SALT LAKE CITY – KSTU FOX 13 News once again leads all local news stations in all newscasts in the Salt Lake City television market. The most recent November Nielsen ratings show a widening gap between FOX 13 and the competition. In the competitive early morning news race, FOX 13’s Good Day Utah has 75% more viewers than #2 KUTV 2-News. And what was a virtual tie this past May in the late evening news, now has FOX 13 News at Nine with a sizable lead over its 10pm News competitors. 2014 has seen KSTU FOX 13 News move ahead of all local news stations in morning news, weekend morning news, midday news, early evening news (both 4pm news and 5pm news) and late evening news in all key demographics.
KSTU FOX 13’s recent ratings gains started in September 2013 with the launch of “Fox 13 News Live at 4” in addition to adding one of televisions’ most popular sitcoms, “Modern Family,” to its programming schedule. KSTU FOX 13’s audience growth in the November 2013 sweeps continued in February 2014 despite stiff competition from the popular Winter Olympic Games on KSL/NBC. That growth trend has accelerated in the May 2014, July 2014 and November 2014 sweeps periods. Concurrently, FOX 13 News has always been recognized as Utah’s leader in social media reach, with more followers from Facebook and Twitter than all other local news outlets.
FOX 13’s advantages over all competitors are in the A25-54 and A18-49 demographic groups -the predominant industry measurements. Below are the November 2014 numbers for Adults 25-54 from A.C. Nielsen:
EARLY MORNING NEWS Monday-Friday 5-6 a.m.:
FOX 13 (#1) scored a 14% advantage over KUTV and 80% over KSL in the advertiser-coveted A25-54 category (FOX 13 8,000, KUTV 7,000, KSL 3,000, KTVX 2,000.)
EARLY MORNING NEWS Monday–Friday 6- 9 a.m.:
FOX 13 (#1) scored a 75% advantage over KUTV and KSL and 133% over KTVX
(FOX 13 21,000, KUTV 12,000, KSL 12,000, KTVX 9,000)
WEEKEND MORNING NEWS Saturday-Sunday 7-9 a.m.:
FOX 13 (#1) scored an impressive 55% advantage over KUTV (FOX 13 14,000, KUTV 9,000) Note: FOX 13 and KUTV are the only local stations producing weekend morning newscasts.
MIDDAY NEWS Monday-Friday 11 a.m.-1 p.m.:
FOX 13 News Live at Eleven (#1) edges out KUTV Noon News with a 4% advantage (FOX 13 9,400, KUTV 9,000, KSL 2,000, KTVX 1,000)
EARLY EVENING NEWS Monday-Friday 4-5pm.:
FOX 13 News Live at Four (#1) more than doubles KTVX 4pm News (KUTV and KSL do not air newscasts at 4pm) (FOX 13 9,500, KTVX 4,500)
EARLY EVENING NEWS Monday-Friday 5-6 p.m.:
FOX 13 News Live at Five (#1) wins the highly competitive early news race again as was the case in the recent May 2014 sweeps. Fox 13 has a 13% advantage over KUTV and 28% over KSL (FOX 13 15,400, KUTV 13,600, KSL 12,000, KTVX 7,500)
Note: Fox 13 does not air news in the 6pm hour, but 25 year veteran comedy The Simpsons easily outdraws all local and network newscasts in the hour.
LATE NEWS Monday-Friday 9-10:30 p.m.:
FOX 13 News at Nine (#1) has pulled ahead of all the 10pm Newscasts as Utahns prefer the earlier hour and a full 65 minutes versus the later 35 minute versions. After May’s virtual tie with KUTV, Fox 13 News at Nine scored an impressive victory with a 21% advantage over KSL and 22% advantage over 3rd place KUTV. Fox 13 has 154% more viewers than KTVX 10pm News. (FOX 13 40,600, KSL 33,500, KUTV 33,200 KTVX 16,000)
“Overall viewership for television increased this Fall, which reversed a trend we saw in 2013. It is particularly rewarding to see the growth in FOX 13 viewership lead the pack among all our local competitors. Audience numbers grew in every hour of broadcast for FOX 13, be it local news, first run syndication including daytime’s #1 talker – Live with Kelly and Michael, #1 Doctor – Dr. Oz and everyone’s favorite Judge – Judge Judy, our popular sitcoms Modern Family, Seinfeld and The Simpsons and FOX Prime. I would like to take this holiday season to express my gratitude to the many hard working journalists at FOX 13 and our viewers who continue to make FOX 13 – The Place to watch! More to come on that little tidbit in 2015…” said Tim Ermish, President / General Manager.
“Our commitment is to breaking news and digging up important local stories that viewers can’t find anywhere else. And they responded,” said Vice President of News Renai Bodley.
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KSTU-FOX 13 News: More Local News and More Local News Viewers Than Any Utah News Station
With over 55 hours of live, local coverage per week, KSTU FOX 13 airs more local news than any other Utah broadcaster. FOX 13 began broadcasting 3.5 hours of news per week back on New Year’s Eve 1990 with Nick Clooney as their first anchor. It was dubbed “Nick at Nine!” At various points KSL, KUTV and KTVX all attempted to produce a 9 p.m. newscast on partner stations in the market, but all attempts failed to garner any significant viewership. FOX 13 also leads the market in the social media field with over 600,000 Facebook fans and the market’s largest news Twitter following.
About Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Media Company (OTC:TRBAA) is home to a diverse portfolio of television and digital properties driven by quality news, entertainment and sports programming. Tribune Media is comprised of Tribune Broadcasting’s 42 owned or operated local television stations reaching 50 million households, national entertainment network WGN America, available in 72 million households, Tribune Studios, and Tribune Digital Ventures, including the websites Zap2it and TVByTheNumbers, and Gracenote, one of the world’s leading sources of TV and music metadata powering electronic program guides in televisions, automobiles and mobile devices. Tribune Media also includes Chicago’s WGN-AM, the national multicast networks Antenna TV and THIS TV. Additionally, the company owns and manages a significant number of real estate properties across the U.S. and holds other strategic investments in media. For more information please visit http://www.tribunemedia.com.
