Marketing & Media KFSM Leads TV Newscasts

CBS affiliate KFSM-TV, Channel 5 was the ratings winner in the entire 11-county designated market area for all evening newscasts according to by Nielsen Media Research.

The May ratings are included on the Business Journal’s annual list of television stations (click here to view a pdf of the list.) The chart is ranked by 10 p.m. newscasts. KFSM had an 11.4 rating in that slot.

“Rating” is the percentage of television households in the area. Nielsen rates the stations four times annually: February, May, July and November.

ABC affiliate KHBS/KHOG-TV, Channels 40/29 (KHBS in Fort Smith, and Rogers) had a 7.8 rating at 10 p.m.

KNWA-TV, Channel 51, which is the NBC affiliate, trailed in the ratings for the 11-county DMA in all time slots and had a 4.4 rating at 10 p.m.

However, KNWA was the top performer at 10 p.m. in the three-county DMA (which includes only Benton, Madison and Washington counties). It landed a 6.6 rating, with KFSM coming in with a 4.9 rating and KHOG a 2.3 rating. In the three-country market at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., KFSM beat both KHOG and KNWA.

KFTA-TV, Channel 24 is the Fox affiliate and has only a 9 p.m. newscast, therefore it is not ranked.

Mike Vaughn, general manager for KNWA, also oversees KFTA’s newscast as part of a share agreement between Nexstar Broadcasting Group Inc. and Mission Broadcasting Inc. He said that on Sept. 5 KFTA will begin a one-hour newscast that is “edgier” and targets a slightly younger audience.

During football season, the newscast will dedicate the last 30 minutes of the show on Friday nights to high school football, including live coverage from a game each in Northwest Arkansas and the River Valley, Vaughn said.