Local ratings gave KCNC-Channel 4 reason to cheer after the November sweeps, when the station beat KUSA-Channel 9 by a tenth of a rating point in the Nielsens. That was an around the clock, sign-on-to-sign- off, count of households.
Now it’s time to parse those numbers the way paying customers — the advertisers — do. They are concerned with longer-term trends, demographics, which stations can really claim momentum and which ones are slipping.
Take a step back, and here are the local TV ratings highlights: The three- way race among KCNC-Channel 4, KMGH-Channel 7 and Channel 9 is closer than it’s been in years. At 5 p.m., the three stations are within 1 rating point among 18- to 49-year-olds.
In the late-news contest, KDVR- Channel 31, the Fox affiliate, continues to make inroads, even landing as No. 1 among 18- t0 34-year-olds when all the local 9 and 10 p.m. newscasts are weighed together.
As for the 18-49 demographic in the bedtime newscast battle, Channel 9 is No. 1, Channel 31 is No. 2, Channel 4 is No. 3 and Channel 7 is No. 4.
Meanwhile, Channel 4’s relative success in household numbers has much to do with a gradual decline by Channel 9, which used to be overwhelmingly dominant. In fact, KUSA for years was the highest-rated NBC affiliate in the country. Now that the NBC network is on a downslide, its affiliates are too. So far this season, CBS is No. 1 in the national race.
Yet Channel 9 remains dominant in this market throughout the day, if by smaller margins than years ago.
While it’s true that Channel 4 eked out a historic upset in the “sign-on-to-sign-off” measure, a 4.0 household rating to Channel 9’s 3.9 rating, it must be noted that the stations don’t sell spots based on those figures.
Advertisers eager to pinpoint target audiences pore over the demographic and “psychographic” breakdowns of the sweeps data. Everyone wants the hot demographic groupings, ages 18-49 and 25-54, those whose brand loyalty supposedly is up for grabs.
One thing we know for sure: Fewer people all the time are watching local TV news. Household viewing levels fell to single digits in 2007. Young people especially don’t watch the news. The fight is on for the eyeballs of those younger folks who do.
That said, it’s still an extremely lucrative battle for the attention of the remaining audience.
Locally, some 624,400 people watch one of the six late-night newscasts, out of Nielsen’s total Denver market sample of approximately 1.4 million.
At 10 p.m., KUSA draws 175,100 of those watching late news, or 33 percent. KUSA’s share combined with that of its 9 p.m. newscast on sister station KTVD-Channel 20 is a whopping 43 percent.
KUSA is still No. 1 at 6 a.m., noon, at 5 p.m. (and that’s despite the big ratings push Channel 4 gets at 4 p.m. from Oprah Winfrey) and at 10 p.m., despite a 22 percent decline from last year in that time slot.
Of the network newscasts, Brian Williams on NBC draws more 18- to 49-year-olds and 25- to 54-year-olds in the Denver market than either Charles Gibson on ABC or Katie Couric on CBS. The national ratings bump enjoyed by ABC’s Gibson hasn’t happened here.
Mornings continue to be an increasingly valuable “daypart” for local television.
Think of it this way: Some 236,500 Denver-area viewers start the day with local TV news. From 6-7 a.m. Channel 9 claims 116,400 of them, or 49 percent. That’s huge.
Long term, the challenge of cultivating young news viewers will remain a problem as more migrate to the Internet and to cable TV offerings like Jon Stewart’s self-described fake news.
At the Fox station, according to general manager Bill Schneider, “We’re building loyalty in 18-34, which will translate, as they age, to 25-54. It’s a scary thing when most of your viewers are falling out of the 55 demo. Channel 4 has clearly the oldest demographics of all the stations.”
Joanne Ostrow’s column appears Tuesday, Friday and Sunday. 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
