WABC-TV Wraps Up the Broadcast Season by Winning May'06 Nielsen Sweeps in NY

WABC-TV Wraps Up the Broadcast Season by Winning May'06 Nielsen Sweeps in NY

The 'Eyewitness News' Franchise Finishes in First Place in Households and Adults 25-54 in Every News Race: 5A, 6A, 12P, 5P, 6P and 11P

'Good Morning America' and 'ABC World News Tonight' Win Their Time Periods in NY

NEW YORK, May 25 /PRNewswire/ -- WABC-TV continues to be the # 1 station in New York and the nation, delivering more Households, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, Monday-Sunday Sign-On to Sign-Off, than any other television station. This is according to Nielsen's May'06 New York sweeps report, in which Channel 7 wins with a 4.4 rating/11 share in HHs, a 2.0 rating/10 share in A25-54, and a 1.7 rating/ 8 share in A18-49, Mon-Sun 6am-2am. Channel 7 holds a 29% HH rating point advantage over its nearest competitor, marking the seventh time this broadcast season (Sep'05-May'06) it outdistanced its competition by a least a full rating point.

"Eyewitness News" swept every news race in May'06, notching wins during its 5AM, 6AM, 12PM, 5PM, 6PM and 11PM editions.

Details of "Eyewitness News'" strong performances are as follows:

First Place News at 11pm - "Eyewitness News"
6.7 rating/12 share HHs and 3.4 rating/ 9 share A25-54, M-F
* Wins both Mon-Fri and Mon-Sun late news races in both Households and
A25-54.
* Is the only 11pm newscast showing May'05-to-May'06 ratings growth:
-- M-F up 5% in HHs and 10% in A25-54; M-Su up 6% in HHs and 9% in
A25-54
-- NewsChannel 4 at 11p M-F ratings are down 10% in HHs and 19% in
A25-54; M-Su is down 9% in HHs and 18% in A25-54
-- CBS2 News at 11p M-F ratings are down 10% in HHs and 14% in A25-54;
M-Su is down 11% in HHs and 16% in A25-54
* Bill Ritter, Liz Cho, Sam Champion and Scott Clark anchor the 11pm
edition of "Eyewitness News."

First Place News at 6pm - "Eyewitness News"
6.1 rating/14 share in HHs and 2.4 rating/11 share in A25-54, M-F
* Wins both Mon-Fri and Mon-Sun 6pm news races in both Households and
A25-54.
* Notches its 30th consecutive win in the M-F 6pm news race (Nov'03 to
May'06, HHs.)
* Outdelivers competing newscasts on WNBC, WCBS and WNYW:
-- Beats NewsChannel 4 by 42% in HH and 85% in A25-54
-- Outperforms CBS2 News by 144% in HHs and 140% in A25-54
-- Holds a 5.0 rating point advantage in HHs over FOX5 News at 6, and a
300% advantage in A25-54
* With a 2.4 A25-54 rating, it outdistances the combined deliveries of
NewsChannel 4 (1.3) and CBS2 News (1.0)
* Bill Ritter, Liz Cho, Sam Champion and Scott Clark anchor the 6pm
edition of "Eyewitness News."

First Place News at 5pm - "Eyewitness News"
6.3 rating/15 share in HHs; 2.5 rating/14 share in A25-54, M-F
* Wins the 5pm news race in both Households and A25-54.
Scores its 27th consecutive win in the M-F 5pm news race (Jul'04 to
May'06, HHs.)
* Outdelivers competing newscasts on WNBC, WCBS and WNYW:
-- Shows advantages of 47% in HHs and 108% in A25-54, over Live At Five
-- Outdistances CBS2 News by 186% in HHs and 178% in A25-54
-- Beats FOX5 News by 5.2 points in HHs and 2.0 points in A25-54
* Its 2.5 A25-54 rating almost matches the combined deliveries of all
three competitors: Live At Five (1.2), CBS2 News (0.9) and FOX 5 (0.5)
* Diana Williams, Sade Baderinwa and Sam Champion anchor the 5pm edition
of "Eyewitness News."

First Place News at 5am - "Eyewitness News"
2.2 rating/12 share in HHs; 1.2 rating/12 share in A25-54, M-F
* Wins the 5am news race in both Households and A25-54.
* Consistently delivers higher ratings than its competitors
-- Beats its 5am news competition in HHs on 15 of 20 days (M-F)
-- Wins in A25-54 on 14 of 20 days (M-F)
* Is the only 5am newscast to show May'05 to May'06 growth in both HHs and
A25-54 ratings:
-- Up 38% in HHs and 20% in A25-54 ratings
* Lori Stokes, Steve Bartelstein and Bill Evans anchor the 5am edition of
"Eyewitness News."

First Place News at 6am - "Eyewitness News"
4.1 rating/16 share in HHs; 2.1 rating/15 share in A25-54, M-F
* Wins the 6am news race in both Households and A25-54
* Consistently delivers higher ratings than its competitors
-- Delivers higher HH ratings than its 6am news competition on 17 of 20
days (M-F)
-- Shows the highest A25-54 ratings on 16 of 20 days (M-F)
* Is the only 6am newscast to show May'05 to May'06 growth in both HHs and
A25-54 ratings:
-- Up 37% in HHs and 40% in A25-54 ratings
-- CBS2 News HH ratings are down 22%; A25-54 ratings down 25%
-- Good Day 1st Edition HH ratings down 19%; A25-54 ratings down 9%
* Lori Stokes, Steve Bartelstein and Bill Evans anchor the 6am edition of
"Eyewitness News."

First Place News at Noon - "Eyewitness News"
4.7 rating/17 share in HHs; 1.9 rating/14 share in W25-54, M-F
* Wins the midday news race in both Households and W25-54.
* Consistently delivers higher ratings than its competitors
-- Outperforms both CBS2 News and FOX 5 News in HH ratings on all 20
weekdays in May'06 sweep
-- Delivers higher W25-54 ratings than its two competitors on 19 of 20
days (M-F)
* Shows 18% growth, May'05 to May'06, in HH ratings
-- CBS2 News shows ratings declines in both HHs (-21%) and W25-54 (-36%)
* Lori Stokes, Steve Bartelstein and Bill Evans anchor the 12pm edition of
"Eyewitness News."

Other highlights from May'06 are:

First Place Network News at 6:30pm - "ABC World News Tonight " is the most-watched network news, delivering a 6.3 rating/13 share in HHs and a 2.5 rating/11 share in A25-54. It holds advantages of 43% and 56% in HH and A25-54 ratings, respectively, over its nearest competitor (NBC Nightly News.)

First Place in Network Morning News/Information 7-9am - "Good Morning America" is #1 in New York in HH and A25-54 ratings. "GMA's" 4.5 rating/15 share in HHs beats the "Today Show" by 10% and the "CBS Early Show" by 309%. "Good Morning America" shows the greatest May'05 to May'06 ratings growth among the three network programs, gaining 22% and 19% in HH and A25-54 ratings, respectively.

Strong Primetime Performance - In New York, the ABC Primetime lineup averages a 3.9 rating/10 share in A25-54, beating the network prime performances of NBC, CBS and both soon-to-be-defunct networks, WB and UPN.

Top-rated Morning Program - "Live! With Regis and Kelly" wins its time period with a 4.9 rating/19 share in HHs, and a 2.4 rating/17 share in Women 25-54. "Live!" is up 4% in HH ratings over its year-ago performance.

Top-rated Early Fringe Program - "Oprah Winfrey" ranks # 1 at 4pm with a 7.2 rating/18 share in HHs. Its 5.1 rating/27 share in Women 25-54 beats the combined deliveries of "Judge Judy" on WNBC-TV and "People's Court" on WCBS-TV.

Top-rated Access Programs - "Jeopardy!" and "Wheel of Fortune," deliver a 9.4 rating/18 share and an 8.5 rating/15 share, respectively, in HHs, to continue in what is now their sixteenth broadcast season of complete domination in Access time periods. The two programs have aired together on WABC-TV since Sept'90.

WABC-TV, Channel 7, is the ABC, Inc. Owned Television Station in New York City.

FINAL NIELSEN AVERAGES

MAY'06 MAY'06
DMA HH ADULT 25-54
MON.- FRI. PROGRAMMING RTG/SHR RTG/SHR

WABC-TV M-Su 6am-2am 4.4/11 2.0/10
WCBS-TV M-Su 6am-2am 2.8/ 7 1.2/ 5
WNBC-TV M-Su 6am-2am 3.4/ 9 1.7/ 8
WNYW-TV M-Su 6am-2am 2.1/ 5 1.4/ 7
WPIX-TV M-Su 6am-2am 1.8/ 5 1.0/ 5
WWOR-TV M-Su 6am-2am 1.0/ 3 0.6/ 3

WABC Eyewtns News-Early 5-6am 2.2/12 1.2/12
WCBS CBS2 News Morning 5-6am 0.9/ 5 0.5/ 5
WNBC Today New York 1 5-6am 2.1/11 1.0/10
WNYW Good Day Wakeup 5-6am 0.8/ 4 0.4/ 4
WPIX WB11 Morning News 5-6am 1.0/ 5 0.6/ 6

WABC Eyewtns News-Morn 6-7am 4.1/16 2.1/15
WCBS CBS2 News Morning 6-7am 1.4/ 5 0.6/ 5
WNBC Today New York 2 6-7am 3.4/13 1.6/12
WNYW GDNY 1st Edition 6-7am 1.7/ 7 1.0/ 7
WPIX WB11 Morning News 6-7am 1.3/ 5 0.7/ 5

WABC Good Morning America 4.5/15 1.9/13
WCBS CBS Early Show 7 & 730am 1.1/ 4 0.5/ 3
WNBC Today Show 4.1/13 1.8/12
WNYW Good Day NY 1.8/ 6 1.0/ 7
WPIX WB11 Morning News 1.8/ 6 0.9/ 6

MAY'06 MAY'06
DMA HH WOMEN 25-54
RTG/SHR RTG/SHR
WABC Live! With Regis & Kelly 9am 4.9/19 2.4/17
WABC Tony Danza 10am 3.0/12 1.3/10
WABC The View 11am 3.5/13 1.8/14
WCBS ET/Insider 9am/9:30am 1.0/ 4 0.4/ 3
WNBC Today Show 2 9am 2.0/ 8 1.1/ 8
WNBC Ellen 10am 3.1/12 2.1/16
WNBC Martha Stewart 11am 1.5/ 6 0.8/ 6
WNYW Tyra Banks 9am 0.9/ 4 0.7/ 5

WABC Eyewitness News at Noon 4.7/17 1.9/14
WCBS CBS2 News Noon 3.1/11 0.7/ 5
WNYW Fox 5 Live 1130am 1.1/ 4 0.5/ 4
WABC Who Wants To Be A Millionaire 4.3/15 2.0/13

WABC Oprah Winfrey 7.2/18 5.1/27
WCBS People's Court 2.7/ 7 1.2/ 6
WNBC Judge Judy 3.9/10 1.9/10
WCBS Dr Phil 3pm 3.7/11 1.8/11
WNBC Judge Joe Brown 3pm 1.8/ 5 0.9/ 5

FINAL NIELSEN AVERAGES

MAY'06 MAY'06
DMA HH ADULT 25-54
MON.- FRI. PROGRAMMING RTG/SHR RTG/SHR

WABC 5pm Eyewitness News 6.3/15 2.5/14
WCBS CBS2 News at 5 2.2/ 5 0.9/ 5
WNBC Live at 5 4.3/10 1.2/ 7
WNYW Fox5 News at 5 1.1/ 3 0.5/ 3

WABC 6pm Eyewitness News 6.1/14 2.4/11
WCBS CBS2 News at 6 2.5/ 6 1.0/ 5
WNBC NewsChannel 4 at 6 4.3/10 1.3/ 6
WNYW Fox5 News at 6 1.1/ 2 0.6/ 3

WABC ABC World News Tonight 6.3/13 2.5/11
WCBS CBS Evening News 2.6/ 5 0.9/ 4
WNBC NBC Nightly News 4.4/ 9 1.6/ 7

WABC Jeopardy! 9.4/18 2.6/10
WABC Wheel of Fortune 8.5/15 2.6/ 9
WCBS Insider 2.4/ 5 1.0/ 4
WCBS Entertainment Tonight 3.2/ 6 1.6/ 5
WNBC Extra 3.6/ 7 2.0/ 8
WNBC Access Hollywood 3.4/ 6 2.1/ 7
WNYW The Simpsons 2.6/ 5 1.2/ 5
WNYW Seinfeld 2.7/ 5 1.7/ 6
WWOR King of Queens 1.8/ 3 1.1/ 4
WWOR King of Queens 2.0/ 4 1.2/ 4
WPIX Friends 1.8/ 3 1.1/ 4
WPIX Everybody Loves Raymond 2.3/ 4 1.4/ 5

WABC M-Su. Prime 6.8/11 3.9/10
WCBS M-Su. Prime 7.1/11 3.6/ 9
WNBC M-Su. Prime 6.6/10 3.8/ 9

WABC 11pm Eyewtns News M-F 6.7/12 3.4/ 9
WCBS CBS2 News at 11 M-F 5.3/ 9 2.4/ 7
WNBC NewsChannel 4 at 11 M-F 6.6/12 3.4/ 9

WABC 11pm Eyewtns News M-Su 7.0/12 3.6/10
WCBS CBS2 News at 11 M-Su 4.9/ 9 2.1/ 6
WNBC NewsChannel 4 at 11 M-Su 6.4/11 3.2/ 9

Source: Nielsen NY LPM Live Only Overnights: 4/27/06 - 5/24/06

Source: WABC-TV

CONTACT: Pat Liguori, Research, WABC-TV, +1-212-456-3406

Web site: http://www.abc.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment