At the 2026 National Association of Broadcasters conference in April, Jamie Spencer of Frank N. Magid Associates offered a blunt reframing of the audience landscape: News outlets are no longer competing for consumption. They’re competing for attention — and the drivers of that attention are shifting in ways that challenge long-held assumptions. Sharing new research built on Magid surveys of more than 150 brands tested among 2,000 weekly news consumers, he also declared that “the era of breaking news is dead.” Context is the new defining value for news outlets. 

An overloaded, AI-accelerated media diet

Magid research found that consumers now spend roughly 13 hours per day with media, said Spencer. Audiences navigate a fragmented information ecosystem of more than 50,000 brands. Engagement is broad but shallow, with a typical consumer watching or listening to more than 70 sources of content regularly. Artificial intelligence disrupts this already-saturated environment even more. According to Magid, more than half of consumers (51%) already use AI to get news, and notably, 17% now get news first from AI platforms — already surpassing pathways like email newsletters or push alerts.

For local leaders, the implication is stark: distribution advantages are eroding. The battle is no longer about being first — or even being present. It’s about being chosen.

From consumption to attention

According to Magid’s research, attention — not reach — is the new KPI for news sustainability.

In this saturated information ecosystem, scale still matters but ARPU — average revenue per user — becomes more critical in an environment where deep relationships outperform fleeting impressions.

Attention is not just behavioral, Magid research concluded. It’s also emotional and intentional. The study outlined three drivers that characterize “intentional attention”:

  • I seek this source out
  • It fits easily into my day
  • It covers what matters most to me

Cultivating “intentional attention” matters more in a crowded information ecosystem, because less than half of media consumption is actually active. The rest is passive, ambient, or incidental. In this environment, Magid predicts successful news organizations will design for intentional engagement, not accidental or passive exposure.

The big transition: The end of the breaking news era

Especially for local TV, news organizations have historically built both their workflow and their brands around winning at breaking news. In a crowded information ecosystem, that model is losing relevance.

“We are now fully in the context era,” Spencer argued.

Being first no longer guarantees value. In fact, in a world of alerts, feeds, and AI summaries, speed is commoditized. What audiences increasingly seek is:

  • What does this mean?
  • How does it affect me?
  • What should I think or do next?

For news organizations, this represents a fundamental shift in editorial value proposition—from information delivery to meaning-making.

Passion as a driver for news brand success

Magid’s data shows a widening gap between brands that inspire passion and those that don’t. Commoditized news and brands cannot break through the noise.

In this environment, Magid research found that the brands that inspire passion from their followers are outperforming: Public media like NPR and local station affiliates, individual creators (vs. institutional brands), and strongly opinionated, differentiated voices like Rachel Maddow, Glenn Beck, and Sean Hannity.

By contrast, broad and generalist brands are falling behind, including digital brands like BuzzFeed and HuffPost, generalist variety formats like the Today Show and The View, according to Magid research.

What separates the leaders from the rest is focused, distinctive, personality-driven content outperforms broad, generic offerings.

Paying for news

When it comes to paying specifically for news, Magid found that just under one-third of audiences paid for some form of news via some form of subscription.

Willingness to pay for news was driven primarily by a set of core considerations, including: affordability of pricing; trustworthiness of the source; paying for the benefit of seeing fewer or no ads; and, the opportunity to get access to exclusive content. 

Magid found that different platforms monetize their audiences with different levels of effectiveness. Digital platforms have an advantage on scale and first-party data but struggle with low monetization unless the content is highly differentiated. By contrast, TV remains highly effective at monetizing attention. Across platforms, local news leaders must rethink how they convert, price and package ‘attention.’

Strategic imperatives for local news leaders

These findings suggest three strategic shifts: Context as the central value proposition of news; passion not just reach as the core audience strategy; and reinvention, not just iteration, of news workflows in this AI era.  

1. Redefine the news value proposition around context

Move beyond “telling people what happened” and instead invest more in explainers and analyzing the local impacts of what happened, more solutions journalism, and more narrative storytelling. In practice, that means asking: What does our audience understand better because of us?

2. Build for passion, not just reach

Generic content will be lost in the sea of sameness. Distinctive voices, beats, and formats will win. Opportunities include: Developing individual journalists as brands, leaning into niche coverage areas, and creating formats that foster greater emotional connection — because passion drives both retention and monetization.

3. Rebuild the operating model for the AI era

This transition is not just about layering AI onto legacy workflows. Success will require rethinking content creation for multi-platform and AI-mediated distribution; designing products for time efficiency and daily habit integration; and using AI to enhance — not replace — context and insight.

The organizations that succeed will treat AI as a transformational technology, not merely as a tool upgrade.

In summary, Magid’s Spencer suggested local news is not losing its relevance, it is losing fit with how audiences now allocate attention. The opportunity is significant for those willing to adapt. In a world overwhelmed by information, the brands that win will not be the fastest or the loudest. They will be the ones that help people make sense of their world — and feel something in the process.

Read the full Magid report here: Monetizing the Omnimedia Landscape.

Note: AI was used to summarize the author’s notes from this NAB session.