WREG-TV News Channel 3, Nexstar Media Group’s Memphis television station, is again viewers’ first choice for news in the recently-completed May sweeps period.
Monday through Friday, WREG ranked first in local news, including early mornings from 4:30 to 7 a.m., noon, afternoons from 4-5:30 p.m., 6 p.m., and at 10 p.m. News Channel 3 also ranked first in every weekend head-to-head news time period, and had the highest rated weekly sports talk show with Friday Sports Overtime.
News Director Bruce Moore applauded his journalists’ commitment under difficult circumstances. “Our team had to learn new ways to dig for important information. As members of this community ourselves, we continue to make sure we respect social distancing and safety guidelines. I’m proud of our efforts and continued focus on conveying critical information while doing what we can to keep everyone safe,” Moore said.
General Manager Ron Walter said the station added special news editions centered on COVID-19 coverage on Saturdays at 6:30 p.m. and Sundays at 10:30 p.m. discussing important developments as they unfolded.
“And on top of all this, when the immediacy of breaking weather threatened the market, the News Channel 3 Weather Experts were there first to let our viewers know about its dangers and stayed there until the dangers were gone,” Walter said.
Nielsen Media Research measures viewing monthly in the Memphis TV market. These results are for the 28-day period from April 23 through May 20, 2020.
Highlights:
· WREG News Channel 3 easily wins mornings from 4:30 until network news starts at 7 a.m.
· WREG News Channel 3 easily wins midday news with a higher rating than competitors.
· WREG News Channel 3 beats competitors in early afternoon news at 4:00 and 4:30.
· WREG’s 5 and 6 p.m. news have more viewers than all other stations’ early evening newscasts.
· WREG’s 10 p.m. news is again the top-rated late newscast in the market.
· WREG’s Friday Sports Overtime with Mike Ceide is the highest rated sports talk program on any medium in town, winning its time-period — 10:15-10:30 — with a 7.4 household rating.
· WREG News Channel 3 also wins every head-to-head newscast throughout the weekend.
February 2020 by the Numbers
Weekdays:
4:30 a.m. — WREG wins with a 3.0 rating to WHBQ and WMC’s 1.8 average
5a.m. — WREG wins with a 3.7. WHBQ averaged 2.3 rating points to WMC’s 2.0 and WATN’s 1.0
5:30 a.m. — WREG wins with a 4.4. WHBQ averaged a 2.6 and WMC’s had a 2.1 average over WATN’s fourth place 1.3
6 a.m. — WREG wins again with a 5.4 over WHBQ’s 3.6, WMC’s 2.7, and WATN’s 1.2
Midday — WREG wins a 6.4 rating to best WMC’s 3.1, as well as WHBQ’s 3.0 (11 a.m.), and WATN’s 1.6 (11 a.m.)
4 p.m. — WREG wins with a 4.9 to WMC’s 2.5
4:30 p.m. — WREG wins with a 5.2 to WMC’s 2.8
5 p.m. — WREG wins again, with a 6.5 to WMC’s 5.3, WHBQ’s 4.7, and WATN’s 1.2
6 p.m. — WREG wins with a 7.3 to WMC’s 6.6, WHBQ’s 4.3, and WATN’s 1.7
10 p.m. — WREG wins with a 9.5. WMC averaged a 4.8, WHBQ a 4.5 and WATN averaged a 1.1
WREG also wins every head-to-head weekend newscast during the ratings period in addition to airing the highest rated local sports program—Friday Sports Overtime at 10:15 p.m. earned a 7.4 rating average.