Report updated Apr 13, 2026
NBC 4 New York: News & Weather
For residents of the New York tri-state area (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut) seeking local news and weather.
NBC 4 New York: News & Weather is a challenged news app that is completely free. With a 4.3/5 rating from 5.2K reviews, it faces significant user friction. Users particularly appreciate content quality, though app stability and crashes remains a common concern.
What Is NBC 4 New York: News & Weather?
Current Momentum
v8.7 · 1w ago
ActiveNBC 4 New York recently introduced 'Video Shorts,' a new home screen section featuring phone-friendly news videos from local journalists.
Active Nemesis
ABC7 New York
By ABC
Other Rivals
7-Day Rank Pulse 🇺🇸
Recent User Mood 🇺🇸
What makes this app unique?
What Does It Look Like?
How Is The App's Momentum Right Now?
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What Are The Key Features?
Free, dedicated live streaming featuring local newscasts and exclusive content.
High-frequency S-Band dual polarization fixed Doppler weather radar.
Access to award-winning investigative journalism and consumer advocacy.
Who is it for & how much does it cost?
Target Audience
Residents of the New York tri-state area (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey, and Connecticut) seeking local news and weather.
Pricing
Free- Free to download and use
Monetized via advertising and ecosystem engagement; uses Nielsen proprietary software to contribute to TV ratings.
Who Built It?
Enrichment in progress
Publisher profile available very soon
What other apps does NBCUniversal Media make?
NBC10 Boston: News & Weather
News
The NBC App – Stream TV Shows
Entertainment
Universal Orlando Resort
Travel
Telemundo Puerto Rico
News
What do users think recently?
High confidence · 5.2K reviews analyzed
What is the recent mood?
“Recent user voice shows a frustrated sentiment. Users appreciate content quality, but report app stability and crashes and notification management.”
What Users Love
Great news station
Stream NBC programs free of charge.
What Frustrates Users
constantly closes, get message from galaxy s25 ultra it has a bug
For a week now when I open the app it just idles.
Turned off Olympics notifications, got Olympics notifications.
Daily the app sends notifications for silly, inane news stories
What is the competitive landscape for NBC 4 New York: News & Weather?
How's The News Market?
How does it evolve in the News market?
| Chart | Rank | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Free | #78 | ▼41 |
News Market Trend
News market trend & dynamics
Available very soon
The rivals identified
The Nemesis
Head to Head
ABC7 currently holds the edge in user experience due to higher stability and stronger sentiment. While NBC 4 offers deeper investigative content and superior radar tech, technical performance issues are driving a declining trend in its market position.
What sets NBC 4 New York: News & Weather apart
- +
Superior investigative depth through the award-winning I-Team and 'Better Get Baquero' consumer advocacy
- +
Proprietary StormTracker 4 radar technology provides more granular local data than standard weather APIs
What's ABC7 New York's Edge
- -
Stronger overall sentiment and higher user ratings regarding app stability
- -
More streamlined notification management, avoiding the 'spam' complaints currently affecting NBC 4
Peers
Citizen Jackpot Slots Casino
Seven Slots Technology Limited
While not a traditional news station, it is the primary app NYC residents use for real-time breaking news and safety alerts.
User-generated live video and real-time incident tracking
Location-based safety alerts that often precede traditional news reports
Spectrum News: Local Stories
★4.7 (49K)Charter Communications
The home of NY1, an iconic NYC-specific news source that competes directly for the attention of Manhattan and outer-borough residents.
24-hour local news cycle with a heavy focus on NYC politics and transit
Exclusive 'In the Papers' and 'Pat Kiernan' segments
New Kids on the Block
Award-winning 'SmartView' for fast, clutter-free reading
Highly customizable local news tabs for multiple zip codes
NewsBreak: Local News & Alerts
★4.8 (1349K)Particle Media Inc.
A fast-growing aggregator that uses AI to surface hyper-local stories, threatening the 'local authority' of traditional station apps.
AI-driven personalization that surfaces neighborhood-level news
Aggregates content from multiple local sources into a single feed
The outtake for NBC 4 New York: News & Weather
SWOT Analysis
Core Strengths
- Proprietary StormTracker 4 radar technology
- Award-winning I-Team investigative content
- 24/7 live streaming news channel
Critical Frictions
- High frequency of app crashes and loading failures
- Inaccurate weather data sync (time-lagged results)
- Inflexible notification settings and small font sizes
Growth Levers
- Hyper-local suburban targeting to challenge News 12
- AI-driven content personalization to counter NewsBreak
Market Threats
- ABC7's superior app stability and user sentiment
- Citizen's dominance in real-time safety alerts
What are the next best moves?
Prioritize a stability patch for Android (specifically Galaxy S25 Ultra)
Stability and crashes are the #1 complaint theme and are likely driving the #78 (↓41) ranking decline.
Audit and fix notification 'opt-out' logic
Users report receiving Olympics alerts even after disabling them, leading to high frustration and potential uninstalls.
Restore weather widget and radar map functionality
Medium-frequency complaints indicate the core differentiator (StormTracker 4) is currently non-functional for many users.
Feature Gaps vs Competitors
- AccuWeather integration (available in ABC7)
- Hyper-local county-specific focus (available in News 12)
- AI-driven neighborhood personalization (available in NewsBreak)
Key Takeaways
NBC 4 New York has a content-rich product with a powerful technical differentiator in StormTracker 4, but it is currently failing on the basics of app performance. If the PM does not resolve the critical crash issues and notification spam, the app will continue to lose ground to ABC7, which currently holds the edge in stability and sentiment.
Where Is It Heading?
Declining
Rankings dropped to #78 (↓41) in the US News category.
User sentiment is 'Frustrated' due to persistent technical instability and broken weather widgets.
v8.7 (Mar 2026) added phone-friendly news videos, showing active investment in mobile-first content.