Kansas City TV ratings: 10 things to know about the May book

UPDATED with more bullet points at the bottom.

As the O'Reilly-Olbermann discussion we've been having proves, there are ratings and then there are ratings. And while I freely admit to big misgivings about television's overreliance on younger demographics — especially as we are going through a longevity revolution — facts are facts, and the fact is, a show that draws a younger audience will pull in better sponsors and more money than a show that draws an older one.

Nowhere is this a bigger challenge than in the news industry. (Tell me about it.) Pulling in a younger audience to watch TV news has never been easy. So this week, Nielsen sent out its May ratings "book," containing the data about age groups and watching habits from viewing diaries — yes, we still diary in Kansas City, at least for another couple years.

For the purposes of this post I am focusing on just one age group: persons ages 25-54. That is the oldest demo that is widely tracked by advertisers, and only for certain genres of shows. No one cares how "The Simpsons" performs among 25-54s, since it's sold based on its 18-34 and teenage demos. But news and some prime time programs are aimed at the more mature crowd, and 25-54s are still considered a hard-to-win-over group of people, what with their Wii addictions and all-night partying ... wait, those are just the David Cook fans. Anyway, as we've discussed before here, the cheapest buy on TV is a show watched primarily by older persons, because they watch so much television, why overpay to reach them? (See also African Americans, to some degree.)

I'm having one of my readers compile the ads he sees during the commercial breaks of O'Reilly's and Olbermann's shows just to underscore this point.

For now, though, here are the 25-54 ratings that jump out at me from the May book in Kansas City:

• I'm still amazed at the finding that the average U.S. household has its TV on 7.5 hours a day ... but clearly, the average households starts early. During the 5 a.m. hour all four local stations are pulling at least a 1 rating in the demo (i.e., 25-54) for their news: 2's for KMBC and Fox 4, 1's for KCTV-5 and NBC. (I know a 1 rating sounds pathetic, and probably it only represents a few thousand people in the metro area, but as you will see, it is almost as hard to get as a Royals-Cardinals ticket this weekend.)

• Counterprogramming the network morning shows is a good move ... for one station, at least. Fox 4 raked in a 3 share rating (I know, I know...) in the demo versus 2-2-1 for Early-GMA-Today during the 7 a.m. hour. But KCWE's new 7 a.m. newscast, featuring the well-liked Channel 9 gang, didn't seem to steal much of Fox's thunder. Not only did it not score a demo point, KCWE couldn't buy a ratings point three out of the four weeks of the book, scoring instead the dreaded hash mark.

• KSHB can't be unhappy with its new midday newscast, just not super-thrilled either. While Fox and KCTV-5, who've been doing this a while, pulled in 1 ratings in the demo for their noon news, a mostly older audience tuned in to KSHB's new 11 a.m. report.

• I was surprised to read that viewers of "The Daily Show" are much more likely to buy a book from an author featured on the show than viewers of "Oprah" are to buy a book club feature. Jon Stewart's audience is a little more nichey than Oprah's, I grant you, but hey, we have to write a decline of Oprah story every few years, why not now? Anyway, KMBC still enjoys a nice Oprah effect at 5 p.m., when its news scores a cherished 3 demo (versus 2 for 5 and 4 — hey, that sounds like a Chicago song — and 1 for NBC). But that rising tide doesn't lift KMBC's boat like it used to.

OK, I have to run — but more surprising findings here later. (How apropos of local news: a tease!)

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More:

• I know KCTV-5 general manager Kirk Black will defend to the death his decision to sell "Wheel of Fortune" and "Jeopardy!" to KSHB in exchange for "Access Tonight" or whatever the hell they got. I know that "Wheel" and "Jeopardy" are geezer shows. Aging demographics. Old old old. But here's the deal. Until that time, KSHB was the fourth station in a three-station race. It tried everything to get people to watch its early news. When Rosie O'Donnell was the hottest thing going, KSHB tried sticking her show at 4 p.m. opposite the then-non-declining Oprah. Nothing worked. That was then. This is now: There is a tie for second (behind KMBC's market-leading 4 rating) for second place in the demo between Fox 4, KCTV-5....and KSHB. Geezer show or not, "Wheel" draws a crowd, and really, that's all KSHB was hoping for.

• A word about public TV. I'm a fan of "NewsHour" and "Kansas City Week in Review" and "Washington Week" and all those great shows ... but none of those got even a single demographic point in May. What on public TV did? Here's the list: "Cyberchase," "Ruffman" and "Maya & Miguel" all scored consistently in the 18-49 demo, while "Antiques Roadshow," "Wild," "The McLaughlin Group" and — good lord, is this still around? — "The Red Green Show" all got 1 ratings in 25-54. And so did four out of the five nights of late-night programming on KCPT, which its program director Mike Murphy rightly considers a fourth hour of prime time. Take note, public TV directors in other cities: "Independent Lens," that documentary showcase you've been blowing off for years, airing at 10 p.m. in the Midwest, averaged 1 in both the 25-54 and 21-49 demos. When was the last time "Masterpiece" did that for ya?

• I've been watching the late news ratings for so long that it's hard to surprise me. I guess I expected the number for Fox 4 news to be higher, what with "American Idol" and all. A 5 in the demo at 9 p.m., and a 4 at 10 p.m., didn't match either KCTV-5's (6) or KMBC's (7) numbers for their late news.

• As for my favorite daypart, the latenightpart, I'd been advised that KMBC and KCWE, were going great guns, but wow! A stunning 6 in the demo for "Two and Half Men" on KMBC, following the news, combined with 1 for the "Dr. Phil" repeat means the Hearst duopoly keeps almost all the desirable audience it rustled up with its news. The Meredith combo (KCTV + KSMO) score a 4 in the late-night demo with its Worldwide Pants tandem of Letterman and "Raymond," matched by Scripps (KSHB + KMCI) with Leno and "King of Queens." I know I'm focus on demo, but this might be the most amazing number of the whole book: On Tuesday nights in May, 1 out of 10 people over the age of 50 living in the Kansas City DMA was watching "Two and Half Men."

• I like using the phrase "share points" and haven't been able to do so until now, because I've been focused on ratings. So here are some share points for you. For the month of May, this was the average share of the viewing audience that the local TV stations had during the broadcast day, defined as being 5 a.m. to 2 a.m., Sunday through Saturday:

  1. KMBC (ABC) 13%
  2. KCTV (CBS) 12%
  3. WDAF (Fox) 10%
  4. KSHB (NBC) 7%
  5. KCWE (CW) 3%
  6. KCPT (pub) 2%
  7. KMCI (ind) 2%
  8. KSMO (MyNet) 2%
  9. KPXE (Ion) <<

That is, hash marks.

OK, that was only nine bullet points, but I think that extra stat about "Two and Half Men" makes for 10 points, don't you?

Comments

[George]

Oprah's latest book club pick A NEW EARTH just sold four million copies after she endorsed it. When has Jon Stewart had anywhere near that kind of impact on a book?

(We found him! The one dude who doesn't have AMERICA: THE BOOK on his shelf! Seriously, that sold 2.5 million in textbook and probably reached, if not exceeded, 4 million when paperback edition sales are figured in. Amazing when you consider Stew's audience is a tenth of Oprah's.--AB)

[Lee Majakey]

With Pete Grigsby gone from KMBC, I bet KCTV will pick up market in a few months. His internet live weathercast was great during severe weather.