Local Nielsen ratings snapshot (Fri.-Sun., May 4-6)
05/07/07 10:32 AM
By ED BARK
A severe ratings sag has set in from 5 to 7 p.m. on CBS11. Wheel of Fortune is hitting big ruts with young audiences, Katie Couric's CBS Evening News has become nearly invisible and the two local newscasts are hard-pressed to draw even sparse crowds.
Friday proved even worse than usual in the D-FW Nielsens.
Wheel, still a pretty solid performer last year at this time, is getting to be a virtual no-show among 18-to-49-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for entertainment programming. It ranked a dismal seventh at 6:30 p.m., drawing just 18,600 viewers in this profit-turning age group.
The frontrunner, Belo8's Entertainment Tonight, pulled in 99,200 viewers in the 18-to-49 demo. Fox4's Access Hollywood and NBC5's Extra also outdrew Wheel, as did reruns of The King of Queens (TXA21), The Simpsons (CW33) and Seinfeld (MY27).
Wheel has been hurt in recent weeks by a seemingly bottomless vat of high-powered Hollywood junk food, ranging from Anna Nicole Smith's eternal aftermath to Alec Baldwin's rant to David Hasselhoff's drunken stupor video to Paris Hilton's jail sentence. Meanwhile, Pat and Vanna have remained scandal-free.
The CBS Evening News is dragging bottom, too, bombing with every age group, including the key news demo of 25-to-54-year-olds. In Friday's 5:30 p.m. competition, it also ran seventh, attracting only 8,610 viewers in this age group. ABC's World News with Charles Gibson led the way with 80,360 in the 25-to-54 demo.
CBS11's homegrown newscasts also are struggling, particularly at 6 p.m. Friday's edition tied MY27's King of the Hill rerun for sixth place among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Belo8 routinely won at 5 and 6 p.m. in both total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 10 p.m., the ABC station and NBC5 again traded first place punches, with Belo8 on top in homes but the Peacock prevailing in the 25-to-54 demo.
At 6 a.m. NBC5 won a close three-way fight in homes over Fox4 and Belo8, with the latter station taking first place among 25-to-54-year-olds.
On Sunday night at 10 p.m., Belo8 took the top spots in both ratings measurements.
ABC's Desperate Housewives was the day's overall top draw, luring 285,600 homes. But the network's closing 15 minutes of the closely contested San Antonio Spurs-Phoenix Suns game came close to DH with 252,280 homes.
A severe ratings sag has set in from 5 to 7 p.m. on CBS11. Wheel of Fortune is hitting big ruts with young audiences, Katie Couric's CBS Evening News has become nearly invisible and the two local newscasts are hard-pressed to draw even sparse crowds.
Friday proved even worse than usual in the D-FW Nielsens.
Wheel, still a pretty solid performer last year at this time, is getting to be a virtual no-show among 18-to-49-year-olds, the main advertiser target audience for entertainment programming. It ranked a dismal seventh at 6:30 p.m., drawing just 18,600 viewers in this profit-turning age group.
The frontrunner, Belo8's Entertainment Tonight, pulled in 99,200 viewers in the 18-to-49 demo. Fox4's Access Hollywood and NBC5's Extra also outdrew Wheel, as did reruns of The King of Queens (TXA21), The Simpsons (CW33) and Seinfeld (MY27).
Wheel has been hurt in recent weeks by a seemingly bottomless vat of high-powered Hollywood junk food, ranging from Anna Nicole Smith's eternal aftermath to Alec Baldwin's rant to David Hasselhoff's drunken stupor video to Paris Hilton's jail sentence. Meanwhile, Pat and Vanna have remained scandal-free.
The CBS Evening News is dragging bottom, too, bombing with every age group, including the key news demo of 25-to-54-year-olds. In Friday's 5:30 p.m. competition, it also ran seventh, attracting only 8,610 viewers in this age group. ABC's World News with Charles Gibson led the way with 80,360 in the 25-to-54 demo.
CBS11's homegrown newscasts also are struggling, particularly at 6 p.m. Friday's edition tied MY27's King of the Hill rerun for sixth place among 25-to-54-year-olds.
Belo8 routinely won at 5 and 6 p.m. in both total homes and with 25-to-54-year-olds.
At 10 p.m., the ABC station and NBC5 again traded first place punches, with Belo8 on top in homes but the Peacock prevailing in the 25-to-54 demo.
At 6 a.m. NBC5 won a close three-way fight in homes over Fox4 and Belo8, with the latter station taking first place among 25-to-54-year-olds.
On Sunday night at 10 p.m., Belo8 took the top spots in both ratings measurements.
ABC's Desperate Housewives was the day's overall top draw, luring 285,600 homes. But the network's closing 15 minutes of the closely contested San Antonio Spurs-Phoenix Suns game came close to DH with 252,280 homes.
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