PRINTING LAST WEEK’S NIELSEN RATINGS FOR THIS WEEK? REALLY! YOU’VE SUNK TO A NEW CREDIBILITY LOW
For many months since launching daily Xpress, I haven’t been able to resist pointing out the many inaccuracies of the weekly ratings reported by TVNewser, the once respectable “must read” during the tenure of the great Brian Stelter who was blogging while still in college and was quickly hired by The New York Times after graduation.
I miss those days with Brian who was sadly replaced by reporters with fuzzy math, conflicts of interest and reckless disregard for the truth, much of which I’ve detailed in previous posts.
But now, get this error. Today TVNewser has posted the ratings for the evening news shows for the week of April 11th, beginning their story:
“It was par for the course for the network evening newscasts the week of April 11.”
I guess so. TVNewser has posted last week’s ratings by mistake! How embarrassing is that!
DIDN’T ANYONE NOTICE THE APRIL 11 NUMBERS LOOK JUST LIKE APRIL 4?
Maybe TVNewser wants to declare April Fool’s month. Here’s last week’s TVNewser’s report (below in blue) on evening news ratings (published on April 12th):
As usual “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” won the week with 8.43 million total viewers, and 2.56 million adults 25-54. “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” placed 2nd with 7.84 million total viewers and 2.14 million A25-54. “CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” finished a distant third.
Numbers for the week of April 4:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,430,000 | 7,840,000 | 5,420,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,560,000 | 2,140,000 | 1,670,000 |
As usual, “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams” led the way in both total viewers and the demo. “ABC World News with Diane Sawyer” placed second in both categories, though Sawyer was on vacation. George Stephanopoulos anchored the program Mon.-Thurs., with David Muir anchoring on Friday.
“CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” placed third in both total viewers and the demo.
Numbers for the week of April 11:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,430,000 | 7,840,000 | 5,420,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,560,000 | 2,140,000 | 1,670,000 |
How embarrassing…
Here are the correct numbers for the week of April 11:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total Viewers: | 8,729,000 | 7,702,000 | 5,482,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,599,000 | 2,025,000 | 1,650,000 |
(It would actually be newsworthy if all three newscasts achieved the same exact numbers, with two different substitute anchors on ABC, as the week before.)
Maybe it’s time for a shake-up at the TV news industry website that writes about all the shake-ups in the TV news industry. Or perhaps just be grateful that David Rhodes doesn’t have a memo for you today.
***update: early Wednesday morning, TVNewser slipped in a correction of the numbers without any note or apology their readers.
a pop culture and news blog with no anony-mousity
shelley ross daily Xpress 
5 comments
Comments feed for this article
April 19, 2011 at 11:24 pm
John
Hahaha. I noticed that too… well that’s why I get my numbers from Daily Xpress and tvbythenumbers. They should hire new people especially people who can do simple math. Here’s the actual numbers for the week – http://blogs.abcnews.com/pressroom/2011/04/for-the-seventh-consecutive-week-world-news-with-diane-sawyer-grows-total-viewing-and-demo-audiences.html
They failed to note that World News actually had a decline in total viewers and demo.
April 20, 2011 at 1:33 am
Shelley Ross dailyXpress
Thanks, John. It’s quite unbelievable.
April 20, 2011 at 1:54 am
John
Soon TVNewser will bid its farewell. I like Daily Xpress more not only because you can do simple math but this is the place where you get REAL NEWS ABOUT TV NEWS. Even Mediaite has better contents now. Funny because some people in the media like Diane Sawyer relied on TVNewser for numbers.
Thanks for putting a piece like this. There are a lot of errors in TVNewser.
May 5, 2011 at 10:39 pm
Peter
This makes me want to stop believing in TVNewser.
May 6, 2011 at 10:54 am
Shelley Ross dailyXpress
This, and many other examples of inaccuracy and reckless disgregard for the truth, has certainly made me question their mission. There were two more errors since this post.