Rat Race for Ratings

November, February and May are the best months to watch television. Known as “sweeps” months, sitcoms make sure to play all new episodes as they race to get the most viewers possible. Often, whether or not an entertainment program gets picked up for the next season (or even continues for the rest of the current season) depends on the Nielsen Media Research ratings which determine how many people tune in to any given channel or station on a specific evening.

Yet, sitcoms are not the only television programs that compete for ratings. Considering the profit-seeker nature of media news corporations it should not come as a shock that news programs follow their ratings very closely and have sweeps periods as well. News corporations operate in the same sweeps cycle.

And this year’s winner of the fall season, judged by how many people tuned in this month, was Brian Williams, the anchor of “NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams.”

According to The New York Times report on the most recent Nielsen report, the anchor’ show averages 9.6 million viewers a night, more than both Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson.

Here's an example of the top rated show:



Although it is well known that the news broadcasts run themselves more as a businessess than as public services, the article made this fact all the more obvious.

First, it said the "three network evening newscasts, each of which is a business generating annual revenues in excess of $100 million annually." To NBC, ABC and CBS, the "three network evening newscasts" which were being referred to, the news is just another way to make money. NBC looks at Brian Williams the same way they look at Steve Carell of The Office and Howie Mandel, host of Deal or No Deal. And as we can see from the clip above, his show is not exclusively a hard news show.

Secondly, the networks seem to be unconcerned with their particular product and the quality of the news they are giving to the people, so long as that product is better than that of the competition. For example, although all three stations are losing viewers, which can either mean Americans are no longer concerned with obtaining information on the world around them, or that they realized how bad network television news is and have decided to go elsewhere for their information, the producer of "NBC Nightly News With Brian Williams" was more concerned with being number one. "'I’m thrilled that we’re winning, and that viewers keep coming to Brian,' said John Reiss, executive producer of Mr. Williams’s broadcast, which was able to withstand a heavy marketing campaign mounted on Ms. Couric’s behalf around her Sept. 5 start. 'You’ll win by more some years, and less others. The one thing consistent is Brian is No. 1.'" The word winning was also alarming, once again implying that producers and station owners are working to be the best for their own sake and not for the sake of the people they are supposed to be providing for.

The interesting thing, which is also slightly ironic, is that it was the last place show, "CBS Evening News With Katie Couric" seems to be the most dedicated to improving their newscast to be better for the public. "'We really have been focused on trying to make the broadcast as good as it can be and not chasing any specific demographic or viewer, but hoping we are doing a broadcast that is interesting and lively and valuable,' Mr. Hartman said. 'That is going to be a long process and hopefully one that will be successful. It’s going to take time.'”

This is ironic because of the reputation Katie Couric's broadcast has gotten. On her first show she chose to talk about Baby Suri Cruise which isn't exactly a quality news item that will inform the public on important events.



The second reason this is ironic is because Katie Couric is last in the ratings. Assuming we believe the people working at CBS who are promising that they are concerned with putting together an interesting and valuable show, which I can't say I really do, it is notable that this dedication isn't translating into viewers. This just shows how little the populace expects from their newscasts and how disinterested they are in real news. They'd rather watch Brian Williams, who I am sad to say reports on a good deal of sensationalism and entertainment stories himself, than Katie Couric who is more dedicated to providing them with real information. Or maybe they just see through Mr. Hartman's statement and would rather watch a better not 100% informative news broadcast (NBC) than a not 100% informative awkward newscast (CBS).

One thing about this article was encouraging though. More people are watching the evening news, which is known as "hard news" regardless of the actual content, than morning talk/soft news shows like "Today."