Posted on 10/03/2006 5:58:50 AM PDT by abb
CBS's Katie Couric-anchored newscast has fallen to third place in a three-way race for viewers among the broadcast evening newscasts, triggering an exuberant news release from CBS News marveling at Couric's unprecedented double-digit, across-the-board gains in her first month and celebrating her victory over the decades-old ratings curse that has plagued new anchors.
The multimillion-dollar campaign to launch Couric as anchor of the perennially third-place "CBS Evening News" delivered two weeks in which Couric's was the most-watched newscast. It opened with more than 10 million viewers and settled -- not unexpectedly -- down to about 7.9 million the second week.
Couric's slide continued in Week 3; she finished in second place with about 7.7 million viewers, behind perennial evening news winner Brian Williams, who logged about 8.2 million on NBC.
And, while final numbers on Couric's fourth week in office will come out today, it appears from preliminary stats that she has fallen to third place with about 7.5 million viewers, behind Williams's 8.2 million and Charles Gibson's 7.6 million at ABC. To get there, Williams and Gibson held firm week to week, while Couric continued to shed some viewers.
CBS News noted that last week Couric was still in first place among the 25-to-54-year-olds advertisers try to reach with news programming. In that demographic group, Couric tied Williams, and they were one-tenth of a ratings point ahead of Gibson.
CBS slapped Couric on the back for reversing the "historic pattern of first-month losses when anchors change."
"The ratings history of network evening news anchor changes reveals a clear pattern of audience loss in the first month versus the same period a year earlier," CBS News said. "Compared to the five anchor changes of the past two decades, Couric has dramatically reversed that pattern with the broadcast's remarkable growth."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Ping
Third place??? THIRD PLACE????
Why I thought this was the 'little darling' of the evening news that was going to blow the other stations off the air...
Third Place???
ROFLMAO
Hey CBS I could have gotten you the same spot in the ratings for 1/10 the money you shelled out to get Katie.
In other words, millions stopped to rubber-neck at the scene of an impending disaster.
Maybe they could call in Connie Chung to save them.
it may be time for another colonoscopy, this one in the prime news hour ...
They could have got Last Place w/Rather!
Pray for W and Our Freedom Fighters
Yeah, but do you have the colon for it?
Who was her fan base at Today? Must have been working women who never heard a word she said because they were blowdrying their hair while getting ready for work. Or maybe she wasn't the popular one at all. Maybe the women just watched for Matt.
I guess the good news is that that means there's over 200 million that don't watch--LOL!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2006-10-02-couric-number-three_x.htm
Couric slides to No. 3 despite viewer bump
I watched her coverage of the Amish school house tragedy last night. Katie could not understand why the killer would drop his own kids off for school before heading over to the Amish school. A flickering light bulb moment if I've ever seen one.
Part of the disaster is what her handlers dressed her in. I wouldn't be caught dead in some of the stuff she wore to start with. Poor Katie!
I never watch the evening news, but last night I happended to be home at 6:30 and was clicking around when I remembered that I hadn't yet seen Katie C. in her new job. So I tuned in. I was surprised at how old she looked and how unpleasant was her voice. What a colossal blunder!
"You like me, you really like me,"
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.