Ratings: CBS 2 Delivers Weeknight News Victory in February Sweep
NOTE: While CBS 2’s weeknight team led by Paul Magers and Pat Harvey was able to claim a share of the 25-54 lead on a Monday-Friday basis, it lagged its rivals on a Monday-Sunday basis. In these averages, KABC led with a 1.3 rating (1.26), followed by KNBC at 1.1 (1.07) and KCBS at 1.0 (1.01).
The weeknight 11 o’clock newscast of Los Angeles station CBS 2 achieved a ratings milestone in February as it earned a share of first place for the sweeps month for the first time in more than 20 years.
According to Nielsen local estimates for weeknights during the Jan. 29-Feb. 25 ratings period, CBS 2 tied with KABC 7 and NBC 4 in the adults 25-54 demo — with all three 11 p.m. newscasts rounding to a 1.1 rating. The CBS station shot up 22% from last February while the ABC station slid 27% and the NBC channel, which benefited in February 2014 from the network’s primetime coverage of the Winter Olympics, tumbled 45%.
The last time CBS 2 finished on top on a Monday-Friday basis in the 11 p.m. race was in 1994, when CBS aired primetime coverage of the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan-fueled Lillehammer Winter Olympics, which funneled monster ratings into the newscast.
In total viewers, KABC led in February with 250,000 but its advantage over CBS 2 (211,000) was trimmed to 39,000 from 72,000 a year. KNBC ran third with 177,000.
In the five years since anchor Pat Harvey and weathercaster Jackie Johnson shifted from KCAL’s primetime newscasts to join anchor Paul Magers and sports anchor Jim Hill on CBS 2’s weeknight newscasts, the station’s 11 p.m. news viewership has increased by 37% among adults 25-54 and 20% overall.
CBS 2’s sister station KCAL 9 again won the 10 p.m. newscast battle, with its average weeknight audience of 167,000 (up 25% vs. last year) besting KTLA (136,000) by 23% and KTTV (116,000) by 44%. It has won 11 of the last 14 major sweep periods since November 2010.
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