Ratings reflect overall drop in audience for TV news

The May Nielsen ratings for Honolulu weekday TV newscasts reflected a shrinking universe of viewers, possibly due to a sampling snafu that Nielsen reported to its subscribers after release of the ratings.

At 6 p.m. the percentage of all televisions in Hawaii tuning into local newscasts dropped to 25 percent last month, from 31 percent in May 2011. For the 10 p.m. time slot, households watching local news fell to 22 percent, down from 28 percent last May.

Broadcasters said the survey reflects oddities with the sampling, not a huge shift in marketplace behavior.

Nielsen still has viewers fill out handwritten diaries, which are used to determine ratings in Hawaii.

"In this day and age, the diary market has been antiquated for seemingly forever," said Rick Blangiardi, vice president and general manager of Hawaii News Now’s KGMB-TV and KHNL-TV. Nielsen ratings collected with the old diary system are "more obsolete today than ever before."

KGMB moved into first place in the 5 p.m. time slot in May, replacing KHON, which slipped to third. KITV was second at 5 p.m. in May.

KHON held onto its top ranking at 6 p.m. and KGMB held its top slot at 10 p.m.

Blangiardi said technology somewhat lessens the importance of Nielsen ratings. Many viewers of Hawaii News Now’s content get it over the Internet.

"On all our digital platforms we are getting over a million page views a week, that’s all day, seven days a week," Blangiardi said. "It’s the times we’re living in … we’re actually being consumed now more than ever before and I’m encouraged by that."

KHON President and General Manager Joe McNamara said he has asked Nielsen to explain further the problems the company reported with the May results, but he has not yet received a reply.

"If you’ve ever done anything with sampling, doing phone surveys and whatnot, trying to get a certain number of people, and certain demographics, it doesn’t always work out," McNamara said. Nielsen will "sometimes try and make adjustments, but it sounds like it didn’t work."

Neither McNamara nor other broadcasters anticipate any impact on the ability of the stations to sell advertising, as most clients will understand the statistical fluctuation, and many, if not most, buy advertising based on an average of four rating periods, rather than one ratings survey to the next.

Recent personnel changes have affected the local television industry, with some high-profile departures and other personalities rejoining the broadcast industry or switching stations.

KHON anchor and reporter Ron Mizutani left May 25, after the end of the rating period, for a career in public relations. He has been succeeded on the 5 p.m. newscast by longtime anchor Kathy Muneno, with Justin Cruz as weather anchor. Taizo Braden joined the on-camera staff after his earlier departure from Hawaii News Now. KHON soon will transition to high-definition with the recent arrival of five HD studio cameras and the planned upgrade of news production facilities.

At Hawaii News Now, reporter Minna Sugimoto left the business, also for a public relations job, while Brooks Baehr left to join KITV in an off-camera role as assignment editor.

KITV also welcomed former KHON reporter Andrew Pereira, who succeeded Keoki Kerr after Kerr left KITV for Hawaii News Now earlier this year. KITV also welcomed Cam Tran, as weather anchor and reporter earlier this month.

KITV shot up to No. 1 at 5:30 p.m. weekdays with Diane Sawyer’s "ABC World News," and lost no ratings at 6 p.m. or 10 p.m.

But "my favorite story, is that after only six months in the market, our D-2 station, ‘MeTV’ is in the ratings book," said Andy Jackson, president and general manager of KITV.

MeTV is a new station on Oceanic Cable digital channel 126 and over-the-air digital 4.2. The station carries television shows from the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. Jackson said localization of the oldies-but-goodies station "has struck a chord with Hawaii viewers."

Nostalgia is a big trend in current culture and resonates with the right advertisers, he said.