Sweeping Up in Denver

The number of people watching TV dropped in Denver, but KUSA 9News won the book with the viewers that did watch. 

The Denver Post reports that  9News regained its across-the-board ratings dominance after losing the 4:30 a.m. hour to 7News last November. CBS4 showed gains in the morning and at 5 p.m. And Fox31 had a solid win over KTVD at 9 p.m.

Last year at this time, 9News enjoyed a late-news boost from NBC’s primetime, which had its first November win in nine years. This year, CBS4 benefited from the CBS primetime slate (“The Big Bang Theory” is the top comedy among Denver viewers, “NCIS” is the market’s No. 1 drama, both on CBS).

In late news, KUSA was down 26 percent compared to last year, weekdays at 10 p.m., among adults 25-54 (the key news demo). KUSA had a 3.2 rating, 12 share (compared to a 4.3 rating, 14.2 share last November); KCNC and KMGH were tied with a 2.1 rating, 8 share.

Fox31 triumphed over KTVD, its primary rival at 9 p.m., by a full share point (weeknights, adults 25-54 demo).

CBS4 had a good showing weekdays at 5 p.m., placing No. 2 behind 9News among adults 25-54: KUSA scored a 2.3 rating, 13 share, KCNC followed with 1.5 rating, 9 share; KMGH had a 0.9 rating, 5 share, and KDVR managed a 0.5 rating, 3 share.

The morning picture was most changed, in addition to KUSA’s rebound. After finishing No. 5 — i.e, dead last — last year, CBS4 moved up to No. 3 at 6 a.m.

The decline in PUT (people using television) levels, down about 12 percent during primetime, 14 percent for the local 10 p.m. newscasts, is driven by increased attention to various devices, cellphones to laptops and tablets.

Perhaps the most honest comment about the November sweeps came from the broadcaster with the most changing anchors: “We’ve had personality and anchor changes on every newscast we do,” said KDVR-KWGN General Manager Peter Maroney. “We knew we would have this adjustment period. We’ve held audience share frankly much better than than we thought we would. We’re settling in. Now if we could just get more people watching television.”