Anchor Katie Couric Blasts Into Third Place (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

WaPo ^ | October 3, 2006 | Lisa de Moraes

[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."

[rod1]

Not for long. Somehow I doubt Opie will let that stand. Watch for Ron Howard reruns to surpass Katie in viewership the future.

[N. Theknow]

3rd place in a three way contest.

Is that anything like dead last?

What are the ratings for Wheel and Jeopardy?

[Grampa Dave]

Oh, well.... CBS News was headed for extinction anyway. Katie only accelerated it by a couple of years.

If the Republicans keep control of Congress this year, and we elect a Republican President in 2008, these rat talking head shows will lose more of the corporate funding from left to buy favors from elected rats.

These pseudo evening news hours will then die off in a few years.

For decades the left wing controlled corporations have enabled ABCNNBCBS to funnel billions of so called ad $'s into free nightly ads, talking points and attack Republican ongoing for the DNC.

[IOWAfan]

Let me understand this.

23+ million people WATCH the alphabet network's evening news shows?

....amazement....

we are in deep doo-doo

this is a sad commentary itself.

[Psycho_Bunny]

I don't watch TV so I've stayed off the Couric threads but yesterday I was sitting in the lunch room at work and the soap opera that was on in the background was interrupted by a "Special Report" hosted by Couric, on the Amish school shooting.  (Why, I don't know.  I assume it was done to make Couric look professional and get her face time.  There was no reason for the interruption of the regular programming:  this was not news that affects the nation as a whole.)

In any event....she sucked.  I was actually surprised by how bad she was.  And I was being objective.....I really didn't have feelings - one way or another - for her performances in the past. 

She was just flat-out bad.

[The Great RJ]

Her ratings will continue to lag and unless she does the news in the nude,there is no hope for anymore ratings bounces for perky Katie.

[george76]

Don Imus: "So what do you think of these changes at CBS News?"

Andy Rooney: "I’m not enthusiastic about it. I think everybody likes Katie Couric, I mean how can you not like Katie Couric.

But, I don’t know anybody at CBS News who is pleased that she’s coming here."

[Ghengis]

I don't watch TV so I've stayed off the Couric threads but yesterday I was sitting in the lunch room at work and the soap opera that was on in the background was interrupted by a "Special Report" hosted by Couric, on the Amish school shooting. (Why, I don't know. I assume it was done to make Couric look professional and get her face time. There was no reason for the interruption of the regular programming: this was not news that affects the nation as a whole.)

In any event....she sucked. I was actually surprised by how bad she was. And I was being objective.....I really didn't have feelings - one way or another - for her performances in the past.

She was just flat-out bad.

Katie Couric presents the aura of a diva, not an authority on the screen. But that describes David Gregory as well.

[HarleyLady27]

You caught on! AMEN....

[Grampa Dave]

I think that CBS should double Katie's salary and the dimwits at CBS who stole her and promoted her.

[toldyou]

I just received a really funny short video in an email, but I don't know how to transfer it to FR. If anyone's interested, let me know.

[Milhous]

B&C's Romano version of SeeBS' Couric story features slide, fell, and held onto a piece verbiage:

Couric Slides To Third Place

In her fourth week as anchor of CBS Evening News, Katie Couric fell to third place in overall audience in the network evening news race, although she held onto a piece of the lead in the key news demo.

For the week of Sept. 25 to 29, NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams led the pack with 8.17 million viewers, followed by ABC World News with Charles Gibson's 7.56 million viewers. CBS was third with an average 7.49 million viewers.

In the adults 25 to 54 demographic, NBC and CBS were tied with 2.1 ratings/9 shares, while ABC registered a 2.0/9.

After opening to huge ratings in early September -- including 13.6 million viewers on her debut night Sept. 5 --Couric's numbers have settled down considerably as regular news viewers get into their viewing routines. In the last two weeks, NBC's Williams has reclaimed his spot as the most-watched newscast, although the margin over ABC and CBS has been tight.

CBS notes that Couric's performance is still well-ahead of the broadcast's ratings a year ago, particularly in the demo. In the last three weeks, Couric has averaged 7.7 million viewers, up from 6.8 million for the same period a year ago. In the 25 to 54 news demo, Evening News is averaging a 2.1/9, up from a 1.7/7 a year ago.

For the same three week period (Sept. 11 to Sept. 29, 2006) Williams is averaging 8.1 million viewers and a 2.1/9 in the demo, while Gibson is pacing with 7.5 million viewers and a 2.0/9.

LMAO

[Milhous]

IIRC Couric's promotion ruffled the tail feathers of a lot of old school SeeBS drama queens - Looney, Schiefer, and the like,

[Ghengis]

Her ratings will continue to lag and unless she does the news in the nude,there is no hope for anymore ratings bounces for perky Katie.



Leaked security surveillance video of Katie rehearsing this evening's newscast.

[Bon mots]

Hey Katie, did you lose some weight?

[Cicero]

It's a race to the bottom. It's not as if ABC or NBC news have much to offer, either. It's just that viewers have tuned in and decided that Katie is even worse.

[potlatch]

[devolve]

A classic!

[Smartass]

Thanks for the Ping...
LOL, Potlatch, you're getting better and better at animation.

 

[potlatch]

Thanks SmartA, I try!