WCBS management is hoping ratings heat up in the morning with John Elliott, Mary Calvi, Chris Wragge, and Alex Denis.
By JERRY BARMASH
(@jerrybarmash)
We’ve analyzed and dissected a one-day sampling from the May sweeps. Before the stations put a spin on the winners, here’s our ratings breakdown.
WNBC can claim victory during early mornings (4:30 to 7) among the pivotal adults 25 to 54 demographic. It’s a partial win for Channel 4, which got overtaken by perennial ratings champ WABC in the 6 a.m. hour.
It was a poor May for WCBS in the a.m., the first sweeps period for Channel 2 since the Rob Morrison resignation in late February. Now with Chris Wragge joining Mary Calvi, the station settled into a dismal fourth place behind WNYW’s Good Day Wake Up in the adults 25-54 demo.
The news is only slightly better for WCBS when using the household ratings. Channel 2 managed a third-place finish, eeking out WNYW. But it’s all about WABC—Eyewitness News This Morning won the daypart, and in doing so almost doubled its closest competitor (WNBC) in the 6 a.m. hour.
WPIX, in its first sweeps under the direction of Mark Effron, showed no improvement. The early edition of the PIX Morning News had an abysmal effort in the household and 25-54 demo. Channel 11 gets a few more viewers for the 7-9 a.m. block, but remained entrenched in fifth, and more important, locked behind rival WNYW using all measuring sticks.
As for the noon broadcasts, WNBC had a weak household rating. WCBS notched a solid number two, but still not enough to overtake WABC. Among the advertising friendly people 25-54, WNBC unofficially had microscopic numbers at noon, and 12:30 for that matter with New York Live. On that particular day, WABC and WCBS were virtually tied for first.
Turning to the evening newscasts, the busy 5 p.m. slot is owned by WABC among households, with WCBS a close second. In this sample from May 14, WNYW slipped past WNBC for third.
WNYW, led by Ernie Anastos and Dari Alexander, got its payback in the 25-54 grouping, edging WCBS and WABC for the top spot. WNBC was next, while WPIX received a miniscule rating.
WABC was the clear-cut winner at 6 p.m. with anchors Bill Ritter and Liz Cho.
The battle for 10 p.m. between WPIX and WNYW isn’t really much of a battle. Among the 25-54 folks, the Fox O&O with Steve Lacy and Alexander almost tripled the WPIX output. The Tamsen Fadal-led newscast also trailed WNYW by almost three to one among households.
Channel 7 ends the broadcast day with another big sweeps win at 11 p.m. Ritter and Sade Baderinwa took WABC to the heights in the 25-54 and households demo.
The ratings sweeps period ends May 22.
(Photo: via Twitter @ChrisWragge)