Spanish-Lingo Demo Shocker In NYC.

In a major ratings upset, Spanish-language UHF-TV station Univision 41 (WXTV) has emerged as New York’s top rated TV station in Gotham’s 6 pm news race among all three key demographic audience groups according to recently released Nielsen Station Index (NSI) figures for the February 2002 sweep. The February 2002 sweep (January 31 to February 27, 2002) is one of four, annual, four-week periods in which the audiences of TV stations nationwide are measured to set advertising rates.

Univision 41’s “Noticias 41” 6 pm local news program with anchors Rafael Pineda and Denisse Oller is number one among viewers aged 18-34, 18-49, and 25-54 years old in New York’s 6 pm weekday news race, beating such powerhouse TV stations as WNBC Channel 4 and WABC-TV Channel 7. “Noticias 41” scores a 2.9 NSI rating and 12 share among viewers aged 18-34. WABC/7 is second with 1.9/8 followed by Telemundo’s WNJU/47 at 1.6/7, WNBC/4 at 1.4/6, and WCBS/2 at 0.9/4.

Among those aged 18-49 “Noticias 41” wins the race with 3.0/12 followed by WABC/7 with 2.8/11, WNBC/4 with 2.2/9, WCBS/2 at 1.2/4, and WNJU/47 at 1.1/4. Among the 25-54 demographic “Noticias 41” is first with 3.3/12 followed by WNBC/4 at 3.2/12, WABC/7 at 3.1/11, WNJU/47 at 1.6/6 and WCBS/2 at 1.4/5.

The story is similar in the 5 pm and 6:30 pm weekday news races, in which Univision 41 wins both the 18-34 and 18-49 demographics and runs in the money in the 25-54 age group. At 5 pm Univision 41’s news magazine, “Primer Impacto” wins the 18-34 race with 2.6/14 followed by WABC/7 at 1.5/8, WNBC/4 at 1.3/7, and WNJU/47 tied with WCBS/2 at 0.7/4. Among those aged 18-49 “Primer Impacto” wins with 2.7/13 followed by WABC/7 at 2.2/11, WNBC/4 at 2.0/10, and WNJU/47 tied with WCBS/2 at 0.8/4. WNBC/4 wins the 25-54 age group with 2.9/13, followed by “Primer Impacto” at 2.8/13, WABC/7 at 2.4/11, WNJU/47 at 1.3/5, and WCBS/2 at 1.1/5.

In the 6:30 pm network news race Univision’s “Noticiero Univision” with anchors Jorge Ramos and Maria Elena Salinas wins with 2.8/11 NSI among those aged 18-34. Second is ABC World News at 2.2/9 followed by NBC Nightly News at 1.7/7, The CBS Evening News at 1.0/4, and Noticiero Telemundo at 0.9/4. “Noticiero Univision” is number one among those aged 18-49 with 3.0/11. ABC World News is second with 2.9/11. NBC Nightly News is third with 2.4/9. The CBS Evening News is fourth with 1.2/4, and “Noticiero Telemundo” is last with 0.8/3. NBC Nightly News wins the 25-54 race with 3.6/12 followed in close order by ABC World News at 3.3/11, “Noticiero Univision” at 3.2/11, The CBS Evening News at 1.5/5, and “Noticiero Telemundo” at 1.2/4.

In the 11 pm news race, not historically strong for Spanish-language TV, “Noticias 41” with anchors Rafael Pineda and Denisse Oller still manages to finish in the money in each of the key demographic groups. WNBC/4 wins all three demographic groups in the 11 pm weekday news race with 2.4/8, 4.2/11, and 5.6/14 respectively. But “Noticias 41” is second among 18-34s and 18-49s with 2.1/7 and 3.0/8 respectively (the latter tied with WABC/7) while it finishes third among 25-54s with 2.9/7. Third and fourth among 18-34s go to WABC/7 at 1.9/6 and WNJU/47 at 1.7/5, while WCBS/2 is last with 1.2/4. Among 18-49s it’s WCBS/2 fourth at 1.7/5 and WNJU/47 last with 1.1/3. Among 25-54s WABC/7 is second with 3.3/8. WCBS/2 is fourth with 2.2/5, and WNJU/47 is last with 1.0/2.