Everybody Won (and Lost) in the St. Louis Sweeps

It looks like every St. Louis station won the February Ratings Book.

Or everyone lost, depending on how you want to look at it. ​

KMOV (Channel 4) won the 10 p.m. news race in February.

Unless KSDK (Channel 5) did.

"Once again, KMOV is the winner in late news for February, according to The Nielsen Company," KMOV said. "In the key Adult 25-54 demographic, News 4 at 10 on KMOV scored a 5.0 rating, beating out KSDK, KTVI, and KDNL for the top spot at 10 p.m. for the third February ratings period in a row .

The St. Louis Post Dispatch says that single paragraph emailed from KMOV was followed by a lengthy release from KSDK, saying that "NewsChannel 5 made a clean sweep of the early evening and late night newscasts in both the 7-day household ratings and the much-sought-after demographic of adults 25-54."

At 10 p.m., KSDK finished February sweeps with a 4.6 rating and 12 percent audience share, the station said, listing KMOV's ratings as 4.5, with an 11 percent share.

What the heck? Well, KMOV counted ratings Monday-Friday, the generally accepted standard for reporting news viewership. KSDK factored in Saturday and Sunday because, well, that made the station No. 1.

Meanwhile, KTVI (Channel 2) sent out a release Friday headlined "Fox 2 Wins Again!" 

This was in regard to mornings. 

"Monday-Friday, Fox 2 News at 6 a.m. is the #1 local newscast in St. Louis, including morning, early evening and late night newscasts," KTVI said. "With a 5.5 rating in Adults 25-54, KTVI’s 6 a.m. newscast beats KSDK’s and KMOV’s combined rating in that time period. Fox 2 won the battle for Adults 25-54, holding 7 of the top 12 highest rankings."

At 9 p.m., KTVI had a 4.3 rating in February, the station said, and a 3.3 rating at 10 p.m. Sibling station KPLR (Channel 11) "saw growth with Adults 25-54 in both News 11 at 4 p.m. and News 11 at 7 p.m.," the station said, without providing details.

So everybody wins, right? Well, not KDNL (Channel 30), which finished February with an 0.9 rating and 2 percent audience share at 10 p.m. Monday-Friday.