By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Friday, May 20, 2016
Veteran TV anchor Amanda Davis gave CBS46 a major ratings lift for at least one night as she dug deep about her depression and alcoholism.
The impact was greatest on Tuesday, the first day of her three-day series. That night, the 11 p.m. news on the CBS affiliate drew a 4.2 rating, more than double the 1.8 rating the station had received in May up to that point.
That's 137,800 people in metro Atlanta.
CBS46 news director Larry Perret said via email that the station hit No. 1 on Tuesday in overall viewers but it did not win among 25-54. Fox 5 did do better that night among 25-54.
Among the target 25-to-54 viewership audience, CBS more than doubled ratings. After averaging a 0.5 rating in May through May 16, the Davis piece drew a much stronger 1.2 Tuesday.
CBS 46's promotions department created an effective promotional teaser video, which featured Davis announcing she was an alcoholic with haunting music and words like "denial" and "rock bottom" popping up. More than 400,000 people saw the video on Facebook by the time Tuesday rolled around and it eventually passed 1 million.
The station's 11 p.m. news is its strongest in terms of audience, often beating the third-place newscast at 11 Alive. (CBS46 generally runs in fourth place most other time slots but has been aggressively promoting its evening anchors Sharon Reed and Ben Swann on billboards around town. )
On Wednesday, after the "Survivor" season finale, CBS's 11 p.m. news drew half the audience from Tuesday. Her second part helped attract a 2.2 rating overall and a 0.6 among 25-54 year olds.
On Thursday, after a very weak "Rush Hour" performance at 10 p.m., CBS's 11 p.m. newscast and Davis' final segment brought in numbers much closer to the network average: 2.1 rating for all viewers and 0.4 among 25-54.
So far in the month of May in the 25-54 demo, CBS46 remains in fourth place overall and at 11 p.m. Channel 2 Action News is No. 1 at 2.3, followed by Fox 5 at 2.1, 11 Alive at 0.7 and CBS46 at 0.5.
About the Author
