News Audience Trends, 2011 vs 2012 [CHART]

Local TV saw a significant 6.5% drop in audience size between 2011 and 2012, finds Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism in its State of the News Media 2013 study. Network TV also saw a decline, of 1.9%, while other news sources such as newspapers (-0.2%), magazines (-0.1%) and audio (-0.1%) remained relatively flat. And despite 2012 being an election year, cable saw only a 0.8% gain.

That’s a troublesome indication for cable networks, for whom political news is traditionally a strength.

The only news source to see a significant audience gain was digital, up 7.2%. Read the rest at MarketingCharts.