WCBS, the flagship CBS station in New York, finished the February sweep with the No. 1 late newscast in households and the A25-54 demo. This is the first time since the New York market introduced Local People Meters in the early 2000s that WCBS beat longtime market leader WABC at 11 p.m.
While WCBS had the benefit of airing the Super Bowl, the Grammys, and a GOP debate in February, the station has been building momentum over the last few months. “Coming off the consistent, winning performances we delivered throughout December and January, we are extremely pleased to stack success by once again having the most-watched late newscast in the country and also New York’s #1 late news in the key adults 25-54 demo during the February sweep,” said Peter Dunn, president and GM of WCBS.
When Kristine Johnson began co-anchoring the 11 p.m. news in 2007, WCBS was in 3rd place in the market, behind WABC and WNBC. Maurice DuBois joined Johnson on the late news in 2011.
WCBS averaged a 1.7 rating in the demo, Monday-Sunday. The newscast also won February in households–its third straight monthly win–with a 4.9 rating. The newscast averaged 454,000 viewers on a Monday-Sunday basis, in a market that has 7.36 million TV homes.
The growth also included late afternoon shows. The WCBS 5 p.m. newscast finished just behind WABC in the demo. And the 6 p.m. news anchored by Dana Tyler was up 11 percent in the demo, vs. last February.
“These terrific trends are being driven by the tremendous team effort we get each and every day from our employees,” said Dunn.