Katie Couric Ratings Rise: Best Week Since February 2007

NEW YORK — After two years of relentlessly bad ratings news, Katie Couric finally has something she can smile about.

The "CBS Evening News" anchor remains in third place behind NBC and ABC. But the average of 7.4 million people who watched her newscast last week was better than any than any week since February 2007, five months after she moved over from NBC's "Today" show.

That makes four straight weeks where her audience was bigger than at the same point last year, according to Nielsen Media Research.

It suggests that two years after the initial bad reaction viewers had to her move from "Today," some people are giving her a second chance.

The improvement could be a result of the positive feedback Couric received for her interview of GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin during the presidential campaign. Palin fumbled on a question about what publications she read regularly, and the interview was a launching point for one of Tina Fey's "Saturday Night Live" spoofs.

"Basically, she remade her reputation as a result of the Palin interview," said Andrew Tyndall, a consultant who studies the content of nightly newscasts.

Since January, the "CBS Evening News" has averaged 6.1 million viewers, Neilsen said. People who have tuned in recently can see that the program is much improved, said Paul Friedman, senior vice president of CBS News.

"Let's not get too excited until we see a longer run" of improved ratings, Friedman said. "It is certainly better than the alternative."

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Bad weather may have helped Couric, too; perhaps more of the older people that is part of CBS' typical audience stayed home. Tyndall also said that last week, without much promotion, the CBS newscast ran investigative reports on three nights that stretched almost to the length of a "60 Minutes" piece.

NBC's "Nightly News" averaged 10.1 million viewers last week (6.6 rating, 12 share), to ABC's "World News" average of 9.2 million (6.1, 11). That's been another quiet trend of the past month, when the newscasts have spent considerable time on bad economic news: Brian Williams of NBC has opened a significant margin over ABC's Charles Gibson. Couric's newscast had a 4.9 rating and 9 share.

CBS had another dominant week in prime time, and has now become the only one of the top four networks to increase its audience over last year. Of the 44 different half-hours in prime-time last week, CBS was the most popular network for 32 of them, or 73 percent, Nielsen said.

Except for Sunday's National Football League game between Carolina Panthers and the New York Giants on NBC and its pre-game show, CBS had the 11 most popular programs in prime-time television, topped by the 19.9 million people who watched "NCIS."

CBS averaged 11.2 million viewers for the week (7.0 rating, 12 share). NBC had 7.5 million (4.7, 8), Fox 6.1 million (3.8, 6), ABC 5.1 million (3.2, 5), My Network TV 1.8 million (1.1, 2), the CW 1.5 million (1.0, 2) and ION Television 800,000 (0.5, 1).

Among the Spanish-language networks, Univision led with 4 million viewers (1.9 rating, 3 share), Telemundo had 1.2 million (0.6, 1), TeleFutura 530,000 (0.3, 0) and Azteca 130,000 (0.1, 0).

A ratings point represents 1,145,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.5 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Dec. 15-21, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "NCIS," CBS, 19.94 million; "The Mentalist," CBS, 19.31 million; Sunday Night Football: Carolina Panthers at New York Giants," NBC, 18.86 million; "Two and a Half Men," CBS, 17.92 million; "Criminal Minds," CBS, 15.16 million; "CSI: Miami," CBS, 14.56 millon; "Without a Trace," CBS, 14.48 million; "CSI: NY," CBS, 13.38 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 13.13 million."CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," CBS, 12.68 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by General Electric Co. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

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On the Net:

http://www.nielsenmedia.com

Comments

[hyjanks]

It must be that new hairdoo.

[JustinKase]

Katie finally earned her reporter's badge as a result of the Palin interviews. She set the cutsie morning show host image aside with that one. I think she can now grow into a credible newscaster. And her competition is not getting any tougher either.

[MadamRoma]

I have started watching Katie and she does a great job, somehow I believe her more than the other two.

[suzyku]

We were forced to watch CBS news because our favorite, Brian Williams, had sports interrupting our NBC Nightly News! Katie Couric is still a lightweight who doesn't belong on evening news! After watching her we'll go back to NBC or watch cable news, BBC or skip it altogether which is still preferable to Couric!

[cheferic]

Thank you for being brave enough to say this -I think that she is an entertainment institution and because of that she is very well liked.Huffington post covered most days of her vacation last summer,pictures of her swimming and doing yoga. I was so disappointed with her interview of Sarah Palin,looking for crumbs leftover from the 'Bush Doctrine question" as if giving Sarah Palin a book report and a pop quiz was breaking new ground ,she could have asked some questions that gave Sarah Palin a chance to disenfranchise herself instead of softball questions that couls have been answered by a high school senior ,and we already knew that about her from the previous interview!

Q 'What Supreme court decisions do you disagree with?'
A It isn't my job to disagree with the highest court in the land ,it is my job to abide by their decisions and asses the options.
Q 'What publications do you read
A. I don't want to unduly influence them or anyone else by saying the names but I have read the local newspaper of many of the places we have campaigned.

these are not professional political questions -this is high school debate stuff,Katie Couric is a human interest person . People are interested in her but what she is interested in is not political
news to anyone.

[PrinceHal]

Cheferic, the impression I get is (1) that you don't watch Katie's news show, and (2) that if you did, you wouldn't give her an even break because you didn't like her interview with Sarah Palin. You're a Palin person, right? But you hate to come right out and say so?

Regardless, Katie Couric has matured impressively since she broke into big-time anchoring. The only problem is that CBS runs a newscast that's often politically convoluted, but she can't help that (I don't think). And it's not as convoluted as Charlie Gibson's on ABC, which I think of as Fox News Lite.

[repugnicansfearme]

This is just reward for one reporter who had the guts to eviscerate the phony Sarah Palin and subject her to a little taste of democratic scrutiny. And, Katie looks pretty hot with the new hairdo.

[shengirl]

I think that interview has been a factor; it has been for me, too. Once she settled down to doing the news and stopped with all the silly ideas they had when she first took over, she's been fine, as far as I am concerned. But yes, I loved the smiley way she eviscerated Sarah P. She did the country a great service. But tone down the eye makeup a bit, hon, it's getting kind of scary-looking.

[Kiabell04]

Congrats to Katie. Didn't enjoy her too much on the Today show, but started watching her onCBS before the Palin stuff. Glad she proved the media wrong.

[mcantwell]

I stopped watching the evening news a long time ago, opting for CNN. Now I can't stand CNN. Maybe I'll give Katie a try. Does anyone know if CBS is a biased right leaning news outlet?

[texastrixie]

I think they actually try to gut everyone on an equal basis. They like doing the 60 minutes routine on everyone, regardless of party, or politics.

[whatawebb]

Must be the new hair doo.

[SantaFeStars]

Bravo Katie! You had the guts to show us the real Sarah Palin and we are thankful for your superb reporting!

[dteg]

I try to rotate MSM news but find myself watching Katie more. Katie is the better of the 2 MSM nightly news cast(ABC,NBC). FoX doesn't even qualify as news. I give Katie credit for saying press did not ask the right questions in run up to Iraq war. ABC,NBC anchors saw no problem with their Iraq coverage. At least she takes her job half way seriously. Hopefully people are starting to see Charlie is mostly fluff. Charlie Gibson should be hosting a cooking show for all the non probing questions that he asks. These are times of trouble and we need serious questions and investigations instead of all of this to late info like bailout bills really contained no oversight.

[Skyhawk]

I watch the News Hour.

[onelife1]

She saved us from a VP Palin.

Thanks Katie

[aware4O]

Yes indeed. I have always loved her from the very beginning.
Thanks Katie, for letting us "discover" Sarah Palin.

[MPAndonee]

Brian Williams ties too hard.

Charlie Gibson is a stooge.

Katie is the only one I'll watch other than Olbermann.

Enough said.

[HurryUp1212009]

WATCH
HER
ONCE
AND
YOU
WILL
BE
HOOKED!
SHE'S
MUCH
BETTER
THAN
THE
OTHER
TWO!
GIVE HER A TRY!

[kennybean]

Katie took a brave leap into evening news and throughout relentless pummeling by the media, she never whined. Her playful spirit and great sense of humor may be reasons that many didn't get on board at first, but she is a proven journalist and many are realizing that now. Knocking the ev.il huntress on her a$$ didn't hurt either. Congrats Katie, and may your ratings continue to rise on '09!