WDIV-TV Local 4 News Dominates in January Ratings

DETROIT, Feb. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- WDIV-TV Local 4 News won at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. during the January 2011 Nielsen ratings period in the Detroit television market.  In addition, Local 4 News Morning at 6 a.m. continued to experience strong growth to finish second in the market.

Local 4 News Morning anchored by Guy Gordon, Rhonda Walker, meteorologist Andrew Humphrey, and new traffic reporter Ashlee Baracy was #2 at 6 a.m., delivering a 4.1 Household Rating and a 15 Household Share.  In the coveted demographic of Women 25-54, Local 4 News Morning garnered a 3.1 rating and a 19 share, increasing its share delivery year-to-year by 27%, easily beating WXYZ's 6 a.m. morning news (2.5 RTG, 15 SHR W25-54).  During the same time period, WJBK declined 16% in Women 25-54 share. (3.6 RTG, 22 SHR W25-54).  

Local 4 News at 4pm showed sizable growth, delivering a 6.2 Household Rating and 14 Household Share, and handily beating WXYZ's Oprah by 24% in RTG and 27% in SHR (5.0 HH RTG, 11 HH SHR).  Even more significant, in the key demographics Local 4 News at 4pm experienced tremendous year-to-year growth, up 45% in Adults 25-54 share and up 46% in Women 25-54 share.  By comparison, Oprah was down 29% in both A25-54 and W25-54 shares from January 2010.

Local 4 News at 5pm finished in first place, garnering a 7.6 rating with a 15 share, out-delivering both WXYZ (6.8 RTG, 14 SHR) and WJBK (5.8 RTG, 11 SHR) in household ratings.  Local 4 News at 5pm was also the top rated 5 p.m. news in the market in the highly coveted Women 25-54 demographic, delivering a solid 4.0 rating, up 16% over last January.  This marks the 7th month in a row where WDIV has experienced ratings growth in these key demographics.

In the 6-6:30 p.m. time period, Local 4 News at 6 p.m. finished #1 in household ratings as well as in all key demographics.  Local 4 News at 6 p.m. scored a 9.4 household rating and a 17 share (compared to WXYZ 7.2 RTG, 13 SHR and WJBK 5.1 RTG, 9 SHR).  WDIV also placed first in Adults 25-54 and Women 25-54 ratings' delivery.        

The perennial powerhouse of late news, Local 4 News at 11 p.m. anchored by Carmen Harlan, Devin Scillian, Chuck Gaidica and Bernie Smilovitz, dominated all local newscasts with a 9.7 household rating and a 17 share (compared to WXYZ 7.0 RTG, 13 SHR, WJBK 10pm 7.8 RTG, 12 SHR, and WJBK 11pm M-F 4.6 RTG, 8 SHR).  Local 4 News at 11 p.m. had the highest ratings of news on any station, in any time period in the Detroit television market during January 2011.

Other dayparts in the WDIV programming lineup experienced strong ratings as well.  At 10-11 a.m., The Ellen Degeneres Show was #1 (4.2 HH RTG, 12 SHR) and continues to dominate and grow in all key demographics.  Wheel Of Fortune and Jeopardy dominate the competition in the all important access time period of 7-8pm.  WDIV's 7-8pm game show hour averages a 10.1 rating with a 17 share in household ratings.  WDIV out-delivers all of its access competitors, topping WJBK by nearly a 3 to 1 margin (10 HH RTG vs. 3.9 HH RTG) and beating WXYZ decisively by 49%.  The Tonight Show with Jay Leno was also #1 in the 11:35 p.m. time period with a 4.9 household rating and an 11 share.

In addition, Local 4's website, ClickOnDetroit.com, achieved record-breaking numbers with one of the website's top single-day totals delivering 3.9 million page views on February 1.

About Post-Newsweek Stations

Post-Newsweek Stations is owned by The Washington Post Company (NYSE: WPO), a diversified education and media company.  Post-Newsweek Stations owns and operates six television stations:  WDIV, the NBC affiliate in Detroit; KPRC, the NBC affiliate in Houston; WPLG, the ABC affiliate in Miami; WKMG, the CBS affiliate in Orlando; KSAT, the ABC affiliate in San Antonio; and WJXT, an independent in Jacksonville.   Post-Newsweek also has ownership interests in LATV Networks and Internet Broadcasting (IB).

SOURCE WDIV-TV