Channel 7 Dominates February, But Channel 2 Has Reason to Celebrate Too

KABC/Channel 7 once again led the Los Angeles TV market in February, winning all of the weekday news time slots among both total viewers and adults 25-54, the key news demo.

But KCBS/Channel 2 had reason to crow as well: On a full Monday though Sunday basis, KCBS' 11 p.m. newscast (125,000 viewers) narrowly edged out KABC (124,000) among adults 25-54 (they were both virtually tied at a 1.7 rating). KABC was still tops in total viewers, narrowly beating KCBS (333,000 vs. 323,000). For KCBS, considered an also-ran just a few years ago, the growth -- bolstered in part by CBS' strong primetime -- has been dramatic. According to KCBS, the Monday-to-Sunday demo win at 11 p.m. is the station's first since February 1994 (the Lillehammer Winter Olympics) and only the third time in 30 years.

"We are especially pleased that we have made such tremendous progress in late news," says KCBS/KCAL president/GM Steve Mauldin. "Two years ago, we were nearly 100,000 viewers our of first place. Today... we're number one in our target demo and just 10,000 viewers awat from being the most-watched newscast at 11 p.m."

KABC remains L.A.'s dominant TV station, however. On weekdays at 11 p.m., KABC (365,000 viewers) beat KCBS (305,000) and KNBC (219,000). The gap is wider at 6 p.m., with KABC (320,000) followed by KNBC (150,000), KCBS (112,000) and KTLA (76,000). At 5 p.m., KABC (292,000) also attracts more than KNBC (121,000) and KCBS (102,000).

(I don't have KMEX ratings, but the Univision station is traditionally a top market performer as well.)

In the early morning news race, KABC's "Good Morning America" (217,000 viewers) beats KTLA's "Morning News" (173,000), KNBC's "Today Show" (171,000), KTTV's "Good Day L.A." (110,000) and KCBS' "CBS This Morning" (53,000). But KTLA dominates in demos, winning the morning shows with 99,000 viewers 25-54, then KNBC (85,000), KABC (73,000), KTTV (72,000) and KCBS (26,000).

Back at the KCBS/KCAL duopoly, execs were also cheering KCAL's weekday total viewers win at 10 p.m. (132,000 viewers) vs. KTTV (121,000) and KTLA (84,000). KTTV won in the adult 25-54 demo, however, with 105,000 viewers.

The local L.A. stations still scramble to compete during sweeps months, even though they don't matter like they used to here. That's because L.A. has had local people meters since 2004 -- which means demo info, which used to only come during quarterly "sweeps months" is collected and reported daily. Old habits die hard.