Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sat., May 1-2 -- CBS11's timely collapse coverage pumps up Sat. afternoon ratings
05/05/09 11:27 AM
By ED BARK
Nielsen Media research continued to struggle with "server issues" Tuesday, delaying reports on Sunday and Monday ratings until at least Wednesday.
The Friday-Saturday D-FW numbers are in, though, so let's look at some highlights.
CBS11's coverage of Saturday afternoon's collapse of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility yielded a sharp jump in the station's audience from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. It dominated coverage of the tragedy during this period while rival stations were comparatively slow to react.
The collapse happened around 3:30 p.m., with CBS11 carrying the PGA's Quail Hollow Championship at that time. From 3:30 to 3:45 p.m., CBS11 had 93,002 D-FW viewers. That spiked to 205,933 viewers from 3:45 to 4 p.m., when the station left the golf tournament and went to continuous live coverage of the tragedy.
CBS11's audience grew to 252,434 viewers from 4 to 4:15 p.m., and peaked at 272,363 viewers in the next quarter-hour. Viewers then began turning to NBC's preliminary coverage of the Kentucky Derby, with the audience skying to 471,653 viewers for the race itself.
CBS11's overall average of 245,791 viewers from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. easily bettered rival stations, who were comparatively slow in bailing out of ongoing programming.
NBC5, which stayed almost exclusively with its network's Kentucky Derby buildup, averaged 199,290 viewers during that 45-minute period.
WFAA8 stuck with a St. Jude's Hospital infomercial and portions of ABC's Wipeout before belatedly switching to the practice field disaster. It averaged 66,430 viewers.
"The 33", which had some coverage while otherwise deferring to the movie Mission to Mars, had 59,787 viewers.
Fox4, which eventually bailed out of a Mets-Phillies baseball game, lagged with only 33,215 viewers.
Saturday's regularly scheduled 10 p.m. newscasts, dominated by coverage of the training facility collapse, had a notably different order of finish.
NBC5, which had to borrow footage from The 33, led with 265,720 total viewers, followed by WFAA8 (252,434), CBS11 (225,862) and Fox4 (186,004).
In Friday ratings results, CBS swept the prime-time Nielsens with its regular lineup of Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint and Numb3rs.
CBS11's 10 p.m. newscast then won in total viewers while WFAA8 took the gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 scored twin wins at 6 a.m., where it's emerged as the station to beat after the first seven weekdays of the 20-day May "sweeps."
WFAA8 won at 6 p.m. in total viewers, but Fox4 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 5 p.m., Fox4 and WFAA8 tied for the top spot in total viewers and NBC5 prevailed among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Nielsen Media research continued to struggle with "server issues" Tuesday, delaying reports on Sunday and Monday ratings until at least Wednesday.
The Friday-Saturday D-FW numbers are in, though, so let's look at some highlights.
CBS11's coverage of Saturday afternoon's collapse of the Dallas Cowboys practice facility yielded a sharp jump in the station's audience from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. It dominated coverage of the tragedy during this period while rival stations were comparatively slow to react.
The collapse happened around 3:30 p.m., with CBS11 carrying the PGA's Quail Hollow Championship at that time. From 3:30 to 3:45 p.m., CBS11 had 93,002 D-FW viewers. That spiked to 205,933 viewers from 3:45 to 4 p.m., when the station left the golf tournament and went to continuous live coverage of the tragedy.
CBS11's audience grew to 252,434 viewers from 4 to 4:15 p.m., and peaked at 272,363 viewers in the next quarter-hour. Viewers then began turning to NBC's preliminary coverage of the Kentucky Derby, with the audience skying to 471,653 viewers for the race itself.
CBS11's overall average of 245,791 viewers from 3:45 to 4:30 p.m. easily bettered rival stations, who were comparatively slow in bailing out of ongoing programming.
NBC5, which stayed almost exclusively with its network's Kentucky Derby buildup, averaged 199,290 viewers during that 45-minute period.
WFAA8 stuck with a St. Jude's Hospital infomercial and portions of ABC's Wipeout before belatedly switching to the practice field disaster. It averaged 66,430 viewers.
"The 33", which had some coverage while otherwise deferring to the movie Mission to Mars, had 59,787 viewers.
Fox4, which eventually bailed out of a Mets-Phillies baseball game, lagged with only 33,215 viewers.
Saturday's regularly scheduled 10 p.m. newscasts, dominated by coverage of the training facility collapse, had a notably different order of finish.
NBC5, which had to borrow footage from The 33, led with 265,720 total viewers, followed by WFAA8 (252,434), CBS11 (225,862) and Fox4 (186,004).
In Friday ratings results, CBS swept the prime-time Nielsens with its regular lineup of Ghost Whisperer, Flashpoint and Numb3rs.
CBS11's 10 p.m. newscast then won in total viewers while WFAA8 took the gold among 25-to-54-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for news programming.
NBC5 scored twin wins at 6 a.m., where it's emerged as the station to beat after the first seven weekdays of the 20-day May "sweeps."
WFAA8 won at 6 p.m. in total viewers, but Fox4 ran first with 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 5 p.m., Fox4 and WFAA8 tied for the top spot in total viewers and NBC5 prevailed among 25-to-54-year-olds.