How many stations does each big TV company own in the Upper Midwest, and how much reach do they have?
I’ve addressed that question here before, but one factor that wasn’t included was the influence of pairings of multiple major affiliations under one roof. The best way to reflect each company’s actual influence on the Upper Midwest would be to look at their revenues. Another would be ratings. However, neither of those data sets is publicly-released.
So, here’s a less-official way. Let’s show each company’s share of the regional major affiliates by weighting them to account for the number of households in each market. I divided the number of households in each market by four, representing the four major networks, and then gave each company credit for the share of the networks they own in each market. For example, if they have one major affiliate in a market, the weighted reach would be one-quarter of that market’s households. If they have two major affiliates in that market, the weighted reach would be half of the households.
Again, this is for general information and entertainment proposes only and does not have any real-world regulatory or monetary significance.
| Owner | Overall Upper Midwest reach | Share of major affiliates, weighted by households |
| Gray | 55.9% | 20.8% |
| FOX | 37.9% | 9.5% |
| Tegna | 35.7% | 8.9% |
| Sinclair | 35.4% | 11.3% |
| Hubbard | 30.6% | 7.6% |
| Nexstar | 28.9% | 7.2% |
| CBS | 25.5% | 6.4% |
| Hearst | 24.6% | 6.1% |
| Scripps | 24.5% | 6.1% |
| Allen | 17.7% | 4.1% |
| Weigel | 12.5% | 3.1% |
| MMM | 8.5% | 2.1% |
| Forum | 5.9% | 1.5% |
| Red River | 5.9% | 1.5% |
| Standard | 3.9% | 0.8% |
| Rockfleet | 2.4% | 0.6% |
| Rapid | 1.4% | 0.4% |
| Marks | 1.1% | 0.3% |
| Lilly | 1.1% | 0.3% |
(It is important to note that these figures include only ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC affiliates because big-four network affiliates account for the bulk of ratings and revenues.)
As you can see, despite all of that math, the rankings barely change. The only change is that Sinclair moves to second place due to its number of markets with two major affiliations. Also, it’s noteworthy that Gray’s share is almost double Sinclair, indicating its large number of multiple affiliations in smaller markets.
Again, these weighted metrics have no real meaning in the regulatory or financial worlds, but they are an interesting way of estimating the true size of each company in the region short of actual revenue data.
So, who owns what affiliations? The answer to that question is mostly unchanged since the listing here last year, though one affiliation change has changed the metrics for Nexstar and Lilly.
Here’s a full list for each Upper Midwest market:
| Market | % of Upper Midwest Nielsen TV Households | ABC | CBS | FOX | NBC |
| Minneapolis | 25.5% | Hubbard | CBS | FOX | Tegna |
| Milwaukee | 12.5% | Hearst | Weigel | FOX | Scripps |
| Des Moines | 6.2% | Tegna | Hearst | Sinclair | Nexstar |
| Green Bay | 6.2% | Gray | Nexstar | Sinclair | Scripps |
| Omaha | 5.9% | Hearst | Scripps | Sinclair | Gray |
| Madison | 5.5% | Allen | Morgan Murphy | Sinclair | Gray |
| Cedar Rapids-Waterloo | 4.8% | Gray | Sinclair | Sinclair | Allen |
| Quad Cities | 4.0% | Tegna | Nexstar | Nexstar** | Gray |
| Lincoln-Tri Cities | 3.9% | Sinclair &Standard*** | Gray | Sinclair | Gray |
| Sioux Falls | 3.7% | Gray | Nexstar | Gray | Gray |
| Fargo | 3.5% | Forum | Gray | Red River | Gray |
| La Crosse-Eau Claire | 2.9% | Allen | Morgan Murphy | Nexstar | Gray |
| Wausau-Rhinelander | 2.4% | Allen | Gray | Gray | Rockfleet |
| Duluth | 2.3% | Hubbard | Gray | Red River | Gray |
| Bismarck-Minot | 2.3% | Forum | Nexstar | Gray | Gray |
| Sioux City | 2.1% | Nexstar | Sinclair | Sinclair | Gray |
| Rochester-Mason City | 2.0% | Hubbard | Allen | Gray** | Gray |
| Rapid City | 1.4% | Gray | Nexstar | Gray | Rapid |
| Marquette | 1.1% | Marks | Lilly | Gray | Gray |
| Mankato | 0.7% | Hubbard* | Gray | Gray | Gray |
| Ottumwa-Kirksville | 0.6% | Sinclair | Sinclair | Gray | Gray |
| North Platte | 0.2% | Sinclair* | Gray | Gray | Gray |
*Defacto affiliate from out of market
**Operated under an agreement with the licensee
***The Lincoln-Tri Cities market has two separate ABC affiliates.
The proposed Tegna-Standard General and Forum-Red River sales are awaiting regulatory approval and are not reflected in the tables above. If approved as proposed, Standard General would assume Tegna’s current place in the Upper Midwest list, while Cox would assume Standard General’s current spot. Forum’s proposed purchase of Red River would raise Forum’s total to 8.2% of households reached, with a weighted share of network affiliates of 2.9%.