Wednesday, April 2, 2008
The Ratings
We often talk about the Sweeps period on this blog, but never really discuss the ratings. The Nielsen ratings have been out, as reported by many comments to this post. My only glimpse at these are from of all things the KWCH web site (Once at the link, scroll to the bottom of page for a ratings table). Obviously KWCH is happy they are, as they say in the press release/propaganda/web page, #1 at Noon, 5, 6, and 10PM. They didn't list the morning numbers, so they must not be #1 then. There is no comparison to other ratings periods, so I don't know who is up or down. Also I must say I haven't looked at rating tables like this before and some comments talk about numbers being solely from the Wichita area and not for the whole state and the satellite stations. I'd be curious to know what these ratings include. Looking at the numbers, KWCH equals the rest of the stations combined in HH (households?) at 5PM and has more than the other two combined at 10PM. Also, I don't know what the trends from other rating months are, but is it unusual for KSN's 10PM newscast to only have 7,000 more HH than their Noon show? I thought the 10PM show is supposed to be the day's highest rated newscast for a station. It is for KAKE and KWCH, but for KSN the 6PM beats the 10PM by 8000 viewers. Interested in your thoughts/spin on the February Sweeps results. -Hal
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14 comments:
Mornings are harder to gauge than later programs.
Some morning shows are 2 hours (KAKE and KSN) some are 4 hours (KWCH) so it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges.
Also, many people simply leave their station on what it was on the night before. Leno's and Conan's numbers are higher than Nighline & Kimmel and Dave & Craig.
Affiliates are also helped/hurt by how strong their network's particular morning show is. Today is tops, followed closely by GMA while the Early Show is gaining but only marginally.
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From what I've seen KWCH's ratings are only amplified out west and KAKE are also decent out west. KSN has traditionally had a weaker presence/signal in western Kansas and the past lack of bureaus has hurt them.
KAKE is No. 1 at 4 p.m. GO KAKE GO!!
The only number that truly matters is the bottom line. If KWCH is really so dominant, how come they can't command a higher rate for their advertising?
KWCH does run away with the market ratings-wise. You just can't spin it any other way. 4 PM is very low households and no competition so if KAKE wants to brag about winning a race its running by itself--thats pretty weak. KSN is weak across the board and the reason they're pitiful at 10 PM is NBC is just awful right now. Bad Local station plus bad Net=their 10 PM.Its true that KWCH does not push its Ad rates higher (this has been a complaint for years). If KWCH DID raise rates it would hav a Halo effect on the whole market. Problem is this: we're in an Advertising Depression in an Industry thats declining as well. Its hard to raise rates.
Wow. This is the most intelligent discussion yet on this blog. Everyone is sticking to the facts. For the ratings gurus at each station: Are these numbers not enough to sustain profitable TV stations? I know all make money, but where do these current numbers fit into the overall picture? Why the gloom and doom?
Year-to-year viewership at many of the stations is down. National surveys are saying as a whole, ad spending on local TV stations is down and has been. That alone would be bad, but coupled now with an ever slowing economy and this notion that the internet is the place to go, local TV news has an uncertain future. I question how successful advertising on the internet is over television. I know I really do not click on many ads and if its a pop-up I click off of it as soon as possible. Many do get there information on the internet, but is there as strong of a revenue stream tied to it as TV now and especially compared to TV's better days?
Just an observation, while KSN and KAKE are scrambling for every penny (read previous posts about having to supply their own napkins and turning the lights off in the bathroom), KWCH is adding a new addition, bought the CW awhile back, has a HS sports website that's doing quite well from what I hear and is actually hiring new people. It seems 12 and its parent company are doing much better than Grey and 10 or 3 and whoever owns them at the moment.
Ad revenue from any internet site, even CNN or FOX is tiny when compared to the amount of money that ads on the broadcast side bring it. I think there's about a 5 to 1 difference. The same is true of local television and internet as well.
Happy KWCH is adding people. They might be happy they were sold in 2006 by Media General after reading this article.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080402/media_general_shareholder.html?.v=2
KSN staff knows what happens when an investment company buys a TV station. The compnay surely wasn't in it for TV, but merely to make a quick profit by laying off employees and shedding overhead, only to put it up for sale a short time later and make a nice profit in return.
Anon 1041, E-mail me your link to the Media General article to wichitamedia@gmail.com. The full URL doesn't convert over to the comments section. I'm interested to see this and if its interesting I'll put it under a separate post so all can link to it. -Hal
As for the sustainability of Local TV News, you have 2 issues here.
1.) The Long Term fragmentation of Audience due to the Internet, satellite, Cable options etc. Thats NOT changing. and
2.) The Near Term Ad Depressiom/Recession hitting ALL media.
Issue number 2 may RUSH inevitable changes coming from Issue#1.
IMHO--there's only room for ONE station that plays the traditional game. That looks like KWCH. IMO KAKE and KSN are somewhat in denial about this because its frankly scary to change the paradigm.
SOME ONE must become the WEB SITE that ALSO does s TV newscast (instead of the other way)...a scaled down operation that tries to become the dominant source of Interactive ONLINE info/video.
Its a change in thinking and its radical, but I don't see these operations maintaining present staffing levels targeting the ever-shrinking "pie" or TV audience.
The other option-on the other extreme is--either KAKE or KSN have to go ALL LOCAL on TV. Be a TV source of news/information/sports virtually around the clock. That would be tough to fund in these times. But the choice is clear: shrink or expand.
I agree. KWCH can afford to stay traditional. I don't think the other two can. But I think management won't stick its neck out on that line until there's a gun to his or her head.
Traditional? KWCH is doing more with the web, specifically their high school sports website and other sites, than anyone else. I seems they are keeping the bread and butter and expanding on it.
KWCH guy... please stop writing in here. You totally miss the point. You don't read carefully enough to know the sentiment in the thread. No one's criticizing you or your high school sports Web site. It was a compliment, if anything. So just stop. You don't understand the art of conversation. Go away.
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