> Update: 1:09pm: Another e-mailer adds: “The corollary to the apt observation that Katrina helped NBC in ’05, is that the only way CBS will be able to validly claim credit is if Couric succeeds in a high-pressure, heavily watched news story like Katrina. The jury is very much out on that.”
> Update: 12:35pm: “The year over year numbers put out by CBS forgets one little thing.. It was Katrina continuing coverage, where NBC did brilliantly and CBS had fallen off a cliff,” an e-mailer says…
This morning’s ratings press release from CBS touts the CBS Evening News’ ratings gains compared to the year-ago. Here are the raw numbers from the network:
| | Total viewers |
| | Week of Sept. 18 | Same week in ’05 | Change |
| NBC | 8,182,000 | 9,585,000 | -15% |
| CBS | 7,694,000 | 7,081,000 | +9% |
| ABC | 7,556,000 | 8,795,000 | -14% |
| | Households |
| | Week of Sept. 18 | Same week in ’05 | Change |
| NBC | 5.7/12 | 6.8/14 | -16% |
| CBS | 5.5/11 | 4.9/10 | +12% |
| ABC | 5.3/11 | 6.1/12 | -13% |
| | 25-54 demo |
| | Week of Sept. 18 | Same week in ’05 | Change |
| NBC | 2.1/9 | 2.8/11 | -25% |
| CBS | 2.1/9 | 1.8/7 | +17% |
| ABC | 2.1/9 | 2.6/10 | -19% |
