4 Things I noticed about weather coverage on local TV station websites
Between my deep dive into online weather coverage in early 2025 and a preliminary study in the fall of 2024, I binge-watched over 1200 weather webcasts produced by local TV stations.
Here are four noteworthy observations:
Local television stations don’t always fulfill the weather brand promise
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos once said, “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person.” Judging by what I saw online, the reputation of many local weather teams is in doubt.
A television station that says they provide the “First Alert” doesn’t publish old weather content online. Not updating the weather webcast on the website for several days during a tropical storm, winter storm, or wildfire means the TV station is only pretending to be the “Weather Authority,“ and it’s certainly not the “Team You Can Count On.”
Stations are making money on weather webcasts
Nearly every weather webcast I watched started with a preroll ad. (By the end of this project, I was ready to replace my windows, re-pipe my house, sign up for Adobe, and hire a lawyer!) Most ads were 15 seconds long. Some were longer but offered a skip option after watching about ten seconds. A few were a minute long and had no skip option. The most interesting preroll ad was for a Gentleman’s Club. The most annoying was a one-minute ad for a hydraulic jack that provided no option to skip.
As mentioned in the online weather coverage research, most local television stations are clipping old weathercasts and publishing them on their websites. It is very frustrating to watch a long ad for something you are not interested in only to find out that the weather webcast was recorded several days ago.
READ MORE: THINK DIGITAL NOW NOT DIGITAL FIRST FOR ONLINE WEATHER
Many websites are not optimized for viewing videos
Most TV station websites are not designed to showcase the weather webcast. That baffles me because the video is the only thing differentiating one TV station’s website from another.
Some websites require 2-3 clicks before you find the page hosting the weather webcast. Others position the video below the fold, toward the middle or bottom of the webpage. Stations owned by Cox Media have the smallest video player on their website, requiring consumers to enlarge it full screen to see the maps and graphics. Gray Media has one of the better layouts that positions the webcast at the top of the weather page in a player that’s easy to view.
Too much time covering currents
Since over 70% of webcasts were clipped from newscasts, I had a chance to see how many broadcast meteorologists cover the weather on television. One thing is obvious: broadcast meteorologists spend a lot of time discussing the current weather conditions.
If there’s been a significant change in the temperatures or a substantial change is expected, it makes sense to show the current temperatures across the area. Even then, broadcast meteorologists don’t need to spend 20 seconds talking about it.
And please, don’t even get me started on the almanac…!
HellerWeather offers coaching support for local TV stations that want to align their on-air and online weather coverage with the needs of contemporary consumers. Limited coaching opportunities are available through 2025. For more information: Talk to Tim.
Tim Heller is an AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and Weather Communications Coach. He helps local TV stations and broadcast meteorologists communicate more effectively and work more efficiently.