Ratings update

[EricStein]

This snapshot taken by a large national rep shows that the Scripps replacement shows are tanking...at least in Phoenix...and taking ABC15's news down with it.


Ratings for last week of September (PDF format, page 13)

 

[Sammi Brie]

That is a huge document! 63 markets worth of ratings.

Summary of news ratings:

Morning: GMAZ leads, though it's 5 and 10 that lead in the 4:30am half hour.
Midday: 5 has a good lead on 12 and 10. 15's 11am newscast pulls in about half the viewership of the other newscasts.
4pm: The early slot is currently led by 3's 4:30 half-hour of GEAZ. 15 (at 4) beats 12's EVB Live however.
5pm: 10 has a 4.6 at 5:00 while 3 is second with a 2.6.
6pm: 12! Arizona Nightly News has a .3 lead over 10. The CBS Evening News beats 15's local news offering, which in turn beats 3.
9pm: 10 is leading 3 by about a 2.5 to 1 margin (3.3 to 1.3).
10pm: The only really close one. 12 has a 4.8 rating, 5 has a 4.7. 15, 10, and 3 (pulling a 0.9!) round out the list.

In short, there is no clear news leader in Phoenix, but 15 doesn't lead in any timeslot. 3's leads are in the morning and early evening, while 5 is competitive especially in midday and at 10. 12 leads at 6 and 10, and 5 and 9 belong to 10.

Just for fun...Dayton, Ohio is the last market on the list. WHIO is pulling a 15.1 (!) rating for their 11pm newscast, which is nothing short of incredible. (They're always a powerhouse though.) Other clear winners nationwide with 10+ ratings for their late news: KOTV Tulsa (12.5 at 10pm), KFOR and KWTV in OKC (12.0 and 11.9 respectively), WKRC (12.5), KUTV (13.3), WTVF (10.0) and KDKA (10.7). All but one of these stations are CBS affiliates, and remarkably two are in the same TV market.

 

[EricStein]

Other news of note:

Scripps' Scraps ("The List" and "Let's Ask America") both averaged 1.3 ratings, and 3 and 2 shares, respectively. In comparison from approximately a year earlier (WARNING: another big PDF document!), "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel" averaged a 3.6 rating and 8 share, and 4.5 rating/8 share, respectively. The new shows lost viewers from its lead-ins, while "WOF" and "J!" built audience share from the station's newscasts last year. Also, locally-produced "RightThisMinute" had half the ratings share of its year-ago slot holder, the now-cancelled soap "One Life To Live," and even scrappy underdog AZTV's "Jerry Springer" (love him or hate him) had more viewers than "RTM."

ABC15 had been building momentum for the past few years, and now it appears that corporate programming decisions (and lack of syndicated backup programming) may return them to their dark days between 1997 and 2002.

 

[justthenumbers]

Just for fun...Dayton, Ohio is the last market on the list. WHIO is pulling a 15.1 (!) rating for their 11pm newscast, which is nothing short of incredible. (They're always a powerhouse though.) Other clear winners nationwide with 10+ ratings for their late news: KOTV Tulsa (12.5 at 10pm), KFOR and KWTV in OKC (12.0 and 11.9 respectively), WKRC (12.5), KUTV (13.3), WTVF (10.0) and KDKA (10.7). All but one of these stations are CBS affiliates, and remarkably two are in the same TV market.

And WHIO's NOON newscast does a 14.7 rating...are you kidding me?!? The Young and the Restless, which follows it, does a 12.4, and even the Bold and the Beautiful does a 10.1. And it might be the only market where CBS This Morning beats both The Today Show and Good Morning America.

Other fun observations:

- WWL in New Orleans doesn't even air CBS This Morning
- WFMY in Greensboro, NC still airs Andy Griffith three times a day. The 5:30 edition does a 5.4.
- KOTV in Tulsa, OK airs The Bold and the Beautiful at 1am.

Of course, there are all household ratings - which are generally irrelevant compared to sales-friendly demos such as Adults 25-54. Although - especially with demographic numbers still measured by diaries in most of these markets - I would not be surprised if these powerhouse stations do well in the money demos as well.