KY3 news dominates city ratings

In a review of TV ratings by Rentrak the first week of September, longtime market leader KY3 is holding its ground.

“KY3 is hitting it out of the park in terms of the size of the audience,” said Steve Walsh, senior vice president of local sales for Rentrak, which collects viewing data from over 52,000 satellite TVs in the Springfield market.

The Rentrak ratings provide a snapshot of viewing patterns across the course of a day and represent the average percent of viewers compared to the total market.

During the week of Sept. 1-7, all of the top 10 shows were broadcast under the KY3 Inc. banner. Most of those were news programs, though Wheel of Fortune came in at No. 5 on the week. KY3 “News at 9,” which is aired on Ozarks CW, was the 10th highest rated show.

With football on the docket now, the Kansas City Chiefs are known to consistently be a top-rated show on CBS, changing the dynamics from the first of the month.

When it comes to ratings and attracting local advertisers, news hours provide key concentrations of viewers. In the 6 a.m. hour, the gap between KY3 and KOLR-TV, the No. 2 rated broadcast news, is more like a gulf. KY3’s share of the market in the first week of September during the 6 a.m. hour was 76.47 percent, which means three out of every four TV households tuned in to “Ozarks Today.” By comparison, KOLR had a 13.9 share in the morning slot.

While KRBK-TV, the Fox affiliate, has “The Daily Buzz” in the morning, a lack of traditional Springfield-area news seems to hurt the station. It had a 1.8 share in the hour. With “Judge Mathis” at noon, however, KRBK has the second highest ratings behind KY3’s “News at Noon.”

KSPR’s “News at 4” stands out with a solid 20.8 share in the 4 p.m. hour, though it’s still behind NBC’s “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”  

In the evening, NBC affiliate KY3 posted the highest ratings for the week with its 6 p.m. broadcast. Its share of the audience was over 64 percent. In fact, 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on NBC four of the top five shows are broadcast back to back.

Prime time told more of the same tale with NBC, leading the pack, and at 10 p.m., KY3 pulled in 45 percent of the viewing audience, followed by KOLR and “The Big Bang Theory” on Ozarks CW taking third.

Walsh said KY3’s dominance is unusual compared to other markets, but it’s not surprising.

“Its news is the legacy news in the market,” he said, referring to on-air personalities such as Ned Reynolds and Lisa Rose, who count their tenure with the station in decades.