Couric Ratings Down From Year Ago -- Even With Palin!

[megimoo]

Palin Effect on Ratings Only Modest for CBS

"The Dan Rather type BDS/PDS Syndrome Hurts Perky/Nasty Couric"s Ratings !"

Katie Couric’s newsmaking interviews with the Republican vice presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, last week had only a slight impact on the ratings for her CBS newscast. But if the network could have added up all the other viewers the interviews (and its spoof) racked up, on places like CNN, YouTube and “Saturday Night Live,” Ms. Couric would surely have been more seen and talked about than in any week since she began her tenure as anchor.

Ms. Couric received a rush of attention for the two interviews, in which Ms. Palin, governor of Alaska, spoke haltingly on, among other topics, her state’s “narrow maritime border” with Russia. Clips turned up across the spectrum of television and Web sites.
snip

Still, the “CBS Evening News” gained only about 10 percent in audience from the previous week — and it was actually down from the same week the year before. The newscast averaged just under 6 million viewers for the week, up from 5.44 million the previous week. A year ago Ms. Couric’s program drew about 6.2 million viewers. (CBS was also a distant third last week behind ABC, which won with 8.07 million viewers, and NBC, with 7.98 million.)
snip

Ms. Couric has more material to come with Ms. Palin. Continuing a series begun during the primary season in which Ms. Couric poses the same questions to each candidate, the program will have questions for Ms. Palin and her vice presidential opponent, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Mr. McManus noted that despite the harsh reviews Ms. Palin has been getting for the interviews with Ms. Couric, no one in the McCain campaign had registered complaints with CBS.

The newscast has made more of an effort to work interviews into the daily content, Mr. McManus said. Monday’s program included not only another interview involving Ms. Couric and both candidates on the Republican ticket, but also interviews with Democratic and Republican Congressional leaders about the failed vote on the Wall Street bailout package.

Ms. Couric has been battered for most of her tenure at CBS News over the sagging ratings of the newscast, and some discussions had been held at CBS earlier this year about her future at the network. Mr. McManus said the network and Ms. Couric were moving past all that.

“I’ve been saying for some time that what we need to concentrate on is the content, not the ratings,” he said. Asked whether the Palin interviews might be a chance to change the ratings momentum of the newscast, he said: “I hope so. We’ll see.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/arts/television/01rati.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&ref=television&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

[d_va]

O'Reilly's show gets higher ratings than Couric's CBS show now. Billo happy :)

[Cold Warrior]

O'Reilly's show gets higher ratings than Couric's CBS show now. Billo happy :)

Hardly. O'Reilly gets around 2.6M viewers per night (http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/16/oreilly-vs-olbermann-through-thursday-may-15/3801). As noted in the article, Couric, although the lowest of the three major network nightly newcasts, still draws just under 6M.

[LogansPapa]

And she knows how to pursue a line of questioning - to the point cutie Palin just went silent. Billo just tells his interview victims to "Shut Up!":D

[cat714]

Hardly. O'Reilly gets around 2.6M viewers per night (http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/16/oreilly-vs-olbermann-through-thursday-may-15/3801). As noted in the article, Couric, although the lowest of the three major network nightly newcasts, still draws just under 6M.

This "article" came out on May 16, 2008 and it was comparing O'Reilly and Olbermann. :rolleyes: Couric's audience of 6 million is per week.


NEW YORK (AP) -- The "CBS Evening News" audience has taken a noticeable dip ever since the latest round of speculation over Katie Couric's job. The broadcast averaged 5.34 million viewers last week, breaking a record low for CBS News' flagship show that had been set the week before, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Katie Couric's ratings still sinking (http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/30/nielsens.ap/index.html)


Couric scored an exclusive interview last week with Palin while the Alaska governor was at the United Nations General Assembly to meet with world leaders. Those interviews -- which included several clips that received a lot of Web traffic -- appeared on "Evening News" on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Neither newscast beat ABC and NBC, but "Evening News" showed ratings increases on both nights. Wednesday's household rating was up 14 percent to a 4.1, compared with ABC's 5.6 and NBC's 5.3; Thursday was up 8 percent to a 4.0, compared with the 5.4 that ABC and NBC received.

CBS News declined to release internal numbers but said that traffic to CBSNews.com was "substantially higher than normal..."

The CBS newscast was up 8 percent in households and 10 percent in viewership for the week, but it wasn't as high as two weeks ago (the week of September 8), when it averaged 6.2 million viewers.

Couric-Palin chat hoists ratings for CBS
(http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSTRE4900CX20081001)

[LibraryLady]

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c12/dtharman/Global%20Gore/oreilly.jpg

He has over 4 million at his first viewing and another 2 million at his second.

[megimoo]

Hardly. O'Reilly gets around 2.6M viewers per night (http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/05/16/oreilly-vs-olbermann-through-thursday-may-15/3801). As noted in the article, Couric, although the lowest of the three major network nightly newcasts, still draws just under 6M.Nice try slick !

[Cold Warrior]

This "article" came out on May 16, 2008 and it was comparing O'Reilly and Olbermann. :rolleyes: Couric's audience of 6 million is per week.


NEW YORK (AP) -- The "CBS Evening News" audience has taken a noticeable dip ever since the latest round of speculation over Katie Couric's job. The broadcast averaged 5.34 million viewers last week, breaking a record low for CBS News' flagship show that had been set the week before, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Katie Couric's ratings still sinking (http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/TV/04/30/nielsens.ap/index.html)


Couric scored an exclusive interview last week with Palin while the Alaska governor was at the United Nations General Assembly to meet with world leaders. Those interviews -- which included several clips that received a lot of Web traffic -- appeared on "Evening News" on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

Neither newscast beat ABC and NBC, but "Evening News" showed ratings increases on both nights. Wednesday's household rating was up 14 percent to a 4.1, compared with ABC's 5.6 and NBC's 5.3; Thursday was up 8 percent to a 4.0, compared with the 5.4 that ABC and NBC received.

CBS News declined to release internal numbers but said that traffic to CBSNews.com was "substantially higher than normal..."

The CBS newscast was up 8 percent in households and 10 percent in viewership for the week, but it wasn't as high as two weeks ago (the week of September 8), when it averaged 6.2 million viewers.

Couric-Palin chat hoists ratings for CBS
(http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSTRE4900CX20081001)

The article may be comparing Olberman to O'Reilly's ratings, but it still gives the numbers for both. Even if the CBS Nightly News has declined to 5M, it's still approximately twice O'Reilly's viewership, who, by the way, is in prime time.

[Cold Warrior]

Nice try slick !

Well megs, if I'm "slick" you must be "dumb-ass." What part of my post do you dispute? Do you want to say, emphatically, that more people watch O'Reilly than the CBS Nightly News. If you do, please, please just say so.

From the cited article:


The broadcast [CBS Nightly News] averaged 5.34 million viewers last week,

Dumb shit O'Reilly averages between 2.5 and 2.7 million viewers per night, in prime time.

[LibraryLady]

8PM - P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor- 4,098,000 viewers
11 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor–2,195,000 viewers

6,293,000

Evening News

CBS 5,990,000

http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/ratings/top-news/evening-news

[Cold Warrior]

8PM - P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor- 4,098,000 viewers
11 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
The O’Reilly Factor–2,195,000 viewers

6,293,000

Evening News

CBS 5,990,000

http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/ratings/top-news/evening-news

While O'Reilly's ratings, as I assume all cable news show ratings during the election cycle, have imporived since the original article, and evidently Couric's have declined since the original article (which was not mine, btw), you simply cannot count rerun counts. What you are measuring is 2 hours of O'Reilly vs. 1/2 hour of the CBS Nightly News. If you measure the 1/2 slot, which Nielson does, I think you will find that Couric (as all of the network newscasts, btw) outperforms any cable news show.

[LibraryLady]

Yet CBS has had to return money to some advertisers.

[Cold Warrior]

Yet CBS has had to return money to some advertisers.

No doubt. I know a lot of people who work for CBS News and they all, to a person, despise Couric. I am not saying anything good about Couric here or elsewhere. However, I understand that a majority of people who watch news still are reliant upon the three major network newcasts, although that's declining every day.

[LogansPapa]

How's '60 Minutes' doing in the ratings?

[Cold Warrior]

How's '60 Minutes' doing in the ratings?

Me?

I have no idea, as I never watch it. However, I may start as the best reality show in the history of television has returned in the 8:00 slot following 60 Minutes -- THE AMAZING RACE.

[LibraryLady]

Nielsen top 20

http://tvbythenumbers.com/category/ratings/nielsen-weekly-top-broadcast-tv-show-ratings

Rank Shows Net # Viewers (LIVE+SD) (000) HH RATING (LIVE+SD) HH SHARE (LIVE+SD) # OF HOMES (LIVE+SD) (000) 18-49 Rank
1 DANCING WITH THE STARS ABC 21,338 13.4 20 15,344 4
2 DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES ABC 18,684 11.4 17 13,105 2
3 GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM ABC 18,469 11.9 18 13,595 1
4 DANCING W/STARS SP-9/23(S) ABC 18,302 11.7 18 13,374 11
5 NCIS CBS 18,026 11.3 18 12,988 25
6 NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL NBC 17,340 10.8 17 12,311 3
7 CSI: MIAMI CBS 17,233 11.1 18 12,723 6
8 CRIMINAL MINDS CBS 17,007 10.5 16 12,030 12
9 DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S) ABC 15,867 10.4 17 11,860 24
10 MENTALIST, THE CBS 15,603 9.9 15 11,301
11 TWO AND A HALF MEN CBS 14,877 9.1 13 10,365 5
12 CSI: NY CBS 14,591 9.2 16 10,564 20
13 SURVIVOR: GABON CBS 13,058 7.7 12 8,788 16
14 60 MINUTES CBS 12,592 8.0 14 9,122
15 HOUSE FOX 12,378 7.5 12 8,617 7
16 OT, THE FOX 12,185 7.6 13 8,750 9
17 BROTHERS & SISTERS ABC 12,029 7.7 13 8,834 13
18 EXTREME MAKEOVER:HM ED-8P ABC 11,946 7.4 11 8,446 23
19 SUNDAY NIGHT NFL PRE-KICK NBC 11,933 7.4 12 8,416 15
20 COLD CASE CBS 11,358 7.4 11 8,417

[LogansPapa]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRkWebP2Q0Y

This is so sad. :(