WJAR-TV NBC 10 garners highest February viewership

By Lindsay Lorenz
PBN Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE – According to preliminary data released by local television stations provided to them by the Nielson Co., WJAR-TV NBC 10 garnered the most viewers among adults ages 25 to 54 in southern New England for its collection of newscasts. WPRI-TV CBS 12 and WNAC-TV Fox Providence – operated jointly by LinTV Corp. – combined took second place among viewers 25 to 54 in February.

WJAR experienced the most year-over-year growth for its 7 p.m. news broadcast, with viewership by 25- to 54-year-old adults showing a 75 percent increase. This particular slot, which features anchors Alison Bologna and Dan Jaehnig, beat out “Wheel of Fortune” for the first time. WJAR is the only local channel that offers 7 p.m. news.

Similarly, Eyewitness News on WNAC-TV Fox Providence, which offers the only 10 p.m. newscast, won that time slot for adults 25 to 54 while increasing its viewership by 19 percent when compared with a year ago.

WJAR’s viewership share by 25-to 54-year old adults for its early-morning news show increased 63 percent during the 5 a.m. broadcast, 47 percent at 5:30 a.m. and by 6 percent at 6 a.m., although the station’s noon newscast lost 20 percent year over year.

Conversely, WPRI’s noon newscast showed an 8 percent gain among the 25-to-54 demographic.

Fox Providence’s Rhode Show, which begins at 9 a.m., experienced a 400 percent rating increase (rating points are based on the number of TVs tuned to a specific station expressed as a percentage of all TVs on at the time), according to the station. In addition, the Eyewitness New This Morning broadcast, from 7 to 9 a.m. (competing with the three network morning news/lifestyle shows), showed a rating increase of 33 percent for both hours in the 25-to-54 adult demographic.

In the more traditional 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. newscast slots, WJAR led the way among 25-to 54-year-olds, with year-over-year viewership increases of 11, 31 and 15 percent, pulling in more viewers than the second- and third-place stations combined.

WLNE-TV ABC 6 ranked third among viewers overall in the same demographic, although it showed significant growth during the 5 and 5:30 a.m. time slot, pulling close to second-place WPRI, and to second-place WJAR for the noon newscast.