This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Three-quarters of the way through the May sweeps, there's a bit of a surprise brewing in the late local news ratings — for the first time in maybe half a century or more, KSL could finish third in the household ratings.
No one has records going back that far, but it's believed KSL hasn't finished anything other than first or second since the early 1960s. I can tell you it's never happened in the 25 years I've been covering television.
After three weeks, the Monday-Friday late-news numbers look like this:
• KUTV-Ch. 2: 8.3
• KSTU-Ch. 13: 6.3
• KSL-Ch. 5: 6.2
• KTVX-Ch. 4: 2.5
A rating point represents 1 percent of the 897,390 TV-equipped homes Nielsen estimates are in the Salt Lake television market.
Those are just household numbers; demographics don't come in until several weeks after the end of sweeps. And the results of 18-49 and 25-54 demos are more important, given that those numbers are what stations use to sell advertising.
For that matter, KSL is not unfamiliar with third place in the demographics. For example, in the February 2015 sweeps, KSTU's 9 p.m. newscast finished first in the demos, ahead of second-place KUTV and third-place KSL.
It's entirely possible that KSL could make up that one-tenth of a rating point by the time the May sweeps end on Wednesday and pull back into second place in the Monday-Friday numbers. It will be tougher for Ch. 5 to make up the difference in the seven-day average, however.
After three weeks, the Sunday-Saturday late-news numbers look like this:
• KUTV-Ch. 2: 7.9
• KSTU-Ch. 13: 6.0
• KSL-Ch. 5: 5.6
• KTVX-Ch. 4: 2.3
A four-tenths of a point deficit is not insurmountable. But it's tougher than one-tenth, obviously.
Stay tuned ...