Posted by chicagomedia.org on March 13, 2009 at 13:18:57:
WBBM builds on gains
Ratings jump that started out small is growing
March 13, 2009
LEWIS LAZARE | Sun_Times Media & Marketing columnist
Could this be the start of something much bigger? We wrote last week about the relatively small uptick in the February 2009 ratings book for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2's 10 p.m. newscast, while all the remaining stations with late-evening newscasts were down for the month.
We're only one week into the March book, and plenty could happen before the month is over. But that uptick at WBBM is getting bigger. Much bigger. As is the station's 10 p.m. newscast lead-in rating, which competitors rightly insist must be considered a major factor in assessing the station's improving 10 p.m. news numbers. Still, for the first week of the March book (excluding weekend newscasts), WBBM's 10 p.m. news jumped 1.7 rating points to 4.9 from a 3.2 a year ago, a whopping 53 percent jump year over year. WBBM's lead-in rating also jumped 60 percent year over year.
The only other station trending upward so far for its late-evening news in the March book is Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32, which climbed 1.1 rating points at 9 p.m. to 4.7 from a 3.6. Otherwise, ABC-owned WLS-Channel 7 is still well ahead of all its competitors with a 9.6, followed by NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 with a 6.3, and Tribune Co.-owned WGN-Channel 9 with a 5.6.
Don't look for WBBM to start crowing publicly about its improving numbers just yet. Instead, the station intends to maintain a low-key profile and let newly arrived news director Jeff Kiernan keep making adjustments. And adjustments are being made, though they may seem subtle to some viewers. The station, for instance, is waiting longer to cut to the first commercial break at the top of the newscast to allow viewers to become more engaged, and it's doing more promoting of the 10 p.m. newscast and its content during prime time hours, which makes sense given the huge audience CBS' prime time lineup is attracting in Chicago right now.
But with the ratings moving in the right direction, Kiernan, we're told, may not be in much of a rush to make major news anchor adjustments. "There have been so many anchor changes here at the station in the past few years," said one WBBM source, by way of suggesting the station's news audiences probably don't want to endure another major anchor switch right now.