Argus-Leader from Sioux Falls, South Dakota • Page 50

PAGE 12: NEWS KELO leads ratings KSFY, KDLT highlight their progress By Randy Hascall Sioux Falls Business Journal KELO-TV remains king of the hill in Nielsen ratings for the Sioux Falls market. The station, which is a CBS affiliate, was dominant going head-to-head against KSFY and KDLT in 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. news telecasts, the two mostwatched time slots for the local stations. The Nielsen most-recent ratings, for November, indicate that KELO had a 21.1 rating and 42 share for the 6 p.m.

slot Monday through Friday in the Sioux Falls market. That means that KELO was being watched by 21.1 percent of all households and on 42 percent of all TVs turned on at the time. KSFY had a rating of 8.8 and a 17 share. KDLT had a 1.8 rating and 4 share. In the 10 p.m.

time slot, KELO had a 22.2 rating and 43 share, KSFY had a 9.2 rating and 18 share, and KDLT had a 3.0 rating and 6 share. "We're really proud of our ratings," said Jay Huizenga, KELO's general manager. "It's been over the course of decades that KELO has been the No. 1 news outlet in the market." Nielsen ratings are used to determine advertising rates and schedules. KSFY General Manager Kelly Manning said his station's ratings were higher than they were a year ago in most categories.

The station launched its Action News brand in mid-October, and he was concerned Nielsen rating participants wouldn't be familiar with the new name yet and that might hinder ratings. "We thought there would be a dip. There wasn't," Manning said. "Overall, we're pretty happy." The next ratings normally would be conducted in February but will be pushed back to March because of the digital conversion. Manning said KSFY, an ABC affiliate, has added talent and features that could boost ratings.

The station hired veteran meteorologist Shawn Cable and launched Wheel of siouxfallsbusinessjournal.com Jan. 14-20, 2009 EN NO STORM CENTER. Kelp Internet. Camera operator Nate Hanisch watches the monitor as Scot Mundt delivers the weather forecast at KELO-TV. The CBS affiliate continued its run of dominance in the latest release of Nielsen ratings.

"We're really proud of our ratings," said Jay Huizenga, KELO'S general manager. Inertia For the Sioux Falls Business Journal NIELSEN RATINGS, NOVEMBER 2008 Rating is the percent of all households that are watching a certain station, and share is the percent of all TVs turned on at the time that are watching a certain station. MONDAY TO FRIDAY SATURDAY, SUNDAY Station: Rating, share Station: Rating, share Morning news, 6-7 a.m. Saturday evening news, p.m. KELO: KELO: 7.2%, KSFY: 2.2, 11 KSFY: 4.9, 14 KDLT: 0.6, 3 KDLT: 4.4, 12 News at 6, p.m.

late news, pa KELO: 21.1, 42 KELO: 13.7, 35 KSFY: 8.8, 17 KSFY: 5.2, 13 KDLT: 1.8, 4 KDLT: 2.4, 6 Late news, late news, p. KELO: 22.2, 43 KELO: 15.8, 33 KSFY: 9.2, 18 KSFY: 11.6, 24 KDLT: 3, 6 KDLT: 8.3, 17 Source: The Nielsen Co. Justice, a feature that targets fugitives. Manning said the station plans to roll out other new things this year. KDLT, an NBC affiliate, was the only local station to increase its household share from a year ago for Monday through Friday, General Manager Mari Ossenfort said.

The station also made gains in the 10 p.m. time slot among key demographic categories, such as adults 18-49, adults 25-54 and females 25-54. Nielsen ratings influence advertisers in their decision-making, said Molly Schenkel of Lawrence Schiller, a local marketing agency that does Web site work for media, including KELO. She said many Lawrence Schiller clients are interested in certain demographics such as ages and whether there are more female or male viewers. "It really varies by advertiser," she said.

Nielsen ratings influence advertising rates but so do supply and demand and quality of content, Schenkel said. KTTW doesn't produce any local newscasts but does utilize the Nielsen ratings. General Manager Ed Hoffman said the station might consider dropping its Nielsen membership because it's expensive. As a Fox affiliate, it gets good ratings with its NFL broadcasts, which often feature the regionally popular Minnesota Vikings and occasionally the Green Bay Packers. NASCAR coverage also received high marks, he said.

Huizenga said 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. remain the key news slots, but stations have raised their interest in morning newscasts. "All of the stations have recognized mornings are where the growth is," he said. "People's lifestyles change.

We want to give potential viewers more opportunity to see our news product." KELO, which broadcast news between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. for many years, expanded last February to a 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. time slot.

KSFY also has a 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. news slot. Ossenfort said she's pleased and that efforts are paying off. On General Election night, KDLT's ratings climbed into second place above KSFY among viewers 25 through 54.

"We are listening to what the viewers want," she said. One challenge for stations is to retain and attract younger viewers. Nationally, a growing number of younger viewers are finding alternatives, such as the.