NBC5 clinches a narrow victory over Belo8 in the news ratings

by Ed Bark of UncleBarky.com

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NBC hasn't lost a sweeps race at 10 p.m. since November 2001.

Barring a big meltdown on what's expected to be a cold night Wednesday, NBC5 has clinched a narrow victory over Belo8 in the 10 p.m. newscast ratings.

The Peacock's Tuesday night win, although a narrow one, slowed Belo8's momentum in the late night race. NBC5 already has a firm grip on first place among advertiser-coveted 25-to-54-year-olds. But in total homes, it had led the ABC station by just three-tenths of a rating point (7,140 homes) with two nights left in the November sweeps, which end on Wednesday. NBC hasn't lost a sweeps race at 10 p.m. since November 2001. The other sweeps months are February and May.

Belo8 otherwise had a great day Tuesday, particularly at 6 a.m. It's Daybreak usually lags in third place behind NBC5 and Fox4. But Daybreak took the No. 1 spot in both early morning ratings measurements. Belo8's newscasts also won across the board at 5 and 6 p.m., and at the latter hour the ABC station seemingly has wrapped up a close win over CBS11 in total homes.

On the entertainment front, the new ABC comedy Big Day looks as though it's DOA, at least in D-FW. The network's preceding Charlie Brown Christmas drew 178,500 homes, with Big Day then dipping to just 92,820. That mired it in fourth place from 8 to 8:30 p.m. in both homes and with 18-to-49-year-olds, the prime advertiser target for non-news programming.

Another newbie, CBS' 3 Lbs. medical series, also doesn't look as though it can carry its weight. It likewise lagged in fourth-place from 9 to 10 p.m., with Fox4's third-place local newscast still drawing more than twice the crowd for 3lbs.

Over on Uncle Barky's site, Ed says weather outside is. . . well, we'll soon see for ourselves.

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