WISN 12 Leads All Weekday Newscasts from Morning to Night

MILWAUKEE – March 4, 2021 – In the first major sweeps period of 2021, Nielsen data shows WISN 12 leads in every competitive news time period Monday through Friday from 4:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. among southeastern Wisconsin households in February.  This is the first major sweeps period since November 2010 that WISN 12 leads every competitive weekday newscast in household viewing.

TVHH Imp (00)	4:30-5a	5-6a	6-7a	7-9a	11a-1p*	5-5:30p	5:30-6p	6-6:30p	10-10:30p
WISN	157	181	270	325	315	594	794	564	461
WITI	65	129	228	315	196	260	277	260	315
WTMJ	29	71	150	115	215	235	374	248	236
WDJT	15	17	45	123	196	222	285	n/a	209

* Viewing impressions for local news within the time period, i.e.  11a-12p on WISN and WITI, 12-1p on WTMJ, and 12-12:30p on WDJT

NOTE:  WDJT airs “Jeopardy” at 6p

WISN 12 also draws the top four weekday news audiences in any time period with its 5 to 6:30 p.m. lineup and 10 p.m. newscast.  The station drew the top four weekday news audiences in November 2020, and the top three spots in November 2019, February 2020, May 2020, and July 2020.  The top five weekday news audiences among southeastern Wisconsin households in February 2021 are:

M-F News Rank	Viewing Source	Program	Time	HH IMP (00)	HH Rating
1	WISN	ABC-WORLD NWS	5:30 p – 6:00 p	794	9.5
2	WISN	WISN 12 NWS-5	5:00 p – 5:30 p	594	7.1
3	WISN	WISN12NWS@ 6PM	6:00 p – 6:30 p	564	6.8
4	WISN	WISN12NWS@10PM	10:00 p – 10:30 p	461	5.5
5	WITI	FOX6 NEWS-9PM	9:00 p – 10:00 p	395	4.7

“ABC World News Tonight with David Muir,” the network’s national newscast on WISN 12, continues to be the market leader drawing the top news audience overall with 79,400 household impressions.  Excluding Super Bowl LV and its pre/post-game coverage on February 7, “ABC World News Tonight” draws the top 3 audiences overall in February 2021 with the weekday 5:30 p.m. newscast at #1 followed by the Sunday 5 p.m. (72,800 household impressions) and Saturday 5:30 p.m. (62,400).

The top weekday local newscast is “WISN 12 News at 5” p.m. with 59,400 household impressions followed by “WISN 12 News at 6” p.m. with 56,400 and “WISN 12 News at 10” p.m. with 46,100.  WITI is the closest news weekday news competitor with its one-hour 9 p.m. newscast drawing 39,500 households. WTMJ’s top local news audience weekdays is at 6 p.m. (24,800) and WDJT’s 5 p.m. (22,200) draws their top weekday local news audience.

“With the ongoing effects of this historic pandemic, Wisconsin’s vaccine rollout, social injustice, students in schools and so much more on our minds these days, it is so rewarding to see more and more viewers put their trust in 12 News to help make sense of it all,” says Jan Wade, WISN 12 president and general manager. “We take pride in our mission of not only delivering important local coverage, but also going deeper to tell viewers how a story will affect them,” adds Wade.

Weekday mornings, “WISN 12 News This Morning” leads at 4:30, 5 and 6 a.m. for the third consecutive month with household wins for each of these time periods in December 2020 and January 2021. “Good Morning America” leads weekdays 7 to 9 a.m. for the third consecutive month as well, making it another clean sweep of weekday morning news for the station. “WISN 12 News This Morning” welcomed Diana Gutiérrez to its weekday anchor team with Adrienne Pedersen and Eden Checkol in January 2021.

“WISN 12 News at 11” a.m. (31,500 household impressions) draws the top midday news audience and is the only midday newscast in the market to grow its audience with 55% more households than in February 2020. It leads closest competitor WTMJ’s noon news by 10,000 household impressions. Diana Gutiérrez also joined the 11 a.m. news team in January, with co-anchor Eden Checkol and meteorologist Lindsey Slater.

On the weekend, “WISN 12 News This Morning” 7 to 9 a.m. is the most-watched newscast Sunday mornings with 29,600 household impressions and 34 percent year-to-year growth.  Sunday evenings, WISN 12 has the most-watched local newscasts of the day with “WISN 12 News” at 5:30 p.m. (52,500) and 10 p.m. (52,100). Both local evening news audiences grew year-to-year, up 12 percent and 25 percent, respectively.  “ABC World News Tonight” at 5 p.m. (72,800) draws the top news audience of the day with 30 percent year-to-year growth.

Hosted by Adrienne Pedersen Sunday mornings at 9 a.m., WISN 12’s “Upfront” grew its audience by 96 percent from February 2020 with 23,200 household impressions. “Upfront” is second only to “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” (26,500) among the Sunday morning news-talk and community affairs programs. “Upfront” is followed by “Meet The Press” (21,000) on WTMJ at 8 a.m., “Matter Of Fact” (18,000) on WISN at 10:30 a.m., “Fox News Sunday” (16,900) on WITI at 9 a.m., “Face The Nation” (16,100) on WDJT at 9:30 a.m. The encore presentation of “Upfront” drew an additional 17,700 household impressions, Sunday at 11 p.m.

Source:  Nielsen Milwaukee DMA Live +SD preliminary program average household impressions
for 2/4/21-3/3/21 (Feb’21) and 1/30/20-2/26/20 (Feb’20)

About WISN 12 and Hearst Television

WISN 12, the ABC station in Milwaukee, is owned by Hearst Television, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hearst Corporation.  Hearst Television owns and operates 33 television and two radio stations serving 26 media markets across 39 states reaching over 21 million U.S. television households. Through its partnership with nearly all of the major networks, Hearst Television distributes national content over nearly 70 video channels including programming from ABC, NBC, CBS, CW, MY Net, MeTV, This TV, Estrella and more. The radio stations are leaders in Baltimore news/talk and rock music listenership. Hearst Television is recognized as one of the industry’s premier companies and has been honored with numerous awards for distinguished journalism, industry innovation, and community service. Hearst Television is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hearst.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.