In February, WGN Chicago said it ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in almost every weekday newscast in adults 25-54. And the WGN Morning News just celebrated its eighth year as the top-rated morning news in Chicago. “From hard-hitting investigative pieces to light-hearted morning news banter, our goal is to inform, update and entertain,” said Jennifer Lyons, WGN’s news director.
NOTE: As you can imagine, I get a lot of press releases about ratings performance. TVNewsCheck does print sweeps performance stories from newspapers and other media.
When I get a press release about a sweeps performance, I send back a response asking that the station try and put that performance into some kind of context.
Why did your station do well, do you think? What did your station do differently from a marketing and /or coverage point of view? Please provide any relevant marketing and examples of actual news coverage.
This way, perhaps we can all gain a perspective.
Here is how WGN, Tribune’s independent station in Chicago, responded about their February sweeps performance:
This February, WGN pulled out all the stops and pulled off an amazing sweeps period, ranking #1 or #2 in almost every Mon-Fri newscast in Adults 25-54. And the top-rated WGN Morning News just celebrated its 8th year as the #1 rated morning news in Chicago.
WGN Morning News reporter Nancy Loo had a fun moment after some WGN News van trouble that clicked with viewers:
https://www.facebook.com/WGNMorningNews/videos/285848832098495/?v=285848832098495
WGN Morning News unveiled their official #SkillingSnow Measuring Stick.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BsyJkvGDYtw/
The sweeps started out on the heels of the Polar Vortex, one of the coldest days in Chicago EVER. With many viewers tuning in to weather leader WGN-TV and Chief Meteorologist Tom Skilling, viewers tuned in early and often to keep up with Chicago’s changing weather.
In the midst of Chicago’s worst cold snap in years, the so-called Polar Vortex, WGN Morning News gave us the “Ice Shuffle”
https://www.facebook.com/WGNMorningNews/videos/776002446097259/?v=776002446097259
And as an independent station, Chicago’s Very Own dominated Chicago’s election night with wall-to-wall coverage starting at 7pm – hours before all local competitors. The result? WGN-TV’s coverage of the 2019 Chicago Mayoral and Aldermanic Elections was #1 from 7pm-10pm with Adults 25-54, beating all network primetime on the competition and the nearest competitor by +29%.
“Part of being Chicago’s Very Own is being there for Chicago in moments both big and small. Whether it’s covering breaking news, giving viewers critical weather updates or going wall-to-wall on mayoral election coverage, we want to be there for our viewers,” said Jennifer Lyons, WGN’s news director.
“From hard hitting investigative pieces to light-hearted morning news banter, our goal is to inform, update and entertain.”
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