Univision NY set weekday News record.

In a record for Spanish-language TV in New York, Univision 41 (WXTV), Gotham’s premier Spanish-language TV station, has finished the May 2007 sweep (April 26 to May 23, 2007) with the highest ever rankings achieved by a Spanish-language weekday news program regardless of language since the implementation of Local People Meters (LPM) in the Nielsen Station Index (NSI) ratings. The 6 pm weekday “Noticias Univision 41” (Univision 41 News) with anchors Rafael Pineda and Denisse Oller finished first among viewers aged 18 to 34 and second among total viewers, the broadest measure of audience, for the first major sweep since LPM came to New York.

The 6 pm weekday “Noticias” leads the pack among viewers aged 18 to 34 with 68,000 vs. 44,000 for second place “Eyewitness News” on WABC-TV Channel 7, the only sweep other than July 2006, when ratings were boosted by the World Cup that the 6 pm “Noticias” has achieved that feat.

The 6 pm weekday “Noticias” on WXTV also finished second only to WABC-TV among the other key viewership categories, persons 18 to 49, 25 to 54, and total persons, the broadest measure of audience. “Noticias” got 144,000 viewers aged 18 to 49, second only to WABC-TV’s 170,000. Spanish-language WNJU is third with 83,000. WCBS-TV is fourth with 80,000. WNBC Channel 4 is fifth with 72,000, and WNYW, the Fox station, is sixth with 45,000.

Among those aged 25 to 54, the story is similar. Again, the 6 pm weekday “Noticias” on WXTV with 152,000 viewers finished second only to WABC-TV’s 196,000. WCBS-TV is third with 107,000. WNJU is fourth with 90,000. Co-owned WNBC is fifth with 88,000, and WNYW is last with 47,000.

In the broadest measure of viewership, total persons, WXTV’s “Noticias” scored its highest rank ever with a whopping 291,000 viewers making it second only to WABC-TV. The latter has 526,000 viewers. WNBC is third with 287,000 viewers. WCBS-TV is fourth with 272,000. WNJU is fifth with 189,000, and WNYW is last with 100,000 total viewers.

Part of the success of “Noticias Univision 41” may be due to its anchor team. Rafael Pineda, who marked 35 years at the station’s anchor desk in January 2007, is the New York’s most senior TV news anchor. His co-anchor, Denisse Oller, winner of two Edward R. Murrow awards, is a major proponent of community outreach and hosts a weekly cooking segment on WXTV’s morning newscast, “Noticias Univision 41 Al Despertar” (Univision 41 News at Dawn), in which celebrity chefs offer healthy, low-fat, low cholesterol recipes. “Riquisimo con Denisse” is one of WXTV’s most popular features.