The Numbers are IN from the May Book in the Bluff City

This blog thing is great, kind of like being at a bar. You ask for something and suddenly, there it is, right in front of you. Earlier this week, I asked for numbers from the May book here in the Bluff City and suddenly, there they are. I thank the person who provided them to me.
From the numbers I received, the station down on the river won again at 10 o’clock and in the morning when the operations went head to head. WMC stayed ahead in the early evening and WHBQ had a strong showing at 9pm. (The numbers for WHBQ and WPTY at 5:30am were not made available to me.)
It looks like the folks down on the river found a combination that works. They now have two wins under their belt at 10pm. A third win will show a trend. It will be interesting to see what changes take place across town in an effort to challenge it.

Here’s the breakdown as presented to me: I tried to lay this out in columns but it wouldn’t work for me on this page when I published. So I’ve attempted to spell it out.

At M-F 5-5:30am WREG had a 4.2/15 while WMC pulled a 3.1/11 WHBQ had 2.8/9 and WPTY came in with 1/4
WREG won M-F 5:30-6am with a 6/19 while WMC followed with 4.7/15. Again, no numbers were made available for WHBQ in that half hour.
WREG also won the M-F 6:00-7:00 with a 7.2/18 while WMC was close behind with 6.8/17. WHBQ has a 4.9/12 and WPTY came in with 1.5/4

AT Noon, WREG won again with 6.2/15 compared to WMC’s 4.7/11

WMC won the early news with 9.9/17 at 5pm whille WREG was next at 8.6/15 . WHBQ was next 5.1/9 and WPTY pulled a 5.5/10
WMC grabbed 10.6/17 at 6pm followed by WREG with 8.9/15 . WHBQ had 5.5/9 and WPTY had 3.4/6

Fox 13 had a strong showing M-F 9:00pm with 10.1/14

WREG won the 10-10:35pm 11.6/18 compared to WMC’s 10.9/17 and WPTY’s 4.1/6.

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17 Comments on “The Numbers are IN from the May Book in the Bluff City”

  1. Average Guy Says:

    Joe,
    I’m not in your market but my survival depends on the numbers. The Household numbers you quote are very important from a “who won?” perspective and to establish the early spin. From a revenue standpoint, they don’t mean diddly. You really need to wait until the book comes in — probably mid to late June. For newscasts, the A25-54 number is the one which will determine the real winner because that is the demo advertisers buy the most for news. So, take a breath and see what the good folks at Nielsen churn out when the book is released.

    The GM

  2. Joe Larkins Says:

    I agree. I was looking at the “who won” numbers, not the demographics which is where the sales folks can point to the key demos the advertisers are looking for. This is just about bragging rights and where the promos will come from. It’s the sizzle, not the steak itself.
    Thanks for checking in.
    Regards,
    Joe

  3. Anonymous Says:

    Actually Joe, you have the third place numbers at 5 o’clock reversed.

    WPTY-ABC beat WHBQ-Fox again at five o’clock.

  4. bishop Says:

    Way to go Claudia Barr for making the numbers boost up. I really enjoy watching three now since Claudia has been added. I always watch Markova, Chris and Todd int he mornings. Joe Birch is my boy at 5 and Mearl is my girl at 9. I am a news fanactic.

  5. Joe Larkins Says:

    Thanks for bringing my attention to that error. I guess I got in too big of a hurry in transcribing. I’ll leave your correction up.
    Regards,
    Joe

  6. Anonymous Says:

    of course, the real winner is wbbjtv in jackson, that spins itself as competing daily with memphis and nashville. 🙂 yea, right.

  7. newsboyarizona Says:

    These kind of wins were always a big morale boost in the newsroom when I was down on the river, like when we won or tied WMC at 10pm in May 1990 (can’t remember which), or when we were starting to win in the mornings back in the mid-90s.

    The GM is right about the sales people and the “clients” always wanting demos. But for the newsroom, this will be something to savor all summer until the fall schedule starts.

  8. Anonymous Says:

    I think WMC has been hamstrung by an incredibly weak lead in from NBC. I would be interested in seeing exactly what the 9:00-10:00pm numbers show for a lead in. As things go NBC is definitely not as strong as CBS is these days. Though as everyone knows that will change.

  9. Anonymous Says:

    What don’t people get about WMC? They are boring and refuse to change in a changing world. It is a little like the football coach who keeps running the same play because it worked once, not because it is still working.

  10. Anonymous Says:

    Watching WMC is like watching a train wreck. The writing is terrible. A seasoned anchor like Joe is stumbling over Donna who is lost somewhere in the script. They need to give up on the stupid opens for each story because they are never timed right and often send the anchors stumbling even more. Joe used to be Mr. Smooth but I guess the writing and the need to make every thing dramatic has gotten to him. It has also gotten to the viewers too. WMC has bigger problems than their lead in. In the 90’s NBC was weak and they still dominated. Years of trying desperate measures and weak writing is killing them.

    The Memphis market as a whole has got to stop leading and stacking their shows with mindless material. Example: A1. Shooting, yep, someone got killed. Neighborhood SOT “I can’t believe that happened here.”A2. A story that you have to see and are hyped but means nothing to the viewers daily lives. A3. Chopper Five is over some breaking news. “Looks like there are a lot of police cars on the scene,” says Donna. Cop cars on a crime scene in Memphis, no way. Now to B block. B1. Let’s swab something so we can gross our viewers out by telling them germs are on everything. (if we didn’t gross them out, then they will still be here for the second quarter hour.) Tease to weather saying the storms may be coming to kill you but Dave will have the forecast. Dave comes back and says it will be sunny and 75. To sports, hey the Griz, Tigers and Redbirds played but we only have time to show you one highlight so you will have to read the CA to find out what really happened. Final tease goes something like this. “We will be back after this.” They comeback to say one word, “Goodnight.” I am glad I stuck around to see the end of this mistimed, badly written show.

    No wonder 3 is winning. In Memphis, you don’t necessarily have to be good; you just have to suck the least. To 3’s credit, Claudia and Richard are meshing well together. The two weather guys give viewers a sense of security and sports shows you more than one highlight.

    Viewers loose their sensitivity to the killings (they are only murders if people care about the victims) if that is all they see in the news. Stop ambush journalism. If you are cool with most folks they will talk without forcing a camera down their throat. Maybe Memphis TV could travel outside the city limits for a story but those are three topics for another day.

    Ok, my rant is over.

  11. Anonymous Says:

    dam joe, sorry about sending my rant so many times.

  12. Anonymous Says:

    Many NBC stations still dominate in news despite the weak network. Lead-in makes a difference but people will watch the news they want to watch.

  13. Anonymous Says:

    Two words – Kris Anderson
    He anchors the morning and noon. Plus, he was on at ten with a segment on sex offenders. All the show WREG won in May. Forget lead-ins, Anderson is the main reason WREG is doing so well.

  14. Anonymous Says:

    Who is Kris Anderson? 😉
    …..JD

  15. Anonymous Says:

    In most cases WMC had a lead in of a 5 or 9 where 3 had lead ins in the teens. almost nightly, WMC would significantly increase their lead in, if not double. 3 would almost always fall several points.
    This being said, WMC does need to make changes and spend some cash. NBC will do nothing to help.

  16. Anonymous Says:

    Any ratings information available for the Nashville DMA? It is always hard to find. How about Jackson, TN?

  17. Anonymous Says:

    Watching WMC is like watching a train wreck. The writing is terrible. A seasoned anchor like Joe is stumbling over Donna who is lost somewhere in the script. They need to give up on the stupid opens for each story because they are never timed right and often send the anchors stumbling even more. Joe used to be Mr. Smooth but I guess the writing and the need to make every thing dramatic has gotten to him. It has also gotten to the viewers too. WMC has bigger problems than their lead in. In the 90’s NBC was weak and they still dominated. Years of trying desperate measures and weak writing is killing them.

    The Memphis market as a whole has got to stop leading and stacking their shows with mindless material. Example: A1. Shooting, yep, someone got killed. Neighborhood SOT “I can’t believe that happened here.”A2. A story that you have to see and are hyped but means nothing to the viewers daily lives. A3. Chopper Five is over some breaking news. “Looks like there are a lot of police cars on the scene,” says Donna. Cop cars on a crime scene in Memphis, no way. Now to B block. B1. Let’s swab something so we can gross our viewers out by telling them germs are on everything. (if we didn’t gross them out, then they will still be here for the second quarter hour.) Tease to weather saying the storms may be coming to kill you but Dave will have the forecast. Dave comes back and says it will be sunny and 75. To sports, hey the Griz, Tigers and Redbirds played but we only have time to show you one highlight so you will have to read the CA to find out what really happened. Final tease goes something like this. “We will be back after this.” They comeback to say one word, “Goodnight.” I am glad I stuck around to see the end of this mistimed, badly written show.

    No wonder 3 is winning. In Memphis, you don’t necessarily have to be good; you just have to suck the least. To 3’s credit, Claudia and Richard are meshing well together. The two weather guys give viewers a sense of security and sports shows you more than one highlight.

    Viewers loose their sensitivity to the killings (they are only murders if people care about the victims) if that is all they see in the news. Stop ambush journalism. If you are cool with most folks they will talk without forcing a camera down their throat. Maybe Memphis TV could travel outside the city limits for a story but those are three topics for another day.

    Ok, my rant is over.


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