WJAR Claims November Sweeps Win in Providence Market

WJAR-TV NBC 10 in Providence, RI is claiming a November sweeps win across all newscasts, according to preliminary data from Nielsen Media.

In all head-to-head newscasts, more Southern New England homes were tuned to NBC 10 News than any other newscast in the Providence-New Bedford market.

With a 9.4 rating, NBC 10 News at 6:00pm remains the highest rated newscast in the market and beats the competition combined. In fact, NBC 10 News Sunrise, Noon, 5:00pm, 5:30pm, 6:00pm and 11:00pm all beat the competitions’ newscasts combined. With a 5.7 rating, NBC 10 News at 7:00pm remains one of the most-watched 7pm newscasts in the country.

NBC 10 says that they experienced ratings growth in all evening newscasts unlike its nearest competitor. NBC 10 News at 7:00pm and 11:00pm experienced the biggest increases, with 10% and 8% year-to-year ratings surges respectively.

NBC 10 says that despite WPRI-TV simulcasting its morning news on both WPRI 12 and WNAC 64, and combining those viewers into a single ratings number, NBC 10 News Sunrise remains #1, beating the competition by 40% in the 6am hour alone.

NBC 10 Weekend Sunrise and the Saturday/Sunday editions of NBC 10 News at 6:00 and 11:00 perform equally as well, remaining number one in their time periods and also beating the competition combined. NBC 10 also has the most watched Sunday morning political affairs program. Viewed in an average of 13,000 households each Sunday morning, 10 News Conference has twice the audience as the nearest competitor. “We are thankful to our loyal viewers for once again turning to 10 for all of their news and weather needs,” said Chris Lanni, NBC 10 News Director. “As always, the NBC 10 I-Team worked tirelessly throughout the month to earn our viewers’ trust and investigate stories that make a difference in our viewers' lives.”

The NBC 10 I-Team focused on how millions of dollars in taxpayer money is being spent and, in some cases, wasted. NBC10 I-Team reporter Parker Gavigan exposed questionable spending, salaries, and employee perks at the RI Convention Center Authority, a quasi-public business that continues to lose money annually. As a result of our investigation, state lawmakers promise to take a closer look at the authority’s financial records. Responding to complaints from viewers, NBC 10 I-Team reporter Katie Davis asked state officials to justify Rhode Island’s controversial vehicle valuation system. Owners are taxed on values that can be two or three times a car or truck’s actual worth, and the overwhelming majority of appeals were rejected. The I-Team obtained public records revealing that in the few cases where a value was changed, it was actually adjusted to be higher.

NBC 10 News also dominated the market’s political coverage in November as the election season came to a conclusion. NBC 10 hosted a total of seven debates during the political season, more than any other local TV station. Viewed in 50,000 households, NBC 10’s final gubernatorial face-off was the highest-rated debate of the season on any station. NBC 10’s election night coverage also dominated the airwaves. With the exclusive NBC 10 Election Call Center, WJAR was able to predict the results of nearly every race before the competition. In addition, only NBC 10 News provided non-stop election night coverage from 7:00pm – 11:30pm. At the peak of the evening’s coverage, 75,000 households were tuned into NBC 10 News, an audience 38% larger than the nearest competitor.

WJAR’s main web page, www.turnto10.com, continues to be an informative force in the market. According to the latest available statistics, NBC 10’s news site had 6.4 million page views and 722,000 unique visitors in November.

WJAR’s social media pages continue to be the largest among all media outlets in the TV market. NBC 10’s Facebook approached 119,000 fans in November, while the news department’s main Twitter page just surpassed 30,000 followers.

A representative from LIN Media flagship station WPRI-TV/WNAC-TV said that WJAR is a bit premature with their numbers, and that demo information will not be available for several weeks.

In past ratings periods, even though WJAR remained the top station overall, WPRI/WNAC had made significant gains in the A18-54 ad friendly demo.

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