The May sweeps period came to a close yesterday and CBS 2 News sounds enthused. A press release out this afternoon says the station is "the number two station in households in sign on/sign off standings for the third straight major sweep period."
CBS 2 News at 5:00 with Chris Wragge and Kristine Johnson finished in second place in both total households (a 2.9 rating) and in adults 25-54 (1.3, which is said to be more than double NBC 4's 5:00 and 5:30 newscasts' ratings in the demo). The newscast also showed big percentage gains from May 2006, up 44% in the demo and 32% overall, when it was anchored by Roz Abrams and Mary Calvi and did not have the benefit of the Judge Judy lead-in.
CBS 2 News at 6:00 with Dana Tyler and Jim Rosenfield finished in second place. CBS 2's press release seems to indicate that it finished in second overall, but only the demo rating, a 1.2, is listed. It also adds the caveat of "among English-language stations," which seems to indicate that WXTV or WNJU, both Spanish-language stations, are outperforming CBS 2 News. It posted year-to-year growth of 20% in the demo "and was the only New York station from the three major networks to show year-to-year growth in households" (which appears to exclude FOX 5).
CBS 2 News This Morning with Maurice DuBois and Kate Sullivan showed year-to-year growth of 9% overall, "the only New York station from the three major networks to show growth." Of course, FOX 5 and CW 11 have morning shows, too. CBS 2's 6 a.m. hour showed the most growth, 33% in the demo and 21% in households.
CBS 2 News at Noon showed growth of 14% in the demo over last year.
The ratings boosts, at least at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., can be attributed to the lead-in. "Judge Judy" at 4:00 and 4:30 finishes in second in both households and the demo. "Judy" only returned to CBS 2 News in September and replaced "The People's Court," which routinely finished third.
It will be interesting to see all of the numbers in comparison to the other stations. This usually comes in the form of a WABC press release, but that has yet to come out. Press releases generally focus only on the good news, which is why information is limited. For instance, CBS 2 News at 11:00 was not mentioned at all here and neither was where the morning and noon newscasts finished in their respective races. And measuring gains in percentage looks impressive when the ratings were originally on the low side to begin with. But it seems that, for the first time in a while, CBS 2 News is showing some positive momentum.
2 comments:
The numbers are posted at TV Newstalk dot net/New York Forum.
Spin, spin, spin. They're full of you know what if you look at the basic numbers
It's the truth...stats can lay any way you want them to.
Post a Comment