WHY ARE WE ALL LAUGHING TODAY?
The WGN Morning staff is laughing at page 7 of the Sun-Times, a huge add featuring our former lovers Randy Salerno and Roseanne Tellez. The ad reports "ratings up 67%*."
Note the asterisk. They're up in the 25-54 demo compared to a year ago.
It sounds impressive, until you put it in context.
They went up from a 0.2 to a 0.4 at 5am. I know you have no perspective on rating numbers but a "zero" is about as bad as it looks. When you are starting with a 0.2, you could put my divorced parents on the set reading news, and hope to get a 0.4.
Randy and Roseanne are not to blame. Not only are they are beautiful and talented, but they are dear friends and we care a great deal about both of them. Part of the problem is that you cannot just turn the Titanic like Steve McQueen spinning a Mustang during a chase scene.
Now that the May ratings book is over, let me show you the charts and graphs to give you the full perspective. Newspapers are fond of reporting the overall viewership, but well-manicured TV executives care about the advertising demos, and in those two demo categories WGN is #1 from 5am to 9am.
Here is part of the breakdown:
6AM ADULTS 25-54
WGN 2.1
WLS 2.0
MAQ 1.5
FOX 1.5
6AM OVERALL VIEWERSHIP FROM A YEAR AGO
WGN +51%
WLS -5%
MAQ -22%
FOX -31%
7-9AM ADULT DEMOS 25-54
WGN 1.8
WLS 1.5
MAQ 1.3
FOX 1.1
7-9AM OVERALL VIEWERSHIP FROM A YEAR AGO
WGN +27%
WLS -18%
MAQ +1%
FOX -13%
Furthermore, WLS was down 58% at 5am. So we call all this an ol' fashion (butt) kickin'.
I don't suspect WGN will buy an ad, give us a cake, or throw us a ticker-tape parade...but I am considering an inter-office memo.
Don't get me wrong---I don't blame Channel 2 General Manager Joe Ahern for blowing it our or proportion. You have to act like winners, even when you are losing, and I respect his competitiveness. But I just wanted to place this blog as an asterisk on the Channel 2 ad's asterisk to give loyal morning show viewers a better understanding of the competitive morning show race.
So we have won the May book and we are quite happy---at least for six more days, until the June ratings book begins and we'll go back to worrying about slipping back to being a comfortable #2 to the highly paid staff at Channel 7.
Comments
well done as usual!!! you are the best Larry!!
Posted by: Nichole T | May 25, 2007 1:42 PM
Larry, my man, you're starting to disappoint me!!! The main reason I watch you guys is your sense of irreverence. It was always as if the ratings didn't matter. But now, you're past few blogs have been primarily about how you guys are kickin' butt in the ratings. Who cares?? It's usually a bad omen when you guys start pointing at the ratings (i.e., Channels 2, 5, & 7).
Please, just keep up the good work and as for the rating...fa-get-about-it!!!
Posted by: John B. | May 25, 2007 3:47 PM
WLS? Seriously? I hope you're compensated better than Jose and Roz. I'm sure they're nice people and all that crap, but c'mon. After five minutes I have to switch back to WGN
Posted by: sara | June 6, 2007 5:07 PM
My 3 year old loves WGN morning news. I think he is as entertained as I am. We need a poll that list other age groups, I'd like to see where the others rate. The news is so gory lately, but I believe its important to know whats going. So at least WGN relates to ALL age groups!
Posted by: kelly | July 10, 2007 11:06 AM
You guys are awesome!!Having a 16 yr. old, 13 yr. old, and a 9 yr. old, they could ask to watch Mtv in the morning. But what do they turn on you ask?? Channel 9-WGN. They love the "It's Friday" dance! Keep it up. You guys are fun to watch and keep the news interesting. Quit pickin on Robin so much(even though it's funny). Hope she's paid well to put up with all you bullies!!Ha ha And congrats to all the new mommies.
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