to streaming TV. Although this medium is still new, streaming TV now rivals legacy media in its ability to reach local consumers.

Every week, Fayetteville consumers are spending more-and-more time engaged with streaming TV.

Fayetteville, North Carolina area business owners are expected to spend $82 million advertising online in 2022. This, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks advertising expenditures across the country.

Borrell's forecast indicates that almost 50% of Fayetteville's online expenditures will be in the form of paid search. The most recognizable type of this advertising is the paid ads that appear adjacent to the results of almost every search query on Google, Yahoo, and Bing.

Borrell's forecast also indicates that approximately 27% of online expenditures will be in the form of display advertising. This consists of traditional banner ads that appear across millions of websites and apps, including social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram. According to SmallBizGenius.net, the average Fayetteville area consumer is served more than 1700 of these ads per month.

Video advertising in Fayetteville is forecast to account for 23% of all online ad dollars in 2022. Like search and display, millions of websites can support this type of advertising. This includes sites, apps, and platforms like YouTube, Roku Channel, Hulu, Paramount+, and most social media sites.

The remainder of online advertising dollars is expected to be spent on audio advertising, including streaming sites like Pandora and Spotify; or email marketing campaigns.

It wasn't too long ago when advertising on Fayetteville, NC area television stations was considered the gold standard for marketing by local business owners. But over the past few years, the number of viewers reached by Raleigh stations WRAL, WECT, WTVD, and, WUNC has plummeted. In all, only 66% of adult consumers now tune-in to at least one of these channels during the week, according to Nielsen.

The consumption of video content isn't diminishing among North Carolina consumers. What has changed, though, is how they are watching it.

In November, according to Nielsen, the share of time watching broadcast television has fallen behind other video options including cable programing and internet-delivered choices such as Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and hundreds of other streaming networks.

It used to be, when a small business owner wanted to advertise on television in Fayetteville, the only option was to advertise on Raleigh stations like WRAL, WECT, WTVD, and, WUNC. But slowly, the number of options has expanded to include cable channels provided by Spectrum, DISH, and DirecTV.

Heading in 2022, local advertisers have even more options as internet-connected devices deliver hundreds of more programming choices to North Carolina consumers. Collectively, this type of content is called OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). For the purpose of this discussion, OTT & CTV will be referred to singularly as streaming video.

Streaming video can be viewed on any device that can connect to the internet. This includes computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones. Programing can also be accessed using a smart-TV, Roku Stick, Amazon Fire Stick, or a game console. In all, according to Nielsen, 92.1% of Fayetteville households own a device capable of receiving streaming video.

In all, says Nielsen, 217,553 Fayetteville consumers watch streaming video content every week. Combined, these internet channels now reach more adults every week than local newspapers, podcasts, and digital audio services like Pandora, Spotify, Sirius/XM. Amazon Music, and iHeart Radio.

Surprisingly, streaming video now reaches almost as many Fayetteville adults as local TV and local cable.

When WFNC-AM became Fayetteville's first radio station in 1939, there was no Facebook, no Spectrum, no Sirius/XM, no Netflix, no podcasts, and no local TV. Consequently, it was pretty easy for radio to become the number one reach medium among local consumers.

Over the past 82 years, Fayetteville business owners have come to depend on the mammoth reach of radio among local shoppers to successfully market the goods and services they sell. Advertising on Fayetteville radio has helped North Carolina companies to survive and thrive during world wars, natural disasters, recessions, depressions, and even a pandemic.

Heading into 2022, local consumers have more media choices than ever before. But, despite the overabundance of social media, video streaming, audio streaming, cable, and other technological marvels, Fayetteville radio is still the most used advertising medium.

Every week, according to Nielsen, 334,000 adult consumers in Fayetteville, North Carolina watch something on television. But, of course, the definition of what it means to watch TV has changed since the time when the number of available viewing options could be counted on the fingers of a single hand.

Today, Fayetteville consumers have a gargantuan number of viewing choices. This includes programs from stations like WRAL, WECT, WTVD, and, WUNC (now PBS NC). Or maybe cable and satellite systems like Spectrum, DISH, and DirecTV.. There's also content delivered over the internet from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, Disney+, and Amazon Prime.

No longer are Fayetteville consumers tied to the 21-inch Zenith in their living rooms. Instead, TV can be watched on giant LCDs, smartphones, and tablets from any room in the house, in the backseat of their cars, or practically anywhere else.

The best way to think about TV watching in Fayetteville is in terms of three buckets:

1. Over-the-air...including all broadcast channels
2. Cable...including all premium and non-premium programming
3. Internet...including all streaming services. This is also known as OTT or CTV

Here's how many Fayetteville adult viewers fall into each bucket. Remember, viewers are not limited to a single bucket.

Fayetteville, North Carolina business owners are expected to spend $16,945,000 on streaming video advertising in 2021, according to Borrell Associates, a company that tracks online marketing expenditures across the country. This spending will be 26.2% higher than in 2020.

Streaming video advertising expenditures are accelerating as Fayetteville consumers continue to abandon shows on local TV stations and cable systems in favor of programming streamed via an internet connection. These online channels include Netflix, Hulu, Prime, Disney+, Paramount+, Peacock, Prime Video, Roku Channel, SlingTV, PlutoTV, and dozens more.

This type of streamed video content is known collectively as OTT (Over-The-Top-Television) or CTV (Connected-Television). These two terms are sometimes used interchangeably but do have a subtle difference.

OTT generally means the video is watched on a small device like a computer, tablet, or smartphone.  CTV, on the other hand, typically means the content is viewed on a smart-TV or a regular television using a streaming device like a Roku or Amazon stick.

In Fayetteville, according to Nielsen, OTT/CTV has exceeded the weekly reach of local newspapers and streaming audio services such as Pandora and Spotify. The medium is rapidly approaching the reach of local cable and broadcast TV stations.

More than 94% of Fayetteville adults have access to the internet.  Ubiquitous technology such as computers, tablets, smartphones, and connected TVs allow North Carolina consumers to go online whenever they choose, which, for some adults, is always.

The Pew Research Center, a public opinion research company, reports that one-in-three consumers say they are online constantly. A 50% increase from 2015.  In total, 85% of consumers say they connect at least one time every day.

So, how are Fayetteville consumers spending all this time connected to the internet?

According to Nielsen, streaming audio and video content, social networking, checking the weather, and banking are the top online activities for Fayetteville consumers each month.

Broadcast television came to the Fayetteville area in 1954 when WRAL-TV signed on for the first time. In those days, very few local households actually owned a set, a number that would grow to 50% by 1960.

At first, Fayetteville consumers needed rabbit-ears or outdoor antennas to receive signals from a small handful of North Carolina stations. The quality of reception varied day-to-day.

By the early 1960s, however, local cable systems began to bring higher-quality, reliable reception to households throughout the Fayetteville area. The number of programming options, though, remained limited to affiliates of ABC, NBC, and CBS.

In 1972, viewing options began to expand as local cable began offering Fayetteville area consumers the opportunity to purchase premium services, including HBO, Showtime, and Cinemax.  Five years later came an explosion of non-premium cable channels such as TBS and CNN.

In the early 1990s, Fayetteville viewers could not only receive their television programming over-the-air or by cable, but options expanded to include satellite delivery by DishTV and DirectTV.

The next TV innovation came in 2007 as Fayetteville consumers started turning to the internet to watch streaming channels like Netflix and Hulu.  These new services allowed viewers to watch TV on their phones, computers, and tablets as well as their living room LCD and Plasma screens.

Today, all of this video technology offers viewers the ultimate flexibility to choose how, when, and where to watch TV.  So, what are they watching?

According to Nielsen, 329,000 adults in the Fayetteville, North Carolina area have access to the internet, equivalent to 94.1% of the population. On average, local consumers are spending 8.62 hours per week online.

Fayetteville millennials, the first generation that grew up in a digital world, spend considerably more time online. Nielsen reports that, on average, Fayetteville's 25-39-year-old consumers are clocking 10.71 hours connected to the internet.

So, how are Fayetteville consumers spending their time online?

According to Nielsen, streaming audio and video content, social networking, checking the weather, and banking are the top online activities for Fayetteville consumers each month.