Tag Archives: Ratings

New news leader? WFTV, WESH battling it out

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Could WESH be about to end WFTV’s 30-year reign as the king of TV news in Orlando?

New Nielsen “people meters” data show — and parties at both stations acknowledge — a tight, two-station race between WFTV and WESH for the title of Central Florida’s news leader.

According to Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker, WFTV averaged 48,000 viewers to WESH’s 46,400 at 6 p.m. in the news-coveted 25-to-54 age group. For the demo at 11, WFTV had 43,200 to WESH’s 37,500.

Here’s the amazing part: Among viewers ages 18-to-49, WESH is the No. 1 station at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. — 30,000 viewers for WESH to 29,000 for WFTV.

“It’s a two-station race,” WFTV GM Shawn Bartelt told the Sentinel.

WESH GM Jim Carter agreed: “Based on the ratings I see, it’s a two-station race, and closer than it’s been in a long time. We were No. 2 at 11, just slightly behind WFTV. The rest of the time periods, we’re right there with them. The horse heads are next to one other. They’re neck and neck.”

WFTV still leads in the overall household ratings — 128,800 homes to WESH’s 100,100 at 6 p.m. But the demo results are a bit startling and perhaps indicate a shift in Central Florida’s viewing habits.

Read the full story here.

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Fox 35 hires Maliska as new news director

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 Here’s your Friday Fast Five:

Gavin Maliska is the new news director for WOFL-Fox 35, according to NewsBlues. Maliska comes from Tribune-owned Fox affiliate WXIN in Indianapolis, where he was the ND. His Fox-heavy background includes being the deuce at WJBK in Detroit and managing editor at WFLD in Chicago. He also was managing editor for an internet sports company, and he was formerly the deputy business editor at the Chicago Sun-Times (got to like those newspaper guys!). …

Good news for Maliska is that the also-ran station he’s arriving to lead didn’t finish last in Tuesday night’s election coverage. According to Sentinel TV Guy Hal Boedeker, WFTV led the local ratings race with an 11.1 rating, followed by WESH (8 rating), CNN (7), Fox News Channel (6.7), MSNBC (4.6), WOFL (3.8) and — ouch! — WKMG (3.8). That placed Local 6 ahead of only Central Florida News 13′s 1.9 rating. …

WKMG sports anchor “Ping” — aka David Pingalore — is playing sports instead of covering it this week. He’s playing as an amateur in Disney’s Children Miracle Network Classic tournament that started Thursday. According to the Sentinel’s Josh Robbins, Ping played college golf at Jacksonville University, lettering during the 1993-94 academic year.  “Just being out here on the driving range now, I feel the adrenaline,” Pingalore said before the event. “But I can only imagine Thursday. It’ll be the equivalent of six Mountain Dews.” Ping shot a 65 on the par 72 course and was tied for 51st place among the amateurs after the first round. Click here for the leaderboard. …

Don Smith is leaving WESH’s creative servics department to head West to Salt Lake City for a similar role with the ABC/CW duppoly. Smith came KHOU to WESH back in 2005, ane he helped change the station’s on-air look with some memorable campaigns. And he likes barbecue, so you know he’s a good guy. …

And finally, Andy Fisher — former general sales manager at WFTV — is retiring his post as president of Cox Television. Fisher has been with Cox for 24 years and he has been the company’s president since 2001.  Cox, of course, owns Channel 9.

 

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Orlando TV ratings — what the stations say

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From WESH-Channel 2 press release ….The spin:

 

WESH-TV today announced continued growth and momentum in key time periods from May ’07. In early morning, WESH 2 News Sunrise (6 – 7 a.m.) maintains its strong No. 2 position and Today (7 – 9 a.m.) continues to grow in popularity with Central Florida viewers, increasing its audience by 11,000 households. In addition to mornings, the growth continues in early evening news, where WESH 2 News at 5 and WESH 2 News at 6 with Wendy Chioji both saw greater ratings increases from May than any other early evening newscasts in Central Florida.

The quote: “In May we saw significant growth for WESH 2 News over the previous year. It’s now very gratifying to see that viewers are continuing that vote of confidence and helping us build on that momentum.” — VP and Station Manager Bob Fein. Continue reading →

Orlando TV ratings — another WFTV domination

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The November ratings for Orlando showed another dominating performance by WFTV’s Eyewitness News. By my count, WFTV has now been the No. 1 newscast at 6 p.m. for 29 years. And the Channel 9 juggernaut seems to be getting even stronger.

According to WFTV, from 5 to 6:30 p.m., more than 50 percent of the homes watching news in Central Florida are turned to Channel 9. Its lead over No. 2 Local 6 is more than 78,000 households at 5 p.m. — and the lead grows to 94,914 more households at 6 p.m.

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Orlando TV ratings — a look at the numbers

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The November sweeps brought us original episodes of our favorite shows, but the ratings results for the O-Town news looked more like another rerun.

Based on information provided in news releases by WFTV and WESH, Channel 9 once again dominated the local news scene in a ratings period that saw most everyone dropping a bit from a year ago. Here’s how the stations rank in the news time periods:

5 a.m. – WFTV-Ch. 9, WKMG-Ch. 6, WESH-Ch. 2 and WOFL-Ch. 35. Local 6 displaces WESH 2 News at No. 2, but everyone was down in share

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WFTV-Channel 9 sweeps July sweeps

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There are a lot of re-runs in the summer … and also in the O-Town ratings competition. WFTV-Channel 9′s Eyewitness News was again the top choice for Central Floridians. WFTV was No. 1 from 5-7 a.m., from 5-6:30 p.m. and at 11 p.m., according to the Orlando Sentinel’s TV Guy.

In the 6 p.m. competition, WFTV had 141,000 homes to 61,00o for WKMG-Local 6 News and 57,000 for WESH 2 News.
At 11 p.m., Eyewitness News wast No. 1 with 98,000 homes followed by Local 6 at 76,000 and WESH at 64,000. The Sentinel’s TV Guy says in that late-night timeslot, WKMG was down 11,000 from a year ago, WESH was up by 28,000 and WFTV was up by 4,000.

 

WESH was up across the board, actually. In a press release, Channel 2 said it was the only local broadcast station to see growth in all weekday newscasts. “We saw significant growth in both households and adult viewers in May, and it’s gratifying to see it continuing in July. It’s clear we are building some solid momentum,” said station President and General Manager Bill Bauman. High points for WESH: up 96 percent at 4 p.m. from a year ago, up 27 percent at 5 p.m., up 16 percent at 5:30, up 10 percent at 6 p.m. and up 13 percent at 11 p.m.

 

WESH was also eager to point out that its morning news on sister station WKCF-CW 18 from 7 to 9 a.m. is drawing 13 percent more viewers than The Daily Buzz did in the timeslot a year ago. Of course, now the Buzz is over on WRDQ-Channel 27, but it appears before and after WFTV’s morning news its sister station.

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