There was a bit of a dip for all three TV news programs in Winnipeg in this last fall ratings period. CTV News remained on top, followed by Global News and with CBC trailing in third place in the 6:00 timeslot.
TV News Ratings through October/November 2010 6 to 6:30 p.pm.
CTV News 129,000 viewers (130,000 - 2009)
Global News between 37,900 viewers (42,600 - 2009)
CBC News 27,600 viewers (33,800 - 2009)
As mentioned, all the ratings were down in the 6:00 p.m. timeslot. It was a marginal drop for CTV News and bigger drop for Global and CBC.
But does this tell the full story? Not quite.
CBC News has a 90 minute offering.
Here is the CBC News ratings in the hour before:
5:00 to 5:30 p.m. 38,100 viewers (28,500 - 2009)
5:30 to 6:00 p.m. 39,000 viewers (32,900 - 2009)
In both timeslots has seen some fair increases. Put together, it is a fairly good number over last year. Each of those half hours has more viewers than Global's 6:00 p.m. news.
CTV News that has the 6:30 to 7:00 p.m timeslot to itself for local news fared thus:
CTV News 6:30 to 7:00 p.m. 113,300 viewers (117,000 - 2009)
That is down a bit. I'd be curious as to where viewers went. To Coronation Street?
CTV News has a right to be happy but there should be some concern that their numbers in the second hour tail off even in the absence of news competition.
CBC News has a right to be happy because the first full hour of their news has seen this marked increase. The hour where they compete with CTV and Global News is weak though. It may be time to think of a somewhat different approach. Perhaps a long form story in that hour? Maybe a panel of pundits? Longer interviews with the Premier, leader of the Opposition?
The point is that repeating the same things from the previous hour seems to be losing audience for the CBC.
As for Global News...second place and falling numbers means a re-think as well. If CBC News can pull up its britches in the last half hour of their news, it could mean trouble for their team.
As to the quality of the news...CBC tends to be a bit repetitive. Global News tends add too many stories produced elsewhere. CTV is the best overall but can turn a bit fluffy at times.
In short, we have been better served by TV news in years past. It is possible to report compelling news without breaking the bank. Interviews in the studio might be a way to go for a full newshour. For Global News with only a 30 minute format, they should stick to local coverage only. Picking up obvious Toronto created content is not the way to go. And for CBC, try not to be so repetitive.
5 comments:
Love your idea for CBC to have some other format at 6 PM. CTV after 6:30 is a horrible boring time. CBC is doing the right things, but I agree , repeating the previous news is not productive for them. I would watch CBC from 5-6:30 if they did something else after 6
I think you have the Global numbers reversed in your post, as it shows and increase from 2009 to 2010 but your text says the opposite.
Thanks. I did have the numbers turned around.
As for 6 pm, many people including people like my flock switch to another network because they may have seen CBC earlier and they don't want to watch a repeat.
I'd love to see panel discussion or long form progamming.
All News media in this city are horrible. No one actually does any investigating they just read/publish pres releases.
Anon: It is disappointing that there is not enough time put into original content. It doesn't have to be expensive either. A lot of information can be derived from in studio interviews.
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