Now that the February ratings period is in the books, some TV stations are reporting a change in news viewership. So over the past few weeks, Market Share has been interviewing local news and marketing managers and showing relevant news promos from local news operations that performed well in February to try and determine why. […]
Now that the February ratings period is in the books, some TV stations are reporting a change in news viewership.
So over the past few weeks, Market Share has been interviewing local news and marketing managers and showing relevant news promos from local news operations that performed well in February to try and determine why.
So far, we’ve reviewed ratings performances in San Diego, Detroit, Boston, West Palm, Buffalo and St. Louis.
While it’s difficult, and dangerous, to isolate any one factor and say this is why a station is experiencing success, we can assume that it is some combination of content, talent and marketing.
KSNV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas acquired by Sinclair Broadcasting in November 2014, scored ratings wins in the early morning news and late news in February.
“To move the needle,” says Mark Neerman, KSNV’s news director since December, “it’s never going to be just one thing. It has to be a combination of enterprise reporting at the same time you’re owing breaking news.”
KSNV’s morning newscast, Wake Up with the Wagners, hosted by the married co-anchor team of Dana and Kim Wagner, was the most watched morning news Monday through Friday in adults 25-54 and in women 25-54 in Southern Nevada, according to Neerman.
Neerman attributes the station’s ratings success to “strong content and marketing, with the right investment from the company.”
The station is particularly excited about its performance in late news.
KSNV is No. 1 in adults 25-54 and women 25-54 at 11 p.m. outperforming the station’s NBC entertainment programming lead-in.
“We did a whole month of enterprise stories at 11,” says Neerman, “that resonated with the viewers with promotion that captured their attention and got them to watch.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXg5o8tXuC0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aRVS2FUqp4
“We’ve improved our news coverage, storytelling, and the newscast itself,” says Willie Garrett, KSNV’s marketing and promotions director.
“There is a more collective effort on what we tease in prime and our anchors are more involved in the promotion process every night.”
Neerman says the station’s focus on enterprise reporting is one of the key’s to the station’s success. He cites a recent example when all of the competing newscasts were leading with the same story except KSNV.
“We had aggressive coverage of that story, too, but we led our news with a story about a move to burn books. Enterprise reporting is in the fabric of everything we do here in the newsroom.”
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