TV News Viewing Down, KFSM Still Leads Area

KFSM-TV, Channel 5, led other area television stations during weekday newscast time slots in May, but the area’s top two stations both lost a percentage of the market share when compared to last year’s numbers.

“There was some loss of viewership for all of us over last year,” Gene Graham, general manager for KFSM, says of his competition with KHBS/KHOG, Channels 40/29, the only other TV station with a local newscast.

“It isn’t that I’m seeing it go from them to us or us to them,” he says. “There are other options out there.”

Graham says more viewers have switched to cable television stations during the newscast timeslots. Some of those viewers have switched to KPOM/KFAA, based in Fort Smith and Rogers, which shows reruns of “Grace Under Fire” at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. and “Seinfeld” at 10 p.m.

According to Nielsen Media Research ratings for the May sweeps (April 29 through May 26), KFSM-TV led KHBS/KHOG by 15 percent of market share at 5 p.m., 6 percent at 6 p.m. and 2 percent at 10 p.m.

The chart below shows a breakdown based on the dominant market area (eight counties in Northwest Arkansas and two in Oklahoma). KPBI, a Fox affiliate, also offer reruns of situation comedy shows during the newscast timeslots.