ABC Calls For Nielsen Investigation Into ‘World News' Ratings

DTV transition possible culprit in unusual ratings dip

By Alex Weprin -- Broadcasting & Cable, 6/16/2009 11:51:36 AM

ABC has asked Nielsen to investigate ratings from last Friday's installment of ABC World News with Charles Gibson. Friday, June 12 was also the day of the DTV transition, when stations switched off their analog signals and went to all-digital.

World News drew 4.09 total viewers that day, a drop of more than 3 million from the seasonal Friday average of 7.34 million viewers.

ABC News says that affiliates in Chicago and Philadelphia suffered from technical and reception problems the day of the switch, though it is too early to determine if those issues were the cause of the ratings quirk.

Talkback

» Submit Feedback

it's so unfair that media don't make comment about this.. when Couric had low ratings they talk about her constantly...

mike - 6/16/2009 2:03:03 PM EDT

» Submit Feedback

Also by Alex Weprin

Product Wire

Featured Company

Digital Rapids

Digital Rapids is the leading provider of professional hardware and software tools, technology and expertise for bringing video to wider audiences and new viewing platforms. Continuing to set new standards in quality, productivity and versatility... more
Parks Associates

Parks Associates is an internationally recognized market research and consulting company specializing in emerging consumer technology products and services. Founded in 1986, Parks Associates creates research capital for companies ranging from... more
Akamai

Akamai provides market-leading managed services for powering rich media, dynamic transactions, and enterprise applications online. Having pioneered the content delivery market one decade ago, Akamai's services have been adopted by the world's most... more