Local TV Ratings: Good News for KABC, KCBS, KCAL and KTLA in November

Recent anchor changes have apparently paid off for Los Angeles' KCAL, KCBS and KTLA.

KABC, of course, continued its overall dominance of the L.A. market, winning the month in virtually every measurement, with veteran anchors Michelle Tuzee and Marc Brown (above).

But other stations had reason to cheer as well -- particularly KCAL, KCBS and KTLA, all of which had shuffled their teams over the past year -- and all of which posted big, double-digit gains this November with their late newscasts.

From Monday through Friday, CBS-owned indie KCAL won the hour with 199,000 viewers -- up a strong 42% vs. November 2009. And Tribune's CW affil KTLA was in second, with 142,000 viewers -- up a whopping 45%.

This month's contentious political campaign helped goose some of those ratings, of course.

"The Cooley-Harris race just ended," said KCBS/KCAL topper Steve Mauldin, referring to the tight California attorney general race, which came down to just a few thousand ballots. "And that governor's race was a movie. We've had a very interesting run."

But that's only part of the story. Fox-owned KTTV didn't enjoy a similar boost, despite dominating among the three stations during the 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. primetime hours. KTTV was actually down 6%, to 109,000 viewers, during the month -- winding up in third place.

KTTV may have been impacted by a move to experiment with its newscast -- bringing in more interviews and using its anchor desk less, for example.

Those changes came in the wake of massive budget cuts and staff reductions at KTTV, which as a result turned to more in-studio fare. Viewers apparently aren't impressed, however -- and KCAL and KTLA have benefitted from KTTV's changes.

At KCAL, the numbers repped validation for its new 10 p.m. team: Anchors Rick Garcia and Sharon Tay, who were first paired in April, along with new meteorologist Evelyn Taft. And at KTLA, the ratings were a nice boost for anchor Micah Ohlman, who first joined the station a year ago and more recently went solo at 10 p.m.

Meanwhile, at 11 p.m. both KABC and KCBS are also celebrating strong November books -- thanks in part to their primetime performances.

Traditional market leader KABC extended its dominance, attracting 349,000 viewers at 11 p.m. in November -- up 16%. KCBS, meanwhile, was up 12% to 274,000 viewers, making it a solid second place.

At KCBS, station was happy with the results following the move of anchor Pat Harvey and weathercaster Jackie Johnson along side Paul Magers.

KNBC, hampered by its network's weak primetime, dropped 16% to 207,000 viewers.

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