Election Night TV Ratings/Who was the Winner?
Thursday, November 04, 2010
How the mighty have fallen. A look at the overnight TV ratings from RI election coverage shows that the local TV landscape has surely changed around here.
GoLocal has just obtained actual ratings numbers for Channel's 12, 10 and 6.
The headline here is how strong Channel 12 performed during the 9 to 11pm time frame and also the 11 o'clock news compared to the once 800lb ratings gorilla Channel 10. Channel 6, as expected, came in at a distant 3rd place.
How the numbers work
TV news coverage is measured by ratings and share points. Each are equally important as they help stations to set advertising rates. And on election night, a lot of ego and pride goes in to winning the night. In simple terms, 1-rating point roughly equals 6,500 homes watching television at a particular time. 1-share point roughly represents the % of homes watching television at a moment in time
For example-if a station got a 1-rating, that would mean about 6,500 homes in RI were watching that TV during a certain time period. If that same station got a 1 % share as well, that would mean 1% of TV homes in RI were watching that one station.
So, here is the breakdown:
Channel 12
Channel 12 was the only local station to stay on with local election coverage from 9 till 11pm. And it appears from the numbers RI viewers were hungry for local coverage. Channel 12 was number one for the entire two hours in both ratings and share. At 11pm, the station tied Channel 10 with a 7.3 rating and 13.6% share. 5-years ago a virtual tie with Channel 10 would have been un-heard of...period.
The station is also saying it was first in announcing every key race last night.
Channel 10
During the 9 till 11pm hours, Channel 10 decided to just do local news cut-in's and stay with national election coverage from NBC for most of that time. It could be argued that hurt the "Team you Trust" going into their 11 o'clock news because if they stayed with local from 9 till 11p, their 11pm ratings may been higher by keeping people watching longer and not channel surfing. At 11pm, Channel 10 registered a 7.4 rating and a 13.8 % share. Again, a virtual tie with Channel 12.
Channel 6
Like Channel 10, Channel 6 decided to do local cut-ins form 9pm till 11pm and stay with national election coverage from ABC news. No surprises here with the 11pm ratings. Channel 6 came in 3rd place with a 3.5 rating and 6.6 % share.
While candiates were scanning numbers Wednesday morning, make no mistake news directors and general managers at all three local TV stations had these numbers on their mind as soon as they walked in the door.
Jeff Derderian is a former television news reporter and anchor both in Providence and Boston. He is one of the founders of the Station Education Fund. He can be reached at [email protected]
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