Home Miami TV Sweeps: WPLG Rocks The Ratings?

Sweeps: WPLG Rocks The Ratings?

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All the talk of WPLG having huge numbers must be true. An anonymous tipster sent what looks to be an internal memo sent to WPLG employees after the sweeps and it looks like they will be breaking the champagne:

Today is the last day of November ratings. The final numbers will be out tomorrow, but the race is over and it’s already clear we are the big winner. We
are number one at 6pm and 11pm. We beat everyone, including the Spanish language stations. An English station hasn’t beaten the Spanish stations for many, many years. In fact it was so long ago, the research department is still trying to figure out the last time that’s happened. Remember there are only two major Spanish stations that divide the Spanish language viewers. There are six major
English stations, so Spanish stations almost always get higher numbers.

We didn’t just win. We dominated. Our 6pm news wins by more than 3 rating points. We double WFOR and WTVJ and nearly doubled WSVN. Our 11pm news wins by more than a full rating point. ABC doesn’t get the credit for this either. While ABC has some strong programming at 8pm and 9pm, the 10pm shows are struggling. We won the 11pm news because viewers have sampled our product and decided to come back night after night because they like us. The story doesn’t
end here. Our morning newscasts, Monday through Friday and the Saturday and Sunday mornings, are also showing tremendous growth. Dave will send out more details on the specific numbers sometime tomorrow or the next day, but I wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate everyone on an incredible job.

19 COMMENTS

  1. Is it me or who else thinks this is 80% Laurie Jennings that helped them improve at 6 & 11. Since shes gone on board, 6 & 11 has been winners or close to it since shes arrive.
    Good for ‘PLG

  2. Gee…..must be great consolation to all the reporters, photographers, producers and others who were fired in the months leading up to this…..

  3. Whooooooow Nelly!! What do all the folks at PLG win?? Will the staff get a party?? I would hope that the “bosses” do something nice for all the hard work and countless hours put in. Taking away news= ratings?? I am truly baffled. I heard more changes are in store for PLG is this true. Another shake-up coming, how can it get any worse over there?

  4. Since the lottery began, the station with the live 11pm drawing was #1 at 11. It spreads to other dayparts. It was a cold, calculated plan and it has worked again. It will continue to do so until another station grabs the lotto. 7 is too cheap to ever buy it so it wil cycle among 4,6 and 10 here. Trust me, it works.

  5. There is a bug surprise thats in store for them, is a new station actually, its going to be right on the county line. Should be ready by 2007/2008… Good Job WPLG!!

  6. The folks at channel 10 will not get a party. Most of ch 10’s staffers work weekends — who will attend the party if its on a saturday??

  7. I was under the impression that 10’s new building wouldn’t be going until 2009. So we can bet that they will be in high-def by then. The real question is if someone will try and beat them to it.

    I do like WPLG’s updated graphics. The lower-thirds, moving backgrounds. The new, larger over-the-shoulder style graphic they use when an anchor is standing up… reminds me of the Fox Report on Fox News Channel. Nice job, PLG!

  8. CBS’ South Florida Shakeup
    By Paige Albiniak — Broadcasting & Cable, 12/4/2006

    In this story:
    Major challenges
    No shortage of viewers
    Immigrants look elsewhere
    Growth has been slow for the 39 owned-and-operated outlets that make up the CBS station group, especially in the South Florida markets. But CBS execs are hopeful new managers and a fresh game plan will finally help the station group capitalize on the region’s population boom.

    Revenue growth for the entire station group stands at a modest 5% since 2001. The stations took in $1.57 billion in 2001, and the number peaked at $2.03 billion in election year 2004, before dropping back to $1.85 billion last year, according to BIA Financial Network.

    CBS’ primetime improvement, built on hit programs like CSI and Without a Trace, is helping. But analysts say CBS Corp. CEO Leslie Moonves is pushing the stations to raise their game as he prepares for retransmission-consent negotiations with cable and satellite companies in the coming years.
    Moonves has said repeatedly that he expects to win “hundreds of millions of dollars” in the negotiations, and consultants say he believes the stations have to do a better job of pulling their weight.

    “These local stations are part of the content for which [CBS] wants to get paid more in the future,” says David Joyce, media analyst with Miller Tabak Co.

    In South Florida, where CBS has a duopoly in Miami and a triopoly in West Palm Beach, CBS execs want growth to reflect the region’s population explosion. Last month, CBS hired two men to achieve that.

    Shaun Mcdonald comes from CBS’ Detroit duopoly to serve as president/general manager of Miami’s WFOR and WBFS (which air CBS and MyNetworkTV [MNT] programming, respectively) and West Palm’s WTVX, WWHB and WTCN (CW, Azteca and MNT affiliates).

    Tom Doerr, an award-winning news director, comes from CBS’ Dallas duopoly to be VP/station manager for WFOR and WBFS.

    Major challenges
    The men have a significant task at hand. The stations have been unable to improve their 11 p.m. news standings, even as CBS’ 10 p.m. shows, particularly the CSI franchise, have taken over the time period.

    This fall, WFOR lost King World’s Dr. Phil to Post-Newsweek’s WPLG, an ABC affiliate. WPLG owns the 5 p.m. time slot, and the switch has drastically improved its 6 p.m. news as well, boosting it from third to first in the market since May.

    In fact, the South Florida stations have been underperforming for longer than this season. In 2001, WFOR reaped 14.1% of $430 million in total market revenue, according to BIA. The station rose to 14.8% of $478 million in 2003, but, in 2005, WFOR was down to 14.3% of the $502.6 million market.

    Similarly, WBFS had 8.7% of $430 million in total market revenue in 2001. By 2005, that figure had dropped to 7.3% of $502.6 million.

    Meanwhile, Sunbeam Television’s WSVN, a Fox affiliate, is the English-language market leader, gathering 19% of the market share in 2005, up from 16.9% in 2001.

    No shortage of viewers
    A lack of potential viewers isn’t the problem. Miami-Ft. Lauderdale, the nation’s 16th-largest market, has grown 20% since 2000, according to BIA, to more than 2.5 million people. Of those, nearly 45% are of Hispanic origin.

    West Palm Beach grew 3.2% in the same period, but its average household income of nearly $61,000 is significantly higher than Miami’s $52,000. “These are good, vibrant TV markets, and you want to be there,” says Tom Kane, president/CEO of the CBS-owned TV stations. “These markets are on the leading edge of growth.”

    Immigrants look elsewhere
    While WSVN has connected with the new arrivals, the CBS group’s stations have not.

    “The reason that the CBS stations there aren’t growing apace with the market is because of the continued influx of immigration from Latin American countries,” says Joyce. He notes that many of the newcomers opt for the Fox affiliate or for the Spanish-language Univision and Tele mundo outlets.

    The South Florida group’s former general manager, Brien Kennedy, lost his job because he wasn’t able to take advantage of the population growth, say consultants.

    McDonald and Doerr need to wring more revenue out of digital offerings, the consultants believe, and do a better job of connecting with Hispanic viewers. Says McDonald, “This is a heavy bilingual market. That’s where the opportunity is.”

    Doerr, who has won Dupont, Edward R. Murrow and Peabody awards for his newscasts, says that compelling content appeals to those of all nationalities.

    “When it comes to news,” he says, “people are largely interested in the same things all over the country: what’s going on in the community, personal safety and health.”

  9. It’s interesting how WSVN is bragging about being number 1 in the morning. That is a flat out lie. They say it in their promo, but NBC is actually the winner there. Channel 7 is averaging out four hours of news when no one else has that much news in the morning. The ratings win if you win each hour. NBC 6 wins the mornings. Unfortunately, when Lonnie leaves in April, NBC will loose the morning.

  10. No Lonnie took the job at WCBS as the main weather guy. By the way, official NBC memo out today – Michael Willaims out. He will not be renewed. His contract is up January 1st.

  11. Mr. Insider – what does the memo mean when it says he is looking for other anchor oppurtunities within the company – the network, the station?

  12. Well NBC6 better hope than that February Sweeps and than May Sweeps is going to be good for them. THey are losing two huge faces on NBC. Weather some people on this blog like him or not, He is a huge part of the NBC6 family. Michael WIllaims may not be as popular as other anchors but he still has a fan club

  13. I dont think they had to get rid of him but he wouldnt have been my choice for main co-anchor. I wonder if these people who make these choices dont have any sense. I could have told them it wouldnt have work. I have been saying for a long time too that they need to get rid of Tony Segretto. But no, they wait until the ship completely sunk.

    Like I said though, William wasnt a good choice for main anchor. The next person they need to remove from main anchor duties is Jackie Nespral. She is just not working it. Her voice does not quite make the cute. The need serious re-structuring.

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