MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Any way you slice it, WREG rules the ratings. News Channel 3 continues to dominate the Memphis market, once again topping local newscast ratings in nearly all weekday and weekend dayparts. Nielsen Media Research measured viewing in the Memphis TV market for the 28-day period from January29-February 25. This is the first “Sweeps” period of 2015, and WREG is off to a great start.
News Director Bruce Moore said, “Sometimes weather is breaking news. That’s certainly been the case for the past few weeks, and breaking news is what we do best. I’m proud of the entire team for working hard to keep people safe and prepared.”
WREG President and General Manager Ron Walter added, “The weather this month has been relentless, with freezing temperatures and dangerous road conditions. Viewers know we’re going to be here looking out for them.”
One rating point equals approximately 6,600 households, or approximately 17,233 people. Here’s how the news ratings break down by time period:
For the all-important Monday-Friday 10PM news, WREG averaged a 12.7 rating to WMC’s 9.4, WHBQ’s 3.9, and WATN’s 1.8.
WREG News Channel 3 Sunday at 10PM is the highest rated Memphis newscast of the week, averaging a 13.3 rating!
WREG also won the entire morning news period from 4:30 to 7AM on weekdays, beating WMC, Fox 13 and WATN. At 6AM, WREG achieved an 8.0 rating to WMC’s 7.0, WHBQ’s 5.2 and WATN’s 1.3.
WREG’s News Channel 3 Live at 9:00 achieved a 5.8 rating, beating WHBQ’s 5.4 for the same time period, and WATN’s 0.8.
At noon, WREG achieved a 9.0 to WMC’s 5.5.
Monday-Friday At 4:00 and 4:30PM, WREG had a 7.4. WMC averaged a 5.1 for the same hour.
WMC’s only wins begin at 5:00PM, scoring a 10.0 to WREG’s 9.6, WHBQ’s 4.5 and WATN’s 3.2. At 6PM, comfortably nestled between two popular national programs, NBC Nightly News and Wheel of Fortune, WMC managed a 12.9 to WREG’s 9.8, and WATN’s 2.3.
WREG wins every newscast over the weekend. On Saturday morning, WREG’s average 6.2 rating tops WMC’s 4.7. WREG wins Saturday at 10PM with a 9.7 to WMC’s 8.5, and WHBQ’s and WATN’s 0.9.
WREG’s ratings dominance continues on Sunday growing to a 9.0 average in the final morning hour—more than twice the rating for any quarter hour on any other station Sunday morning.
WREG also has the highest rated local sports program in the viewing area on any medium. Friday Sports Overtime averaged a 9.3 rating to WMC Friday Sports Extra’s 8.4.
WREG-TV News Channel 3 is owned by Tribune Media Company, 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.
