Chicago blowtorch Notches Another Rating Win
ABC O&O WLS in Chicago continued to lead the way when it came to the November ratings.
The station's flagship 10PM newscast notched a 8.9 rating in November Monday through Friday, up from an 8.4 a year ago.
WLS ratings boost in the latest November Nielsen book comes as the station has returned to using the "Eyewitness News" moniker to brand all of its local evening newscasts. The phrase, which was closely linked to station's news product for many years until it was retired in the 1990's, may be resonating once again with viewers as they decide what late local news to watch.
Other stations in the market showed only modest, if any, increase in ratings in the November book. Second-place NBC-owned WMAQ-Channel 5 is up 0.1 rating point to a 5.9, while Tribune Co.-ownedWGN-Channel 9's hour-long newscast at 9 p.m. edged up to a 4.2 from 4.0 a year ago.
The ratings news was not so good, however, for CBS-owned WBBM-Channel 2, which showed the biggest ratings drop year over year for its late local newscast to a 4.6 from a 5.5 — putting it in third place among the three local stations that air late local news at 10 p.m.
Fox-owned WFLD-Channel 32's hour-long 9 p.m. newscast remains in last place among all newscasts — a position it has occupied for years. The WFLD newscast has scored a 1.7 rating, down from a 2.1 a year ago.