The numbers are in for the May sweeps period and the two top local stations, WBAL-TV channel 11 and WJZ-TV channel 13, continue to run neck and neck in several key newscasts while the numbers for the ABC affiliate WMAR-TV channel 2 were barely on the charts.
In the 11 p.m. newscast Monday through Friday, WBAL and WJZ were separated by 1 percentage point. WBAL led with a 10.6 rating and a 19 share while WJZ saw a 9.6 rating and an 18 share. For its part, WMAR had a 3.8 rating and 7 share.
But despite its lagging numbers, Drew Berry, the station?s vice president and general manager, said he was pleased with the station?s performance.
“We?ve had a great deal of success in our 11 p.m. newscast in Monday through Friday numbers,” Berry said. “Frankly, we?re ahead with growth there [of] 17 percent year to year. Were happy about that.”
Ratings are the estimated percentage of the total area population tuned to a program at once. Share is the percent of households using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a certain area at a specific time. The May ratings sweeps ran from April 27 through May 24.
“I think the May sweeps were successful for WJZ in that we had strong performance throughout the broadcast day,” said Jay Newman, vice president at WJZ.
“Our focus over the last couple of years has been to access viewers multiple times in the course of the day with more hours of local news.”
In other key newscasts, the numbers were similar. At 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., WBAL again led the pack with a 7.7 rating and 19 share and an 8.2 rating and 18 share, respectively, with WJZ trailing with ratings of 4.2 and 4.7 and a 10 share for both hours. WMAR was again significantly behind. At 5 p.m. the station had a 1.3 rating and 3 share and at 6 p.m. it had a 2.6 rating and 6 share.
Jordan Wertlieb, president and general manager of WBAL, attribute his station?s lead to its investigative reports, weather coverage and news team.
“We?ve now won 13 consecutive ratings books at 5, 6 and 11 p.m.,” Wertlieb said. “We believe we have the best news talent in the marketplace.”
