Market Profile: Houston

Compared to most of the country, the Houston economy is percolating. The market has one of the lowest unemployment rates at 8.3 percent, thanks in part to Houston’s seaport, which is doing a brisk business, and a growing energy economy.The fourth largest Hispanic TV market, Houston is home to more than 4 percent of the nation’s Hispanic TV households. More than one in four Houston homes are Hispanic.Capitalizing on that audience, KXLN-TV, Univision’s owned-and-operated station, has the top-rated newscast at 5 and 10 p.m. in all three key demos, Adults 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54, regardless of language. Univision also owns seven of the 11 Spanish-language radio stations in the metro, led by Regional Mexican-formatted KLTN-FM “Estereo Latino,” the top-rated Spanish-language station and the seventh-ranked station overall regardless of language. The market is the only one where Univision subscribes to Arbitron’s portable people meter ratings service.Among English-language TV stations, KTRK, ABC’s O&O, continues to reign in the ratings in all news dayparts, a position the station has held for just about every sweep over the past three decades. KTRK’s news at 4 p.m. even beats Oprah on KHOU, Belo’s CBS station, which is a strong No. 2 in news. KRIV, Fox Television’s O & O, airs more local news (44.5 hours a week) than any other station in the metro and is generally No. 3. KPRC, the Washington Post’s NBC affiliate, is No. 4. An early news town, all network affiliates started at 4:30 a.m. until April, when KRIV decided to go even earlier with a 4 a.m. start. Last in the local news race, KIAH, Tribune’s CW affiliate, is generating industry buzz by proposing to try an anchorless newscast (called News Fix) before the end of the year.In Houston for the past four years, AT&T’s U-Verse continues to push hard, running an aggressive advertising campaign to eat into Comcast’s subscriber base. Since launch, the cable alternative has grown to about 200,000 subscribers.Spanish-language radio is highly competitive in the market with no fewer than 11 Spanish-language radio stations, of which six program Regional Mexican. In August, the market got its first Spanish-language Sports radio network when ESPN DePortes launched on KGOL-AM, owned by Texas Radio Holdings.The top three-rated radio stations are in a virtual dead heat. KBXX-FM, Radio One’s Rhythmic Contemporary Hit Radio Station, and KTBZ-FM, Clear Channel’s Modern Rock station (one of the two highest-rated Modern Rockers in the nation), are tied. Only two-tenths of a point behind is KODA-FM, Clear Channel’s Adult Contemporary station that last month was in the No. 1 spot. KMJQ-FM, Radio One’s Urban Adult Contemporary, is two share points behind the top three in fourth place.Hearst-owned Houston Chronicle, like all papers, is trying new strategies to increase circulation (down 13.7 percent daily to 366,578) and profits. The business section has been consolidated with the city/state section. The paper is also looking into a pay model for some of the content on its Web site, where the audience is up 9 percent to 2.3 million adults per week, making it the top news site in the market. The paper now offers a “power day” package of Thursday through Sunday print delivery plus four days of the electronic edition, helping to increase Sunday circulation. In May, the Chronicle plus five other Texas papers owned by Hearst formed the Hearst Texas Media Group to streamline operations and decrease expenses. Clear Channel Outdoor is the largest out-of-home company in the market with bulletins, posters and bus displays, but unlike some other CCO markets, it has only one digital board. CBS Outdoor also provides bulletins. JCDecaux has the advertising at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Hobby Airport, offering several formats including interactive visitor centers, digital units and backlit spectaculars. EYE, an out-of-home specialist in malls, recently inked a partnership with Simon Property Group to bring advertising to the Houston Galleria. Vital Stats:TV DMA Rank: 10Population 2-plus: 6,015,877TV Households: 2,177,220TV Stations (Net/Ind/Multicast/Public): 6/11/3/3Wired Cable Households: 1,227,930Radio Metro Rank: 6Population 12-plus: 4,815,700Radio Stations (rated): 46Newspapers (Daily/Weekly): 9/61ChartsClick here for comprehensive market-related charts.

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Market Profile: Houston

Katy Bachman

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