In the biggest battle of the local November sweeps rating war - the late news - KSL-Ch. 5 came out a clear winner.
The Eyewitness News at 10 really was a big No. 1, outdistancing second-place KUTV-Ch. 2 by a whopping 7 ratings points, 12 share points and about 42,000 homes. (See accompanying box for the numbers.)As always, the late news is the stations' most important in terms of viewers and advertising dollars. And because KSL has a lot more of the former, it will make a lot more of the latter.
Almost equally important to the stations is how their ratings from November 1993 compare to November 1992. And that brought good news to Ch. 5, Ch. 13 and Ch. 4 and bad news to Ch. 2.
KSL, strong as its number were, was actually up from last year.
Although it lags far behind its three long-established competitors, KSTU made the greatest gains in terms of percentage, from a 4 rating last year to a 5 this year. And what makes them even happier at Fox is that last year's numbers were boosted by Jazz games, which no longer air on Ch. 13. Without the Jazz lead-ins, KSTU's news actually increased from a 3 to a 5. And, still more importantly, Ch. 13 made good gains in demographics as well.
KTVX held just about steady, actually increasing three share points. Which was good news to Ch. 4, what with all the protests against "NYPD Blue." (More on that later.)
KUTV, on the other hand, took a big hit. Ch. 2 dropped 3 rating points and 2 share points, leaving the station just barely ahead of third-place Ch. 4.
Just as KUTV's late-news numbers were boosted by the strong performance of NBC's prime-time schedule in May, they were hurt by NBC's weak prime time in November. (Locally, NBC finished 3 rating points behind both CBS and ABC.)
Here's a quick look at some other numbers:
OTHER NEWS: As usual, KTVX's early evening news (5:30 p.m.) outdistanced the competition at 6 p.m. - KSL was a strong second, KUTV a weak third, and both got beaten by "Wheel of Fortune" on KTVX.
KUTV's 5 p.m. newscast was nearly as strong (or weak) as its 6 p.m. show, and KSL's 6:30 p.m. broadcast had its best numbers ever.
And KUTV continues its dominance at noon over KSL.
NYPD BLUE: The folks at KTVX, having weathered a vocal protest against their decision to air the controversial ABC show "NYPD Blue," are breathing a sigh of relief.
And not just because the show itself did well - a 12 rating and a 22 share to finish second in its time slot - but because the threats of a boycott by some viewers appear to have failed.
Ch. 4's news numbers suffered no dropoff and even increased somewhat. And, when all the numbers are factored in, Ch. 4 was the most-watched station in Utah with an average of a 6 rating and a 22 share. (KSL had a 6/21, KUTV a 5/19, KSTU a 3/12 and KJZZ a 1/3.)
JAZZ DOWN: As expected, the Utah Jazz aren't faring as well in their new home as they did in their old one.
The three games that aired on KJZZ-Ch. 14 during the sweeps averaged a 12 rating, compared to the 19 they averaged in November 1992 on KSTU.
And, overall, KJZZ continues to struggle, as its 1/3 average indicates. Other than the Jazz, KJZZ's big winner is "Roseanne" reruns, which pull in 3 ratings.
THE TALK SHOWS: "Oprah" made the switch from KSL to KTVX and actually increased her audience; "Donahue" took a big hit by moving from 4 p.m. to 2 p.m. on Ch. 2; and KSTU's four-hour talk-show block failed to attract much of an audience.
"Oprah" won the 4 p.m. time slot with a 9/29 - an increase of 2 rating points over what it got in November 1992 at 2 p.m. on Ch. 5.
And KUTV's move of "Days of Our Lives" to 4 p.m. also looks good - it finished a strong second with a 7/23.
But the bottom dropped out for "Donahue" when it moved to 2 p.m. on Ch. 2. Phil got only a 2 rating, a point behind both "Montel Williams" on Ch. 4 and "Vicki!" on Ch. 5.
"Regis & Kathie Lee" continued to win the 9 a.m. time slot for KTVX, although it was down a bit from last year with a 7 rating; "Jenny Jones" won the 10 a.m. time slot for KTVX with a 4; and "Maury Povitch" won the 11 a.m. time slot for KUTV with a 5 - up a big 2 points from November 1992.
KSTU's four-hour talk-show block didn't exactly race out of the gate - "Joan Rivers" got a 2 rating; "Geraldo" and "Ricki Lake" 1s; and "Bertice Berry" less than 1.
"Les Brown" was another loser, getting a 1 rating at 2 p.m. for Ch. 4. (The show has been canceled by the syndicator, and KTVX has not yet scheduled a replacement.)
NOTE: Although Arbitron did release ratings for November, the company is going out of the local ratings business and stations are not using Arbitron's final tallies to sell ads.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Nielsen news ratings
The numbers listed are for total households, and are listed rating points/share points and approximate number of homes. (A rating point is 1 percent of the total housholds, which total approximately 630,00 in this market. A share points is 1 percent of those actually watching TV at a particular time.)
KUTV KTVX KSL KSTU
Noon 6/28 -- 4/21 --
(35,000) (27,000)
5 p.m 7/19 -- -- --
(46,000)
5:30 p.m. -- 12/29 -- --
(77,000)
6 p.m. 7/15 -- 11/22 --
(47,000) (67,000)
6:30 p.m. -- -- 9/18 --
(56,000)
9 p.m. -- -- -- 5/9
(32,000)
10 p.m. 13/25 12/23 20/37 --
(83,000) (75,000) (125,000)