WAFB-TV Channel 9 swept main competitor WBRZ-TV News 2 in the November audience rating competition commonly known as sweeps, continuing the station’s ratings dominance.
The numbers show WAFB, the Baton Rouge market’s CBS affiliate, solidly ahead of the market’s ABC affiliate during every newscast: the morning shows from 5 to 7 a.m., the noon newscast, and the nightly 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
WAFB also attracted more viewers in the coveted 25- to 54-year-old demographic during newscasts. The four-week sweeps period began on Oct. 29 and ended Nov. 25.
“It’s without a doubt one of the best books we’ve had in many years,” WAFB News Director Robb Hays says. He attributes the station’s success to meeting viewer expectations: solid investigative and breaking news coverage coupled with strong weather forecasting.
WVLA-TV News 33, the NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, finished third locally during the 5, 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts.
Gary Wordlaw, news director for WVLA, is staying positive about the station’s showing, saying the station can only rise in the ratings. Wordlaw has overhauled the station’s team and production since taking over last summer and feels the station is becoming more competitive with its rivals.
“From my vantage point, people in this market are having choices now,” Wordlaw says.
WBRZ News Director Lee Polowczuk referred questions to the station’s general manager, Rocky Daboval, who could not be reached by this morning’s deadline.
WAFB is getting some help in the afternoon leading up to its afternoon newscasts with the 5 p.m. lead-in of The Young and the Restless, which is the most-watched daytime show in the market, drawing nearly one-third of the viewers in the market watching TV at 4 p.m., according to the Nielsen numbers.
Other interesting takeaways are that ABC’s Good Morning America and CBS’s This Morning pulled in virtually the same number of viewers at 7 and 7:30 a.m., more people watched Family Feud on CBS at 5:30 p.m. than Wheel of Fortune on ABC, and twice as many people watched The Late Show with Stephen Colbert over Jimmy Kimmel Live!.
Television stations use the sweeps period to determine advertising rates.
—Ryan Broussard
