WISN 12 Wins the Early Evening News Race
WISN 12 Leads Weekdays at 5 and 6 p.m. for the Full Month of February
MILWAUKEE – March 1, 2018 – The “XXIII Olympic Winter Games” significantly impacted local news viewing among southeastern Wisconsin households in February. During the eleven days of February without the games, WISN 12 has the most watched local news weekdays with “WISN 12 News” at 5 p.m. (6.6) and 6 p.m. (6.6). For the full 28-day sweeps period, WTMJ leads the local news race weekdays, with “Today’s TMJ4 Live” at 10 p.m. (7.0) followed by “WISN 12 News” at 5 p.m. (6.5) and 6 p.m. (6.3).
“Super Bowl LII” and “XXIII Olympic Winter Games” in PyeongChang dominated primetime viewing in February. “Super Bowl LII” on WTMJ is the most watched program of the month with a 52.3 rating, down 5 percent from the 2017 game on WITI. Also on WTMJ, “Olympic Winter Games” in primetime averages a 15.2 rating, down 10 percent from the 2014 games in Sochi, but still well ahead of other primetime competition in the market.
Below are program average ratings and rankings comparisons for the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. local newscasts for the full month, the days without the games, and the days with primetime Olympic programming.
| Local News | February 1-28 | February 1-8 & 26-28 | February 9-25 (Olympics) | |||
| Station | HH Rating | Rank | HH Rating | Rank | HH Rating | Rank |
| 5-5:30 p.m. | ||||||
| WISN | 6.5 | 1 | 6.6 | 1 | 6.4 | 1 |
| WTMJ | 5.3 | 2 | 4.8 | 2 | 5.7 | 2 |
| WITI | 3.9 | 3 | 4.0 | 3 | 3.9 | 3 |
| WDJT | 3.3 | 4 | 3.3 | 4 | 3.3 | 4 |
| 6-6:30 p.m. | ||||||
| WISN | 6.3 | 1 | 6.6 | 1 | 6.0 | 2 |
| WTMJ | 6.0 | 2 | 5.6 | 2 | 6.3 | 1 |
| WITI | 3.8 | 3 | 3.9 | 3 | 3.7 | 3 |
| 10-10:30 p.m. | ||||||
| WISN | 5.3 | 3 | 6.1 | 2 | 4.6 | 3 |
| WTMJ* | 7.0 | 1 | 5.0 | 3 | 8.4 | 1 |
| WITI | 6.0 | 2 | 6.2 | 1 | 5.8 | 2 |
| WDJT | 3.6 | 4 | 4.3 | 4 | 2.9 | 4 |
*WTMJ late news aired at various times due to Olympic Games overruns.
“ABC World News Tonight with David Muir” added another month to its long run as the #1 network news among southeastern Wisconsin households, a position the program has held since October 2016. ABC leads weekdays at 5:30 p.m. throughout February, with a 7.8 rating, followed by “NBC Nightly News” on WTMJ (7.6), “Fox6 News” on WITI (3.5) and “CBS Evening News” on WDJT (3.5). During the dates outside of the winter games, ABC’s local lead at 5:30 p.m. widens to an average 8.2 rating followed by NBC’s 7.1.
Even with the strong competition from weekend sports programming during February, WISN 12’s Sunday news programs grew audience year-to-year, including “12 News This Morning” Sunday at 5 to 6 a.m. (+50 percent) and 7 to 9 a.m. (+50 percent); “GMA Weekend Edition” 6 to 7 a.m. (+24 percent); “UpFront with Mike Gousha” at 9 a.m. (+64 percent); “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” at 9:30 a.m. (+45 percent); “Matter Of Fact with Soledad O’Brien” at 10:30 a.m.; and “WISN 12 News” Sunday at 5:30 (+13 percent), 10 (+13 percent) and 10:30 p.m. (+28 percent).
Note: Each rating point represents 8,685 households in the Milwaukee DMA.
Source: Nielsen Media Research Live +SD preliminary household ratings, February 1-28, 2018
February 2018 Olympic Winter Games dates: February 9-25, 2018
About WISN 12 and Hearst Television
WISN 12, the ABC station in Milwaukee, is owned by Hearst Television. Hearst Television owns and operates television and 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. The Company’s Web address is www.hearsttelevision.com.
NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.
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