Univision WXTV-TV scores highest Total Day rank.

A milestone has been reached in Spanish-language television. Univision’s WXTV Channel 41 has reached the highest sign-on to sign-off rank ever achieved by a Spanish-language TV station in New York, regardless of language, for an entire survey period. Gotham’s premier Spanish-language TV station did so by leapfrogging over Tribune’s WPIX Channel 11, a CW affiliate, to take fifth place in household rating, up from sixth place a year ago, for the just-completed January 2006 survey period, according to Nielsen Station Index (NSI) Local People Meter (LPM) ratings.

In even brighter news, Univision 41 (WXTV) appears poised to do likewise in the all-important February sweep period (Feb. 1 – 28, 2007). At the midpoint of the sweep, Univision 41 stands not only fifth in household audience, but also fifth overall in total viewers, the highest rank ever achieved by a Spanish-language TV station in New York for the broadest possible measure of viewership since the implementation of the Local People Meter in New York by Nielsen with the exception of the ratings period in which Univision broadcast the World Cup soccer matches.

According to Nielsen, Univision 41 (WXTV) was watched in 133,000 New York area households on an average quarter hour basis during the January 2007 survey period (Jan. 4 – 31, 2007), an increase of eight percent over its January 2006 showing, making it one of only two New York stations (the other was WNYW) to gain household audience from January 2006. By contrast, WPIX was seen in 118,000 households during the January 2007 survey, down 21% from the prior year’s period.

As of the midpoint of the February 2006 sweep, Univision 41 (WXTV) not only enjoys an average quarter hour household audience of 142,000, up 15% from the February 2006 (the only New York TV station up from year to year in this measure), but it also attracted a whopping 199,000 total viewers on an average quarter hour basis, making it fifth in New York, ahead of Tribune’s WPIX and Fox’s WWOR, as well as the other Spanish-language TV stations. Fifth place is the highest sign-on to sign-off rank in terms of total audience ever achieved by a Spanish-language TV station in New York other than in survey periods when the World Cup was shown. Univision 41 (WXTV) achieved this milestone by growing its audience 13% compared to Feb. 2006 while competitor WPIX is down 12%.

Sweeps are the four, four-week contiguous periods during which the audiences of TV stations nationwide are measured to set advertising rates.