About us
Subscribe
Advertise
Contact us
Write
to the editor
Press releases

 

 

 


It's NBC's Brian
Williams by a length

Holding nightly news audience from Tom Brokaw

By Diego Vasquez
      Before Tom Brokaw stepped down in December, and before anyone could even have imagined a tsunami and the world havoc it would wreak, it was just assumed that Peter Jennings' “World News Tonight” on ABC would become the top evening news show, with NBC's “Nightly News” with Brian Williams slipping to second place.
  It hasn't happened; it could well be the case that it never happens.
   Williams has held onto the news audience he inherited from Brokaw, and by a comfortable edge as all three networks have seen a rise in viewership because of their tsunami disaster relief coverage.
   Though Williams is certainly a capable newsman, there wasn't much conviction that he could hold Brokaw's audience, since his past stints subbing for the venerable anchor produced mixed ratings. 
   Plus, even with Brokaw in the anchor seat, Jennings had been showing gains. Last spring ABC's news show finished ahead of NBC's among total viewers and households one week for the first time since September 2001. Since then, numbers for the two networks have been fairly close.
     For last week’s coverage of the tsunami tragedy, all three newscasts increased the amount of viewers they averaged during the fourth quarter of 2004. Williams and “NBC Nightly News” led the way, attracting 11.25 million viewers last week, 8.1 percent more than the 10.41 million viewers it averaged during the last three months of the year.
   ABC’s “World News Tonight” with Peter Jennings averaged 10.39 million viewers last week, up 12.8 percent versus the 9.21 million it averaged during fourth quarter 2004. And CBS’ “Evening News” with Dan Rather averaged 8.14 million viewers during the week, 12.9 percent higher than its 7.21 million fourth-quarter average.
   The numbers represent solid gains for all three networks and an impressive first-place finish for Williams during these critical first months as NBC's new nightly news anchor.
   In any case, if NBC were to slip, it probably wouldn't be in the short term, according to Andrew Tyndall, network news analyst of the Tyndall Report.
    “[A ratings decrease for NBC] wouldn’t happen in days or weeks. That would happen in months,” Tyndall says. “We won’t know anything until Memorial Day.”
   Tyndall gives Williams credit for broadcasting from Indonesia rather than Thailand or Sri Lanka, but says his best reports actually come when he is on the “Today” show.
   “The reporting is better when he’s in an interview format,” says Tyndall. “I’ve found the taped pieces not very illuminating.”
  

SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending December 26, 2004

Program

Network

Households*

People 2+

Adults 25-54

Rtg%

Shr

Total viewers (millions)

Rtg%

Meet the Press

NBC

3.3

10

4.100

1.3

Face the Nation

CBS

2.1

6

2.604

0.9

This Week with George Stephanopoulos

ABC

1.7

5

2.167

0.6

News Sunday

Fox

1.1

3

1.440

0.4

* Each rating point is equivalent to 1.096 million home
Source: NTI

 

MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending December 19, 2004
Five-day averages

Program

Network

Households*

People 2+

Rtg%

Shr

Total viewers (millions)

Today

NBC

4.9

17

6.1

Good Morning America

ABC

4.3

15

5.4

Early Show

CBS

2.4

9

3.0

* Each rating point is equivalent to 1.096 million homes
Source: NTI

 

LATE-NIGHT RATINGS
Week Ending December 26, 2004
Four-day averages (Dec. 20-23)

Program

Network

People 2+

Adults 18-49

Total viewers (millions)

Rtg%

Tonight Show with Jay Leno

NBC

5.9

2.1

Late Show with David Letterman

CBS

4.7

1.6

Nightline

ABC

3.9

1.2

Late Night with Conan O’Brien

NBC

2.5

1.1

The Late Late Show

CBS

1.8

0.7

Jimmy Kimmel Live

ABC

1.7

0.7

Last Call with Carson Daly

NBC

1.4

0.7

Source: NTI

 

DAYTIME RATINGS
Week Ending December 26, 2004
Five-day averages

 Daytime dramas

Total viewers (millions)

Women 18-49

 

Network

(millions)

Rtg%

Shr

CBS

4.28

1.7

9

ABC

3.78

2.1

12

NBC

3.48

2.1

12

 Full daytime

Total viewers (millions)

Women 18-49

Network

(millions)

Rtg%

Shr

CBS

4.74

1.7

9

ABC

3.69

1.9

11

NBC

3.48

2.1

12

Source: NTI


EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS
Week Ending January 2, 2005
Five-day averages

Program

Network

Households*

People 2+

Rtg%

Shr

Total viewers (millions)

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams

NBC

7.6

14

11.247

ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings

ABC

7.0

13

10.391

CBS Evening News with Dan Rather

CBS

5.5

10

8.140

* Each rating point is equivalent to 1.084 million homes
Source: NTI

 

SYNDICATION
Ranked on Households
Week Ending December 26, 2004

#

 PROGRAMS

Syndicator

Households

US Rtg%

(000)

1

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

KIN

8.6

9400

2

JEOPARDY

KIN

7.2

7866

3

EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN (AT)

KIN

6.7

7349

4

OPRAH WINFREY SHOW (AT)

KIN

6.6

7219

5

FRIENDS (AT)

WB

6.2

6814

5

SEINFELD (AT)

SPT

6.2

6793

7

JUDGE JUDY (AT)

PRM

5.3

5819

7

ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON

ESP

5.3

5787

9

ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON 2

ESP

5.2

5701

9

CSI-SYN (AT)

KIN

5.2

5681

11

DR. PHIL SHOW

KIN

4.7

5153

12

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)

PRM

4.5

4913

13

SEINFELD-WKND (AT)

SPT

4.4

4846

14

LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY

BV

4.0

4381

15

MILLIONAIRE (AT)

BV

3.5

3854

15

JUDGE JOE BROWN (AT)

PRM

3.5

3821

17

INSIDE EDITION

KIN

3.3

3627

17

MALCOLM IN-MIDDLE SYN(AT)

2/T

3.3

3567

19

MAURY (AT)

NBU

3.2

3511

20

THAT 70S SHOW-MF-SYN (AT)

2/T

3.1

3386

20

KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT)

2/T

3.1

3364

22

DIVORCE COURT (AT)

2/T

3.0

3259

22

WILL & GRACE-SYN (AT)

WB

3.0

3253

24

HOME IMPROVEMENT (AT)

BV

2.9

3165

25

COPS-SYN (AT)

2/T

2.8

3035

Source: Nielsen Media Research


Jan. 6, 2005 © 2005 Media Life
-  Diego Vasquez is a staff writer for Media Life.


Printer Friendly Version  |  Send to a Friend
 Cover Page | Contact Us

Click here to add the Media Life home page to your favorites