Television ratings: KUTV-Channel 2 wins big in late news — again

The headline for the local TV news ratings is beginning to look familiar — KUTV scores a big victory in the late-news ratings during the May sweeps.

That's 10 undisputed victories in a row for Channel 2 — it's 11 if you count November 2010, when KUTV and KSL finished in a virtual tie.

And, again, it wasn't close. KUTV scored an 11.3 rating/22 share; KSL a 6.9/14; KSTU-Channel 13 a 5.4/10; and KTVX-Channel 4 a 3.4/7.

The scores are based on live numbers as well as same-day DVR viewing for the Monday-Friday 10 p.m. newscasts on Channels 2, 4 and 5 and the 9 p.m. newscast on Channel 13.

"It's never old hat, but it's been a pretty consistent trend that we like," said Kent Crawford, KUTV's vice president and general manager. "Clearly, Utahns like what they see on KUTV. We all cover a lot of the same stories, but our experienced talent and our delivery style is resonating with viewers."

At second-place KSL, they're looking at the glass as half full.

"We had good momentum in May and are the only station with late-news share growth book to book," said Tanya Vea, KSL's executive vice president of news and cross-platform development. She also noted that Channel 5 extended its lead over KSTU-Channel 13 in late news when compared to February 2013.

KSTU also found a positive trend: when Saturdays and Sundays are averaged in, Channel 13 is the only local station to see its share of the late-news audience rise. It's up 4 percent; Channel 4 is unchanged; Channel 2 is down 1 percent; and Channel 5 is down 10 percent year-to-year.

A rating point, which represents $1 million in ad revenue, is 1 percent of the 917,370 TV-equipped homes Nielsen estimates are in the Salt Lake market; a share point is 1 percent of those homes where someone is actually watching TV at a given time.

In February, Channel 5 barely held on to second place late news, beating Channel 13 by one-tenth of a rating point; that lead was 1.5 points in May.

The more meaningful comparison, however, is May 2012-May 2013. KSL is down 15 percent from one year ago and 27 percent from two years ago — and station management is hoping May's numbers are an indication their ratings slide has bottomed out.

Channel 5 is not alone as ratings for all late local newscasts continues to shrink. Year to year, Channel 2 and Channel 13 are both down 7 percent; Channel 4 is down 5 percent.

It's worth pointing out that more viewers are watching local news than the network programming that precedes them. Three of the four local newscast out-perform their networks — Channel 2 by 49 percent; Channel 13 by 33 percent; and Channel 5 by 30 percent. ABC's Monday-Friday prime time lineup attracted 30 percent more viewers than Channel 4's 10 p.m. news.

At KTVX, which finished sweeps battling a flood from a broken sprinkler in its news studio, leaders are hoping they've positioned themselves to reverse their long ratings slide. Channel 4's late news was up one-tenth of a rating point from February, and down just two-tenths of a point from May 2012.

For 5 p.m. newscasts, there was a major battle among local TV news stations that came down to the final day of the May Sweeps. KUTV pulled out a narrow victory with a 3.8 rating to KSL's 3.7. KTVX (1.6) edged KSTU (1.4) for third.

Channel 2 also finished first in early-morning news; in midday news; at 4:30 p.m.; and at 5:30 p.m.

In the 4 p.m. slot, Channel 4 is the only local station to beat Channel 2 in a head-to-head local news battle. KTVX (2.0) edged KUTV (1.9)

These results from the April 25-May 22 ratings period are households only. The results from the advertiser-friendly demographics won't be available for several weeks.

spierce@sltrib.com —

Local TV ratings — May 2013

In the Monday-Friday late-news ratings, KUTV-Ch. 2 averaged approximately 103,700 homes to KSL-Ch. 5's 63,300. KSTU-Ch. 13 was third with 52,300; KTVX-Ch. 4 averaged 31,200.