KGMB-TV and KHON-TV continue to battle for dominance in local TV news ratings, according to a Nielsen survey taken from April 28 to May 25.

KHON-TV with Joe Moore still has the most-watched newscast at 6 p.m. and has reclaimed the No. 1 spot across the board for weekend newscasts.

KGMB’s 6 p.m. news also grew; KITV’s ratings dipped. KFVE-TV doubled its ratings for its weekday evening news that airs at 6:30 p.m. KHNL-TV nearly doubled its ratings for the "Sunrise" weekday morning news program.

KGMB, KHNL and KFVE broadcast the same "Hawaii News Now" newscast under a shared services agreement.

"We’re still less than two years at this," said KGMB and KHNL Vice President and General Manager Rick Blangiardi.

"We’re continuing to hammer through and do the best we can, and I think this is a good acknowledgement of the efforts that are being made here to serve Hawaii."

The "KHON2 News at 6" jumped in ratings and share points from a year ago.

A "rating" reflects the percentage of all TV households in Hawaii that tuned in to a particular show. A "share" is the percentage of people watching TV at that time who are tuned in to a particular show.

The 10 p.m. horse race continued between KHON and KGMB. While KGMB’s 10 p.m. airing of "Hawaii News Now" surpassed KHON in terms of ratings and share points, KHON said it had more viewers.

"Ratings and share are based on households," said Joe McNamara, KHON president and general manager. "They have more households than we do, but we have more viewers because a couple of our households have more people watching TV," McNamara said based on details contained within the most recent Nielsen survey.

KITV is the only station with morning newscasts on the weekends, anchored by Jodi Leong and Paul Drewes with weather anchorwoman Moanike‘ala Nabarro. Andrew Jackson, president and general manager of KITV, said, "The weekend morning (news) has established itself as viable," from a sales standpoint.

After its debut Sept. 18, the 6-8 a.m. Sunday show has shown steady growth, from a 1 rating 11 share in the November ratings, to a 2/17 in February and a 2/19 last month. Saturdays started with a 2/13, grew to a 3/22 in February and came in at 3/18 last month.

KFVE-TV saw growth in its alternatively scheduled newscasts, at 8 a.m., and 6:30 p.m. weekdays, while its 9 p.m. newscast maintained its rating and share but grew in "the all-important 25-to-54 demographic," said John Fink, vice president and general manager.

"A lot of people simply don’t get home in time to watch a complete 6 o’clock newscast," he said. "We don’t mind zigging when they zag … by being the alternate news."

The broadcast of the annual Merrie Monarch Festival April 28-30 on KFVE occurred during the Nielsen survey for the first time since 2003, during the hula festival’s 28-year run on KITV.

This year KFVE’s Thursday night broadcast of the Merrie Monarch’s Miss Aloha Hula competition garnered an 8 rating and a 16 share, versus a 9 rating and 18 share in 2003 on KITV. The Friday night hula kahiko (ancient) competition earned a 9 rating and 21 share this year versus a 14 rating and 27 share in 2003. Saturday night’s auana, or modern hula competition, earned a 10 rating and 31 share on KFVE, versus a 13 rating and 32 share eight years ago.

That the festival garnered such large ratings against network programming is exciting, said John Fink, vice president and general manager.

"Ratings grew each night this year," he said.

The broadcast was also streamed live online, where individual performances can still be viewed. "One of the most exciting things to us is we have over a million page views," as measured over four to five weeks since the broadcast.

People from 116 countries, led by the U.S. and Japan, have visited the site for Merrie Monarch video. The international viewing is up nearly 25 percent from the count of 93 countries viewing it last year.