Few Surprises In November News Ratings

The local November news sweeps arrived today with few surprises. (Numbers are posted at the end.)

Channel 12 won the 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. news.

Channel 9 won at noon (a surprise) and 5-6:30 p.m.

Channel 19 won at 10 p.m. (no surprise).

Channel 5 came within a half-point of taking second place at 5 p.m. from Channel 12 (a surprise, considering Channel 5 was way off the pace in February and May. But a year ago, Ch 5 had jumped over Channel 12 into second place at 5 p.m., for the first time in eight years.)

Channel 5 was third at 11 p.m. (a small surprise, beating "The Simpsons." The cartoons had been more popular than Channel 5 news in February and May).

Channel 5 was fourth 6-7 a.m. (Did someone say the news comes fourth?) That's not really a surprise because of Channel 5's anchor desk upheaval. Co-anchor Lisa Cooney missed most of the ratings period to seek treatment in Jordan for her daughter's severe psoriasis, while co-anchor Todd Dykes was replaced by weekend anchor Jonathan Hawgood. (What I don't know is how low ratings were before the Dykes-Hawgood swap, which prompted the move.)

"We're not where we want to be, but we're headed in the right direction," says Richard Dyer, Channel 5 president and general manager. (How many times have we heard someone at Channel 5 say that?)

Some observations:

--News directors have told me over the years that a station moves into No. 1 in news often because of a move made by the previous No. 1 station. Case in point: For the first time in years, Tanya O'Rourke's Channel 9 beat Channel 12 for the noon news. It was the first "sweeps" period after Dayna Eubanks left Channel 12 in September, when her contract expired. Channel 12's lead-in ratings for "The Price Is Right" also have eroded since Drew Carey replaced Bob Barker in October.

--The decline in "homes using television" seems to have leveled off at 11 p.m., after a huge fall-out in May.

--Channel 9 was the only 11 p.m. newscast to increase rating and share from last November. Channel 9 is 2.4 points behind Channel 12 on the M-F average, but only 1.2 points behind on the seven-day average which includes ABC’s strong Sunday night lineup. (That's why Clyde and Carol work Sun-Thurs during sweeps.)

--Has doing local news in HDTV helped boost Channel 9 ratings? Not enough evidence yet, says Bill Fee, Channel 9 general manager. Although Channel 9 news is up at 11, newscasts ratings are flat 5-6:30 p.m. and down at noon and 6-7 a.m. He points out that overnight ratings are based on meters in only 375 homes (out of the 886,910 TV homes here, according to Nielsen).

"I think it helps. It will be something we'll continue to market until the other stations get on board," Fee says. Which could be a year away?

Here are the ratings and shares numbers.

7-6 a.m.
Channel 12: 5.6, 20%
Channel 9: 3.6 13%
Channel 19: 3.2 12%
Channel 5: 2.5, 9%

Noon
Channel 9: 5.0, 17%
Channel 12: 4.2, 14%
Channel 5: 2.0, 7%

5 p.m.
Channel 9: 8.4, 20%
Channel 12: 5.5, 13%
Channel 5: 5.0, 12%

5:30 p.m.
Channel 9: 8.1, 17%
Channel 12: 7.0, 15%
Channel 5: 4.2, 9%

6 p.m.
Channel 9: 9.2, 19%
Channel 12: 8.0, 16%
Channel 5: 4.5, 9%

10 p.m.
Channel 19: 5.5, 9%
Channel 64: 2.2, 3%

11 p.m.
Channel 12: 10.6, 21%
Channel 9: 8.2, 16%
Channel 5: 4.3, 9%
Channel 19 (Simpsons): 4.2, 8%

Source: Nielsen Media Research