Katie's clout
09/17/06 12:28 PM
By ED BARK
Katie Couric's ratings have come down to earth since her mega-publicized Sept. 5 debut on The CBS Evening News. Her impact on local newscast ratings is still being felt, though. Let's look at the Couric carryover on Dallas-Fort Worth's 6 p.m. news shows.
Nielsen Media Research's ratings for the August "book" had Channel 8 narrowly on top in households with a 5.4 rating, followed by Channel 5 (4.8), Channel 11 (4.5) and Channel 4 (4.1). Each ratings point equals 23,800 homes.
But among 25-to-54-year-olds, the target newscast demo for advertisers, Channel 4 led the pack with a 2.4 rating, besting Channel 8 (2.1), Channel 5 (1.9) and Channel 11 (1.4).
For that same period in D/FW, Bob Schieffer's 5:30 p.m. CBS Evening News had 3.7 household rating and a 1.4 rating in the 25-to-54 demo.
OK, moving right along now to Ms. Couric's debut week (Sept. 5-8). She had a notably improved 6.2 rating in households and a 2.6 with 25-to-54-year-olds. That helped propel Channel 11's 6 p.m. newscasts to a first-place finish in households (6.1 rating). The station also fared much better with target viewers, moving from last to first with a 2.3 rating that barely nipped Channel 4's second-place 2.2.
Nothing lasts forever, though. Ms. Couric's Evening News numbers sank last week. From Monday-Thursday -- Friday wasn't immediately available -- she averaged just a 3.9 household rating in Dallas-Fort Worth. That dropped the Evening News to third place locally, behind ABC's World News (5.3 rating) and the NBC Nightly News (4.6). Worse yet, Ms. Couric also finished third with 25-to-54-year-olds, an audience that CBS hopes to expand with her more feature-y approach.
Absent those robust ratings for Ms. Couric's first week, Channel 11's 6 p.m. newscasts also took a hit. The CBS station's 4.5 household rating was identical to its performance in August. It landed Channel 11 in second place last week, behind Channel 8 (6.2 rating) and ahead of Channel 4 (4.2) and Channel 5 (3.8).
Among 25-to-54-year-olds, Channel 11 fell back to last place with a 1.5 rating. Channel 4 returned to the top spot (2.1 rating), also besting Channel 8 (2.0) and Channel 5 (1.8).
These early returns show that Ms. Couric sprinted out of the gate but quickly became winded on the second lap of what will be a maratthon race. Now comes Week 3. Can she run any faster?
|