TV News Ratings Much Tighter in NWA
by August 5, 2013 12:00 am 1,324 views
According to Nielsen Media Research ratings for May, CBS affiliate KFSM-TV, Channel 5, continues to enjoy a comfortable lead against its competitors in three of the four time slots for local news (click here to see this year’s list).
Those numbers reflect household ratings from the 11 counties in Nielsen’s Designated Market Area of Fort Smith-Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers.
The Arkansas counties are Benton, Washington, Madison, Sebastian, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan and Scott. The remaining two, Sequoyah and LeFlore, are in Oklahoma.
But when the numbers are crunched from households only in Benton, Madison and Washington counties, competition for viewers is a little tighter.
ABC affiliate KHBS/KHOG-TV, Channels 40/29, (the KHOG portion of the station is Northwest Arkansas and KHBS is Fort Smith) led the 6 a.m. news slot with 7.5 ratings points, followed by KFSM (4.1) and NBC affiliate KNWA-TV (3.2).
In fact, 40/29’s 35 share in the 6 a.m. slot was the highest share recorded in any time slot.
A rating is a percentage point of all television households. For example, a 7.5 rating means a station is reaching 7.5 percent of all households.
Share is a percentage of the homes actually watching television. For example, a television station with a 35 share indicates that 35 percent of the homes watching television at that specific time are watching that particular station.
KNWA led the 10 p.m. newscast in the three-county area with a 6.3 rating and 17 share. KHBS/KHOG and KFSM tied for second at 5.4 and a 15 share.
In the 5 p.m. slot, KFSM ranked first with an 8.0 rating and 24 share, followed by KHBS/KHOG (6.6; 20) and KNWA (6.2; 19)
KFSM also led the 6 p.m. category with a 9.4 rating and 24 share, again followed by KHBS/KHOG (6.4; 16) and KNWA (6.0; 15).
Among stations that have a 9 p.m. newscast, Fox affiliate KFTA-TV drew a 2.0 rating, followed by independently affiliated KXNW (1.4) and the Arkansas CW (0.8)
Ratings are conducted four times each year — May, July, November and February.