KSL is No. 1, but all late local newscasts lose

There were no winners among the local stations during the November sweeps. The late local newscasts on Channels 2, 4, 5 and 13 all lost viewers between 2008 and 2009.

According to the Nielsen Company, from November 2008 to November 2009 the four stations combined lost about 11.7 percent of their audience.

(That's based on the average number of homes that tuned in to their late local newscasts during the 28-day November sweeps period.)

KTVX-Ch. 4 lost 1,700 homes.

KSL-Ch. 5 lost 5,800 homes.

KUTV-Ch. 2 lost 13,400 homes.

And KSTU-Ch. 13 lost 15,300 homes.

In this case, you won by losing fewer viewers than your competitors. And even that's not true, because mired-in-last-place Ch. 4 remains so far behind the leaders that even its relatively small decline is significant.

In terms of how the stations ranked, it was pretty much business as usual. Ch. 5 was in first place; Ch. 2 was in second place; Ch. 13 was in third place; and Ch. 4 was in fourth place.

Ch. 2, with a 9.1 average rating for its 10 p.m. newscast Sunday-Saturday, remained competitive with Ch. 5 (10.2). But the gap between them widened from to about 3 percent in November 2008 to about 11 percent in November 2009.

The gap between third-place Ch. 13's 9 p.m. newscast and fourth-place Ch. 4's 10 p.m. newscast narrowed dramatically — from about 34 percent to about 17 percent. But that wasn't good news for Ch. 4; it was bad news for Ch. 13.

Based on Sunday-Saturday averages, Ch. 13's ratings fell a whopping 25 percent, from a 7.1 to a 5.3.

Ch. 4's drop was more modest — about 6 percent. But KTVX's ratings were already so low the station had far less to lose. And yet its seven-day average still fell from a 4.7 to a 4.4.

You've got to wonder how much longer KTVX can survive its consistently low numbers. The huge emphasis the station has put on reporting weather hasn't stemmed the tide, let alone reversed it.

KSL's win was more impressive given the circumstances surrounding it. And those circumstances can be summed up in four words — "The Jay Leno Show."

In a number of markets across the country, Leno's low ratings have been deadly for late local news ratings. NBC affiliates in some cities have lost more than a quarter of their viewers because of the weak lead-in.