Joe Moore continues to preside over most of Hawaii’s top-rated television news shows, according to the November 2011 Nielsen ratings.

The "KHON2 News" on Hawaii’s Fox affiliate is No. 1 at 5, 5:30 and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

"It was very exciting to see growth in our already-dominant early newscasts," said Joe McNamara, president and general manager, in a statement. "Viewers have shown a loyalty to KHON2 rarely seen across the country."

KGMB-TV’s local news saw a bit of a decrease in ratings at 5, 6 and 10 p.m. but nevertheless retains the late news lead.

At 6 p.m. some of the TV-watching universe seems to have evaporated, with KHON showing growth despite the smaller audience. KHNL-TV’s audience share grew by a sliver.

KGMB and KHNL General Manager Rick Blangiardi, contacted during a meeting convened to discuss the ratings, said gathered executives were working "to understand viewer behavior" and figure out why there weren’t as many viewers tuned in to TV during the ratings or "sweeps" period, causing the same number of stations to compete for fewer viewers.

"That said … the market continues to remain very competitive, and we see some things we like in this (ratings) book," such as year-to-year growth in several areas.

KGMB’s "Hawaii News Now: Sunrise at 6:00" took the top spot during the 6-to-7 a.m. hour of the morning news battle weekdays, besting KHON. The show is simulcast on KHNL, where the broadcast tied with KITV for No. 3.

KITV, however, saw "a bit of growth" among viewers 25 to 54 years old during the 6-to-7 o’clock hour, said Andrew Jackson, president and general manager.

Demographics are the "currency that most of our advertisers use to make (advertising) buys," said Bill Gaeth, vice president of sales. He estimates that 80 percent of the money spent on TV advertising in the market is "probably spent targeting the adult 25-to-54 demo."

It’s not just ratings that are important, "but the composition of the audience," Gaeth said.

It is the networks, versus the local stations, that do battle during the 7-to-10 p.m. prime-time block.

The four major networks battle hard for viewers with shows such as "Dancing with the Stars," "Modern Family" and "Revenge" on ABC (KITV); "Hawaii Five-0," "Big Bang Theory" and "Person of Interest" on CBS (KGMB); "30 Rock," "Grimm" and "Prime Suspect" on NBC (KHNL); and "House," "New Girl" and "Terra Nova" on Fox (KHON).

ABC’s "Castle" on Monday nights is "doing a very strong number against that (‘Hawaii Five-0’) juggernaut," said KITV’s Jackson.

"Hawaii Five-0" earned a household rating of 27 and a 49 share, meaning nearly half the TVs in Hawaii tuned in to a program were watching the locally shot re-interpretation of the iconic Hawaii show.

Later on weeknights when other late newscasts have ended, KITV’s hourlong 10 p.m. newscast still is on the air. Viewers stay tuned in until 11 p.m., "and in the process beat both (David) Letterman and (Jay) Leno" on competing stations, Gaeth said.

WEEKDAY NEWSCASTS

Household rating/share for each of the stations during the survey period of Oct. 27 through Nov. 23:

(KGMB airs "CBS Evening News" and KITV airs "ABC World News" in this time slot. KHON airs world news locally anchored by Joe Moore.)

KHNL airs "NBC Nightly News" in this slot.

Rating: The percentage of all TV households in Hawaii tuned in to a particular show. Share: The percentage of people watching TV at that time who are tuned in to a particular show.

*Airs at 6:30 p.m.

**Airs at 9 p.m.

(a) Hawaii News Now is simulcast on KGMB and KHNL from 5 to 7 a.m., 5 to 5:30 p.m. and 10 to 10:30 p.m.

(b) KITV airs an hourlong newscast at 10 p.m. weekdays.

Source: Nielsen Media