Local TV stations crowing
about latest news ratings
While TV station rankings saw little movement in the most recent ratings period, most local newscasts attracted more of the adult viewers their advertisers covet, and that's good news for their bottomlines.
Local TV newscast rankings show KHON at No. 1 in the morning and at 6 and 10 p.m.; KITV at No. 1 at 5 p.m., No. 2 in the morning and at 6 p.m., and No. 3 at 10; KGMB-TV is No. 2 at 10 p.m., No. 3 at 5 and 6, and KHNL-TV is third of the three morning shows and fourth in the rest of the news slots.
An earlier decision by KHON and KGMB to share certain video footage raised eyebrows among media watchdogs concerned over keeping the stations' editorial voices separate and competitive, but seemed to have no impact on the viewing public. The stations are both owned by Indiana-based Emmis Communications Corp.
Ratings are measured according to households using television, which is the rating; and shares, which is the percentage of households watching television that are watching a particular show. Those numbers are then broken down demographically according to age and gender. Generally the demographic most desirable to advertisers is 25- to 54- year-old women, men, or both. Nielsen estimates the universe of viewers in the Honolulu market at 412,190.
KITV President and General Manager Mike Rosenberg was especially jazzed about the station's strong performance among viewers aged 25 to 54.
"The big story in this book is how rich in (demographics) the book is for our newscasts.
"The demos are unbelievable for us. If you bought a spot in each of our newscasts you'd have reached 17 percent more men 25 to 54 than KHON," he said.
KITV and KHNL each received a 7 rating and 15 share at 10 p.m., but KITV is ranked higher because of total viewers, Rosenberg said. It is the same at 5 p.m., where the station is tied with KHON in ratings and share, but had more total viewers, he said.
It is the first Hawaii ratings period for KGMB News Director Tauna Lange.
"We're very excited here," she said. "Get this, Sunday night, we beat KHON (at 10 p.m.).
"They're competitors, and we want to move this station forward," Lange said.
The Sunday night news is anchored by Stacy Loe, Liz Chun and Britt Riedl.
"Year to year, to go from a 7/15 to a 10/21 in a diaried market is just phenomenal," Lange said. Certain mainland markets are measured electronically, but Hawaii Nielsen ratings participants fill out diaries of their viewing habits.
KGMB has changed its newscasts considerably in the last two months, increasing story counts and pacing, she said.
Others point to strong CBS network programming for KGMB's gain.
"CBS is flat, we grew," Lange said. "Yes, they're good numbers and you want to have good prime leading into you, but we grew."
KHNL lost headway at 10 p.m. going from an 8 rating with a 17 share last November, to an 8 rating 16 share in May to its current 7 rating, 15 share this time around. It also swapped rankings with KITV.
NBC-affiliate KHNL at 10 p.m. has audiences "equal to or exceeding the NBC audience, it's the best retention we've ever had," said John Fink, vice president and general manager. KHNL and KFVE, the first two-station "duopoly" in the United States, are both owned by Alabama-based Raycom Media, but KFVE does not have a separate news operation.
"We're still trying to build (viewer) habits and it takes a very long time. Still, old habits die hard in Hawaii," Fink said.
Nielsen measures TV watching in Hawaii during February, May and November.
"The May book is probably the most important, but most people, when they buy, (advertising), they buy an average of the three books," Rosenberg said. The November survey is not to be downplayed, however, because "we haven't had ratings in six months and the trends that show up in November, they usually hold."
KHON maintains its iron grip on No. 1 at 6 p.m. with a 15 rating and 30 percent of the audience. Those numbers have increased since last year.
However, anchor Joe Moore's lead at 10 p.m. is being slowly eroded by other stations' gains.
In Nov. 2002 KHON's late news received a 12 rating, 25 share while last month's survey showed an 11 rating with a 23 percent share of households watching TV. KHON officials did not return calls.
