Nielsen TV ratings out: On-hour time is working
Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - by Erika Engle PBN Staff Reporter
The two Honolulu television stations that went to "clock time" in January -- starting their 10 p.m. newscasts on the hour instead of as many as seven minutes after, as well as all other prime-time programming -- have come out of the latest ratings period on top, just where they were before. But while they've always been competitive, the stations' battle for ratings and advertising dollars has been kicked up a notch.
The Nielsen Media Research ratings report for February "sweeps," as the rating month is known, shows KHON and KITV topping the late news slot -- the crux of the clock-time issue for viewers. However, clock-time was a nonissue for KGMB, the CBS affiliate that won the prime-time programming war. Contrary to reports published elsewhere, prime time is defined as 7-10 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 6-10 p.m. Sunday.
Shows for `grown-ups'
KGMB's CBS network programming is said to draw an older audience; the same is said of its news programming. CBS wins on both counts with the wildly popular "Touched by an Angel" and the long-dominant "60 minutes."
However, it's hard for KGMB to capitalize on good ratings as ad costs in Hawaii are lower than those on the mainland. One of the reasons the ad rates have been lower is the expanded breaks. They can add up to 14 units, or seven minutes of commercials to prime-time programming -- on non-clock-time stations, anyway.
Joe's still on top at 10
Going on the air with news on time at 10 p.m. has so far benefited Fox affiliate KHON the most. Their 10 p.m. rating stayed at a 13 -- meaning they have 13 percent of the Hawaii viewers actually watching TV. But their share of viewing out of all Hawaii homes with televisions increased by 2 points.
KHON anchorman Joe Moore, now in his 30th year on Hawaii television, has anchored Hawaii's No. 1 late news show since 1982, according to General Manager Kent Baker. The Channel 2 News at 6 p.m. is also No. 1 in its time slot. It's the only local news show at that time that has a double-digit rating and share points, 17 and 35, respectively.
Dissenters in the ranks
John Fink , general manager of NBC affiliate KHNL, said Moore's rating and share points in February 1995 were 20 and 40 and that while he once got a 21 rating for viewers 50 and older, that was down to a 14 in November of last year.
"I think the viewer is the real winner, with three very competitive newscasts now taking on the incumbent," he said, "and [its] domination in the all-important demographic wars continues to slide."
KGMB General Manager Ray Depa feels KHON has been disingenuous about the clock-time issue and should be "called on it." He said Moore has referred to the other stations as "greedy." Moore invited viewers "sick and tired of having to sit through all the commercials on ER" [on KHNL], only to miss the first few minutes of his news, to call General Manager John Fink. Fink's name and direct office phone number were then put up on the screen. Fink declined to comment on Moore's action except to say it happened more than once.
Depa accused KHON of expanding the commercial breaks during their higher-rated shows such as "X Files." He obtained an "X Files" program log from another Fox affiliate and compared it with a tape of the show broadcast here. He said KHON had clearly added three commercials to the show. "The point is," Depa said, "apparently commercial clutter is a bad thing, except in shows that have higher ratings and higher advertising rates."
Baker called the argument, "ridiculous." He insisted they have cut the number of commercials in prime-time by about one-third. "We start at 7 o'clock and end at 10 o'clock. We never promised anybody how many ads there were going to be in specific shows," he said. Baker said they do move commercials around within prime time as do other media to take advantage of higher demand for advertising.
Clock timers taking a loss
The downside of the new on-time efforts of KHON and KITV has been cutting the amount of commercial time they can sell and having to raise advertising rates to try to recoup the lost revenue.
Both Baker and ABC affiliate KITV General Manager Mike Rosenberg acknowledge their stations likely will suffer revenue losses from their clock-time decision this quarter, but both feel they've done the right thing. Rosenberg said research done in May of last year showed viewers were 55 percent "more likely," or "much more likely" to watch a 10 p.m. newscast that started on time.
The more viewers a station has, the more advertisers it can lure. The benefit for the advertiser, Rosenberg said, is that its commercial will be seen with only two or three others instead of six or seven. Studies have shown viewers' brand recall improves 60 percent to 70 percent in a break that's half the size of those the stations had been running.
Rosenberg said, "It is our hope that when we get ratings, and our advertisers sell product based on the smaller breaks, perhaps the rest of the market will follow."
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