Katie Bar the Door: CBS Evening News' Ratings Plummet

Image via WikipediaDespite live reports from Afghanistan by anchor Katie Couric, the CBS Evening News scored its lowest ratings in 20 years, since the Nielsen Co.'s modern ratings system began, according to a New York Times story.

The CBS Evening News averaged 4.89 million viewers last week, compared to NBC Nightly News' 7.42 million and ABC World News' 6.51 million viewers, the Times story reported. Viewership has eroded for all three network news programs in recent years, but because CBS is mired in third place, it is more of a lightning rod for low ratings  stories.Doubtless, talking heads on cable news shows and media critics may point to the paltry ratings as evidence that American tv watchers have lost interest in the protracted Afghanistan conflict, which may have some validity, but is an over-simplistic conclusion ( a specialty of cable tv talking heads).

PBS Enters Nielsen Ratings Race

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After years of being content with monthly reports regarding viewership, PBS has decided to go full-bore and is subscribing to full-time tv ratings from the Nielsen Co.

The subscription began with Ken Burns' documentary on National Parks, which aired in September and October, and drew 5.5 million viewers on average per episode. PBS is not looking at overnight ratings, but rather, weekly ratings of its programming.

"TUOL" hopes PBS is not tempted to resort to "Sweeps Week" gimmicks such as partial nudity on "Sesame Street" or a Charlie Rose lookalike contest, now that it has joined the Nielsen family.

Ad Revenue Decline Worse in Print Than Broadcast Media

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The Tampa-based Nielsen Co. reports an 11.5 percent drop in nationwide advertising for the first three quarters of 2009, compared to the same period a year ago.

Expenditures declined nearly $11 billion to $83.4 billion over the first nine months., according to preliminary estimates. The biggest loser was local Sunday supplements, which experienced a 48.3 percent dropoff in advertising revenues, followed by a 25 percent decrease in local magazine advertising and a 21.6 percent ad revenue loss by national newspapers.

On the positive side of the ledger, Spanish language cable tv advertising saw a boost in advertising of 36.7 percent and cable tv, a 9.1 percent jump.