WJAR dominant in Nielsen sweeps, WPRI shows growth

PROVIDENCE – WJAR-TV NBC 10 said it won all newscasts in the February Nielsen sweeps, while competitor WPRI-TV CBS 12 highlighted its growth.

Nielsen does not release the data to the public but leaves it up to the individual television stations to distribute the information. WLNE ABC 6 did not immediately return a call from PBN requesting its results.

WJAR said it beat the competition at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 5 p.m., 5:30 p.m., and 6 p.m.; its new 4:30 a.m. edition received a ‘2’ rating, compared to the competition’s ‘1’ rating. It also highlighted the “highly competitive” 11 p.m. slot where it earned a ‘6,’ compared to WPRI’s ‘5’ rating. It also said it was the “clear” winner on all weekend newscasts.

“We remain focused and committed to the viewer and the community,” said Chris Lanni, WJAR news director. “NBC 10 News at 6 p.m. remains the most watched newscast in the market and we thank our viewers for trusting us to give them the news, weather and information they need on a daily basis.”

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WPRI focused on its improvement, saying it had the only newscasts in the Providence/New Bedford market to grow at 6 p.m. – with a 23 percent increase – and 11 p.m. – 10 percent.

WPRI said it is closer No. 1 at 6 p.m. than it has been in the past 20 years; it also said it was closer to No. 1 at 6 a.m. than any time since 1994.

The station also said that it was the only local morning news show, from 4:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., to show growth. Its Eyewitness News from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. increased 16 percent, and saw a 5 percent bump at 10 p.m.

“We understand viewers have a number of choices for local news coverage, and we’re please that they’re recognizing and relying on the hard work and dedication of the Eyewitness News team,” said Joe Abouzeid, WPRI and Fox Providence news director.

The stations also highlighted some non-Nielsen data. WJAR said its news app saw an increase of 46 percent in unique users in February from a year earlier, according to SiteCatalyst. Its Facebook page surpassed 50,000 “likes” this month.

WPRI said that for the first time, a January 2012 comScore local market report showed that WPRI.com and FoxProvidence.com had beat out other news websites by number of unique viewers – including turnto10.com and projo.com.

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