Are the days of dominant No.1 news stations over and done? Not quite. But the headlines from this year’s February sweeps period do make you wonder. When former powerhouses struggle and former rivals are neck-and-neck, have we entered a new era of local news?
Let’s start with Salt Lake City, where KSL used to own the market, drawing more viewers at 10 p.m. than the other two stations combined. In February, the NBC affiliate was a distant second to CBS affiliate KUTV, and also trailed in the early morning, at noon and at 5 p.m., while eking out a slim lead at 6.
In Denver, NBC affiliate KUSA used to own the market, but no longer. While still number 1, the station’s 10 p.m. newscast leads CBS station KCNC by just 6,000 households.
In Dallas, one-time market king WFAA, which started to slide years ago, had one of its worst books ever without a single win in any time period. The ABC affiliate was second by the widest margin ever to CBS station KTVT in total viewers at 10 p.m., although the demo race was considerably tighter. And in Baltimore, the new news leader is CBS station WJZ, which trumped long-time ratings winner WBAL, the NBC affiliate, for the second straight book.
Yes, I realize that all of the winners or gainers I’ve mentioned so far are CBS affiliates, and there’s no question that the network’s dominance in prime time helps its local stations, especially in the late news. Exhibit A: WKMG in Orlando, which won at 11 p.m. but lost every other time slot.
The fact that once-dominant stations are no longer on top doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a new big boss in town. In many of these markets, the ratings race is as tight as can be. In Providence, the NBC and CBS affiliates are neck-and-neck at 11. In Tampa, the late news numbers are equally tight between the NBC and Fox affiliates. And in Milwaukee, the late news race “has never been more competitive” between the ABC and NBC stations. Even in Washington, D.C., where longtime ratings leader WRC held on to first in the mornings and early evenings, the NBC station lost the 11 p.m. battle in February to Fox station WTTG.
There’s always the exception that proves the rule, of course, and for that we need look no farther than Chicago, where the ABC station went from worst to first 25 years ago and remains on top today. But where are the other dominant No. 1 stations in other major markets? And if only a few survive, does that indicate a real sea change in the audience for local news or simply a new reality when it comes to measuring that audience using meters instead of diaries?
Frankly, I’m not sure what it all means but I thought it was worth noting and I welcome your thoughts.
Deborah
your analysis of “whos dominant” in local news omits 2 important conditions: .Demographics
Lifestyles
Demos ..as dvd recorders,cable,web,and facebook affect viewing,its the demos that determine the strength..25-54 is one of the key demos..while lead-in,and network determine strength in prime,its all about tune-in in the am rating wars..
Lifestyles…morning news ratings are the story in local tv..fox affiliates produce as many as 6 hours of morning content..in st. louis ,the number 1 news in the market for 25-54 adults is NOT any 10pm news,but in fact its the 6AM news on KTVI,the FOX affiliate..
so its not Idol lead-ins,or CSIs or 30 Rock thats driving news dominance..its mornings..
As the pace of technology and competition increase, local TV operations are faced with the challenge of rapid change or die realities; e.g., the last fifteen years has seen significantly more change than the preceding fourty years. Board, Corporate and Operational abilities to manage competitive threats, drive views via various outlets, create new revenue streams and thrive in the new digital multi tier world is a people issue; i.e., whose driving the bus.
There are still a few legacy local TV news stations in the country, ones like the ABC O&O in Chicago. I can point to the CBS affiliate in New Orleans, WWL and the ABC O&O in Philly, WPVI, still dominating in all news timeperiods in spite of poor lead-in in some time periods. That’s the sign of a dominate TV news operation, when the station significantly out performs its news lead-in. I think there’s still a dominant news operation in Boise, Idaho, the Belo station there. But the fact that there is more parity amoung local TV news operations across the country begs the questions of why. What is it about the few local TV news operations that still have a loyal following? News marketing? Stable talent? Consistent type of coverage? And why have once domianant local TV news stations slipped?
As a local TV news marketing professional, I have my own theories.
In the Atlanta, GA market WSB-TV continues top the competition while both NBC & FOX affiliate split in a tie or both either place #2 & #3 and the CBS affiliate comes up fourth. WSB-TV get 50% of the audience in this day in age believe it or not, but been top dog since it signed on the air in 1948.
In smaller markets it might be different but I do believe stations should be competitive, and shouldn’t lose their edge because the #1 or #2 station in the market have the audience to back it up. When your the third or fourth place station being different and unique comes into play. Also the audience is smarter now than ever, and alot people who are at the top in mangement continue to dumb the viewer down. With the internet the audience knows about sweeps, they know the ins and outs of what going on behind the scenes, and they know when you asked, your anchor the “face of your station” to take a paycut.
However if you can place a good product that a start, but many television owners create the same set, graphic packages, music and other material that looks like a cookie cutter newscast. Sorry but Sinclair, Gannett, Scripps Howard a few others have those mandated items and it just cheapens the newscast, and guess what the audience knows. (I’ve always held Gannett & Scripps Howard in high regards), I do understand it’s all about the bottom line. However investing into a news product and you don’t see results you can’t complain about the ratings. It all starts at the top with owners by investing in quality people to run your station, and quality anchors, reporters, producer etc.
At the end of the day you get what you paid for so if you pay for cheap, your going to get cheap. I just want to see owners, news director & general mangers take a paycut (take one for the team)
There’s also the automated systems for putting newscasts on air and other “systems” that allow the bean counters to reduce staffs. Plus there is the return to “if it bleeds it leads” thinking rather than “news that effects people’s lives.” Story selection can drive viewers away and, so it seems, it is. It isn’t issues it’s spot news that has changed the business, meaningless spot news that means something to 2, 3 people. Sure a big spot news story meaning something to thousands is a good story, but a slashing of an arm between two men disagreeing about something? Please.
Last fall I spent three weeks in the newsroom at the Cox station in Dayton, OH–WHIO-TV. It’s still as dominant as it was 16 years ago when I was EP there. While there were a lot of new faces, there were also several anchors, reporters, photogs and even the sports director still working. The station still wins every newscast from 4:30am to 11:30pm, usually by more than its competitors combined. The newsroom is very focused on local, local, local, and abhors repetition–rarely repeating any story in its early 90 minutes unless it’s major. The news staff is down by nearly a third from when I was there, but is still quite respectable for a medium market station. And while reporters are still required to turn two different pkgs a day, they also have videographers. This station has managed to maintain its very strong news brand, and has incredibly loyal viewers–it’s the smallest station in the Cox system, but has one of the largest Facebook followings, and by far the largest number of UCG contributors. So, while the days of the dominant station are pretty much gone, there’s one station holding on tight!
An earlier poster said dominance is won in the mornings. In Radio this is definitely true, but in TV…CBS is the doormat for mornings, but their prime is skyrocketing many late newscasts. So that’s not necessarily the final answer either.
As a newsroom leader, talent and broadcast manager in both Radio and Television and many ratings battles under my belt, I’ve found that dominance boils down to one thing…what’s in the viewer’s or listener’s mind. Our medium is designed to communicate to the individual and the better we do this and keeping our brand and product ‘top of mind’ we get the viewing or the listening. Being first at something is an advantage too. With repetitive viewing, habits are formed and with habits come loyalty. How’s your product? Can we grow this? Can we knock off the dominant #1? It’s not cheap and a few factors have to be in place. It’s possible as has been noted in the lead article. But again…while a few different factors are involved, win the battle of the ‘mind’ and you improve your ratings and revenue. This is the simple explanation and there are several techniques to do this. If you’d like to know what I’ve done to accomplish this in broadcasting and how this can be done in television…I can be reached at jonkbrent@yahoo.com
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For a prime example of a dominant television station (and not just in news), look no further than WSB-TV, the Cox-owned ABC affiliate for Atlanta, GA. They have been #1 in news and most programming time periods since before ratings were even recorded (so they claim). Since ratings have been recorded, they have claimed the #1 spot and, if I am correct, have never lost that spot in their entire history. The network only does well in that market because of the station. It’s third in primetime and second in news nationally, but #1 in most day parts in Atlanta because of the dominance of WSB. They were a NBC affiliate until 1980 and switched to ABC – never missed a beat. As many people have stated before, one of the main reasons for their ratings is stability and building on success (i.e. endless promotion and community involvement); they don’t rest on their laurels and haven’t made huge blunders or major changes (especially concerning anchors). Many of the former dominant stations can usually point to some time in their history where a major change (i.e. cost-cutting too much, newscast format change that didn’t resonate with viewers, anchor resigning/retiring/firing that affected viewers, network affiliation switch, etc.) was made that altered their stability and the viewers were given an opportunity to check out the competition. Ratings for television as a whole will continue to decline as the internet becomes a source for news/entertainment more and more. I don’t think local news will disappear completely (just look at major local events like weather or politics or sports championships that draw local viewers to stations); however, I think we will see more consolidation in local news (i.e. 2 stations sharing the same news gathering, especially in small to medium markets). Just my 2 cents…
Very good questions, Paul. Are you suggesting that marketing is the secret sauce?
Atlanta’s WSB clearly has been doing something right and stability definitely plays a role in keeping stations No. 1. But I do think we’re seeing more markets like Houston, where three stations claim to have won the February sweeps at 10 p.m. http://blog.chron.com/sportsmedia/2012/03/who-won-houstons-february-tv-news-sweeps-depends-who-you-ask/
Paul: Have you actually looked at WWL’s ratings lately? The station has literally lost half its audience in some time periods since Hurricane Katrina. They used to dominate the market. Now, they are very ordinary looking.
Two more entries for the dominant No.1 list in this post: KABC and WABC. Is there something about ABC O&Os? http://www.tdogmedia.com/2012/03/the-sevens-have-it.html
Deborah,
Marketing is only one ingredient, albeit an important one, to any local TV news operation that can boast years of ratings dominance. Stability of the on-air product, stability of the on-air talent, and certainly stable management all contribute, especially when you’re talking about years or decades of loyal viewership. As to the ABC O&Os like WABC, KABC and certainly WPVI in Philly, all of the factors I listed above have been present at these stations. For example, Jim Gardner at WPVI is legend in Philly and is unquestionable the dean of anchors there. The ABC O&Os also had terrific marketing starting back in the 70s and in some cases up to today from some relatively unknown people, namely Mike Davis and Peter Churchman.
PAul Greeley
pgreeley98@aol.com
(Hand raised.)
I have been in the TV news game a long time and, in my experience, quality counts. Especially in an age when general managers and news directors are jettisoning veteran talent to hire reporters and anchors with just a couple of years in a newsroom.
Sure, I was there once, but ,when I began my career, it was standard policy that you couldn’t anchor without having had some reporting experience. That’s no longer necessarily the case and in many small and medium markets, hiring has taken on the trappings of a runway contest. If the girl wears a Size 0, she gets the job. If the guy can double as a male model, he goes to the head of the line.
I always have maintained that if you deliver a comprehensive and creative newscast, viewers will find you. Case in point: in my last gig I was the solo producer, managing editor and anchor at 11. With little more to go on than chutzpah and a smile I doubled the ratings and share in November. How many anchors can equal that achievement? And that was with the dismal prime time lead-in from ABC.
Did it make any difference? No. The ratings came out the day after my last newscast. I was shown the door because, well, who knows? I did my job and did it well. And I wasn’t making a huge salary. But there’s that age thing. I’m in my 50′s, and though I always delivered the goods, management decided they could do better with younger and cheaper. They’re wrong of course.
KOTV, the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, locally-owned by Griffin Communications, is a ratings juggernaut. Not only does it win every time period, 24 hours a day, its newscasts are dominant, and have been for over 10 years now. Newscasts aren’t supposed to garner these kinds of numbers anymore, but KOTV does it over and over and over again.