Fox station tops for morning news viewers

By Jarrett Hicks

(This analysis has been provided to the Courier by Jarrett Hicks, research director for Cincinnati-based Inside Media.)

The popularity of “Grey’s Anatomy,” “American Idol” and FOX-19 News (WXIX-TV) were the major developments as Nielsen Media Research released the local television demographic ratings from the May “sweeps” period.

The recent ratings period lasted from April 26-May 23, but the demographic ratings, or “demos,” were just recently published. Demographic ratings are highly important to both television stations and media agencies, which use the numbers to determine commercial advertising rates and gauge how often programs are watched by their target audience.

Both adults and women between the ages of 25-54 are considered the two key demographics for area advertisers. One adult 25-54 rating equals more than 9,500 Cincinnati-area viewers, while one women 25-54 rating represents more than 4,800 female viewers.

Early morning news is a key battleground for the Tri-State’s four news stations. Among adults 25-54, all four local news stations are virtually tied from 5-6 a.m., with half of a rating point separating the four newscasts.

From 6-7 a.m., “FOX-19 Morning News” on WXIX-19 is No. 1 in the time period with a 3.4 adult 25-54 rating. WXIX finished just ahead of WKRC-12 (3.1 rating), WCPO-9 (2.2 rating) and WLWT-5 (1.7 rating).

WXIX-19 grew more than 40 percent from February 2007 to overtake WKRC at 6 a.m. WXIX continues its strong performance at 7 a.m. and 8 a.m., where its local morning newscast is watched by more adults 25-54 and women 25-54 than any of the network news programs.

Among adults 25-54, FOX-19 averaged a 3.2 rating, versus a 1.8 for “Good Morning America” on WCPO, a 1.8 for the “Today Show” on WLWT, and a 1.5 for “Good Morning Cincinnati”/”The Early Show” on WKRC.

At noon, WKRC remains No. 1 with women 25-54, with a 2.1 rating, ahead of WLWT (1.5) and the hour-long newscast on WCPO (1.4).

From 4-5 p.m., “Oprah Winfrey” on WCPO is the top program in Cincinnati, with a 4.8 rating among women 25-54, a 38 percent decrease from February 2007, and a 13 percent decrease from May 2006.

Despite loses from previous rating periods, Oprah’s women 25-54 rating was only 0.4 points less that 4-5 p.m. ratings for WKRC, WLWT, WSTR and WXIX combined. Although “Jerry Springer” on WSTR finished fourth with women 25-54, the program was No. 1 in the time period with men 25-54.

Following a trend from both the fall and winter sweeps, WCPO-9 and WKRC-12 are in an all-out battle for “early” news ratings supremacy at 5, 5:30, and 6 p.m. In May, WCPO was No. 1 with overall household viewers and women 25-54, but WKRC is tied or ahead of WCPO with adults 25-54. At 5 p.m., WKRC and WCPO tied with a 2.5 adult 25-54 rating. At 5:30 and 6 p.m., WKRC pulled slightly ahead of WCPO with adults 25-54.

Both WCPO and WKRC increased their adult 25-54 ratings from 5 to 5:30 and from 5:30 to 6. Conversely, third-place WLWT saw its adult 25-54 audience decline over the 90-minute block. WLWT’s strongest early news performance was at 5 p.m., with a 2.4 adult 25-54 rating, only 0.1 points behind WCPO and WKRC.

Non-news programming on WXIX and WSTR performed well with adults 25-54 and women 25-54. From 5-6 p.m., “Maury” on WSTR registered a 2.9 rating with women 25-54, nearly matching the ratings of the top two local news stations. At 6 p.m., “According to Jim” on WXIX and “Judge Mathis” on WSTR registered higher adult 25-54 and women 25-54 ratings than “News 5″ at 6 p.m. on WLWT. From 7-8 p.m., “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy” on WCPO remains the highest-rated lineup among adults 25-54. WCPO finished ahead nearly a full rating point ahead of “Raymond”/Entertainment Tonight” on WKRC, “King of Queens”/”Seinfield” on WXIX, back-to-back episodes of “Friends” on WSTR and “Access Hollywood”/”Extra” on WLWT.

Thursday night medical drama “Grey’s Anatomy” on WCPO, and “American Idol” on WXIX were the most watched primetime programs in the Tri-State. The Wednesday night edition of “Idol” was No. 1 with adults 25-54, registering a 14.7 rating. “Grey’s Anatomy” was tops with women 25-54 (20.3 rating), and ranked No. 3 with adults 25-54 (14.2 rating), behind the Wednesday and Tuesday editions of “American Idol.”

The remaining top five primetime programs were on CBS affiliate WKRC. Thursday night crime drama “CSI” finished fourth with adults 25-54. The final series episodes of the “Kings of Queens” aired on Monday nights and finished fifth with Cincinnati adults 25-54. The other top-10 adult 25-54 primetime programs in May were “House,” “Desperate Housewives,” “Survivor Fiji,” “Lost” and “Two and a Half Men.”

NBC affiliate WLWT continues its struggles in primetime. Monday night drama “Heroes,” Tuesday night mainstay “Law & Order SVU” and Thursday night comedy “The Office” were the most popular NBC programs among Cincinnati viewers on May.

Cincinnati’s CW network affiliate is on a digital sub-channel of WKRC-12. Its strongest primetime programs were “Gilmore Girls,” “America’s Next Top Model” and “Smallville.” Each program registered a 2 rating with adults 25-54.

While most of the MYTV network primetime programs on WSTR-64 received a 1 rating with adults and women 25-54,the inaugural season of “IFL Battleground” on Monday nights was popular with men. The new mixed martial arts program registered a 3 rating with men 18-34, and a 2 rating with men 18-49 and men 25-54.

In overall adult 25-54 primetime ratings, WKRC (CBS) remains the local leader in the time period, with its highly popular Monday and Thursday night programs. WKRC was followed by WXIX (FOX), WCPO (ABC), WLWT (NBC), WKRC-Digital (CW Network) and WSTR-64, an affiliate of the MyNetworkTV. The revamped primetime MyTV lineup now averages a 1 rating with adults 25-54, an increase from February.

Primetime viewership affected the May “late” news rankings for Monday-Sunday at 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. The popularity of FOX primetime programs on Tuesday, Wednesday and Sunday night helped propel the 10 p.m. news on WXIX into a virtual first-place tie with WKRC in late news.

With adults 25-54, “Local 12 News at 11 pm” on WKRC (4.8) finished just ahead of the 10 p.m. newscast on WXIX (4.5), and the 11 p.m. news on WCPO (3.5), and WLWT (2.6). The 10 p.m. WSTR “Local 12 News on My64″ registered a 0.8 rating with adults 25-54.