Dorner Standoff Leads to Ratings Spike For LA Stations

By Merrill Knox 

Tuesday’s coverage Christopher Dorner standoff and shootout gave stations in Los Angeles a big ratings boost for February sweeps. Local stations at least doubled their usual viewership, according to the Los Angeles Times:

KABC-TV led the way, with 708,000 viewers, followed by KCBS (680,000 with a KCAL simulcast), KTLA (259,000), KNBC (221,000) and KTTV (169,000). KCBS said it was the station’s highest-rated 5 p.m. newscast since at least 2004 and was nearly five times the previous average so far this month.

The Times reports that ratings fell considerably when the local stations cut away from the Dorner standoff for President Obama’s State of the Union address.

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