Local news ratings: WSB-TV on top, followed by Fox 5,11 Alive, CBS 46

Results? As I expected, results haven't changed much.

Most of the local TV news programs saw a rise in ratings from 2014, but the rankings stayed the same as I recall them in recent years.

As usual, Channel 2 Action News is on top, frequently by wide margins when they are going head to head with other stations. In general, its ratings haven't shifted much from 2013 - except at 11 p.m., which is down.

Fox 5 comes in a strong second, with its 10 p.m. news program competitive with the scripted programming usually offered on the other three major broadcast stations. Its ratings are up in most cases across the board from 2013.

11 Alive is in third place with ever-changing CBS46 lagging behind in fourth. 11 Alive's ratings appear fairly flat over the past couple of years while CBS46 has trended slightly downward since 2013.

The top 10 newscasts in overall household ratings over the past month:

1. Channel 2 Action News at 6 p.m. with Jovita Moore and Justin Farmer, 7.7

2. Channel 2 Action News at 5 p.m. with Jovita Moore and Justin Farmer, 6.5

3. Channel 2 Action News at 6 a.m. with Linda Stouffer and Fred Blankenship, 6.3

4. Channel 2 Action News at noon with Fred Blankenship and Carol Sbarge, 6.0

5. (tie) Fox 5 News at 10 p.m. with Cynee Simpson and Russ Spencer, 5.8

Channel 2 Action News Nightbeat (11 p.m.) with Jovita Moore and Justin Farmer, 5.8

7. Good Day Atlanta with Gurvir Dhindsa and Ron Gant at 7 a.m., 5.1

8. Good Day Atlanta with Gurvir Dhindsa and Ron Gant at 8 a.m., 4.6

9. (tie) Fox 5 News at 5 (Tom Haynes and Cynne Simpson) and Fox 5 News at 6 (Russ Spencer and Lisa Rayam), 4.5

SOURCE: Nielsen Media Research

WSB-TV and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution are both part of Cox Media Group.

Let's go out hour by hour, using overall household ratings, starting when the local news begins. Among the four stations, WSB-TV won every hour I tracked except the 3 p.m. hour.

4:30 a.m.:  Channel 2 Action News opens the day with a 3 rating vs. 1.8 for Fox 5, 0.6 for Chesley McNeil on 11 Alive and a 0.3 for CBS46. (Total share: 5.7, up from 5.0 a year ago, with WSB, Fox and CBS up, NBC down)

5 a.m.: Channel 2's numbers grow 50 percent this hour as more people wake up to a 4.5 rating compared to 2.9 for Fox, 1.1 for 11 Alive and 0.4 for CBS46. (Total share: 8.8, up from 7.3 a year ago with WSB and Fox up, 11 Alive & CBS flat)

6 a.m.: Viewership keeps growing this hour with Channel 2 up to a 6.3 rating, Fox 5 building to a 4.2, 11 Alive to a 1.9 and CBS46 to a 0.7. (Total share: 13.1, up from 11.7 a year ago, with all four stations up in ratings year over year).

7 a.m.- 9 a.m.: The three broadcast networks go to national news while Fox 5 stays local. "Good Morning America" on WSB garners a 7.1. "Good Day Altanta" is a solid second with 4.9. 11 Alive's "Today Show" draws a mere 2.2. "CBS Morning News"? A 0.9. (Total share: 14.9, up from 13.6 a year ago, with everyone up except "Today," which was down)

9 a.m.-10 a.m.:  WSB's 'Kelly & Michael" is on top with a 5.7. "Good Day Atlanta" holds its own with a 3.7. Hour three of "Today" on 11 Alive slips to a 1.9. And the "Better" local 9 a.m. show garners a 0.4. (Total share: 11.7, up from 10.2 a year ago, with everyone up except CBS's "Better").

10 a.m.-11 a.m.: WSB's "The Doctors" draw a healthy 4.3 but Fox 5's "Wendy Williams" closes the gap with a 3 rating. Hoda and Kathie Lee on 11 Alive's hour four of "Today" drink in a 1.6, just barely ahead of CBS46's "Let's Make a Deal." (Total share: 10.5, up from 8.9, with "Wendy Williams" nearly doubling its numbers and WSB and NBC up as well. "Deal" is down.)

11 a.m.-noon: WSB's "The View" brings in a 3.8, ahead of both CBS's "The Price Is Right" (2.6) and Fox 5's new show "The Real" (2.5), as well as the pay-for-play "Atlanta & Company" on 11 Alive (0.4). "The Real" wins the 25-54 demo battle. (Total share: 9.3 vs. 7.7 a year ago with "The Real" doing 2.5 times better than the now cancelled "Bethanny" and "The Price is Right" down a bit)

Noon-1 p.m..: WSB's news brings in a sold 6 rating, more than the other three combined with Fox 5 news at 2.4 and CBS news at 1.1 (and a 0.4 at 12:30 for "Better"). NBC no longer airs news, opting for more "Atlanta & Company" and a "Jeopardy" repeat (0.4). (Total share: 9.9, up from 8.7 a year ago, with Fox 5 ratings up 73 percent year over year.)

1 p.m.-2 p.m.: WSB's "The Chew" wins with a 3.4 with Fox 5's "Access"/'TMZ" combo at 1.9 (though Fox wins the 25-54 race), 11 Alive's "Days of Our Lives" at 1.4 and CBS's paid programming at 1 p.m. (0.3) combined with "The Bold and the Beautiful" (1.9). (Total share: 7.8 vs. 7.0 a year ago with both soaps down but WSB and Fox 5 again up year over year.)

2 p.m.-3 p.m.: WSB'S "General Hospital" pulls in the biggest ratings with a 3.0, followed by a 2.0 from Fox 5's "TMZ Live," a 1.3 from CBS's 'The Talk" and a mere 0.8 for 11 Alive's "Rachael Ray." (Total share: 7.1, up from 6.4 a year ago, with "GH" flat, "TMZ Live" better than "Dr. Oz" on Fox a year ago and both "The Talk" and "Rachael" up.)

3 p.m.-4 p.m.: For the first (and only) time, WSB-TV is beaten in the overall ratings. CBS's "The Young and the Restless" takes the hour with a 3 rating vs. a 2.8 for Fox 5's "Steve Harvey," a 2.2 for "Dr. Oz" on WSB-TV and 1.4 for "Dr. Phil" on 11 Alive. With the target 25-54 demo, Harvey actually wins. (Total share: 9.4, compared to 7.9, with everything up year over year and "Oz" doing better than "Katie" a year ago on WSB. "Dr Phil" doubled its ratings now that it's no longer a repeat since 11 Alive dropped "Dr. Phil" at 5.)

4 p.m.-5 p.m.: Channel 2 Action News edges out Fox 5's "Dr. Judy" 4.4 to 4.1. ("Judy" is at the top for 25-54 year olds.) "Ellen" on 11 Alive lags behind with a 2 rating and CBS46 News draws a 1.4. (Total share: 11.9 vs. 10.4 a year ago. WSB, Judy and Ellen are up while CBS news is flat.)

5 p.m.-6 p.m.: Channel 2 Action News takes home the bacon with a 6.5 vs. 4.5 for Fox 5 news, a 1.9 for 11 Alive news and a 1.0 for poor CBS46. (Total share: 13.9 vs. 13.6 in the same time period 2014. WSB and Fox are up while 11 Alive is down from a 2.9 for "Dr. Phil" a year ago. CBS46 had a 1.1 a year ago.)

6 p.m.-7 p.m.: This is Channel 2 Action News' top ratings for the day with a 7.7, beating Fox 5's 4.5, 11 Alive's 3.5 (combining local and national) and CBS46's 1.5 (also half local, half national). (Total share: 17.2 vs. 15.4 a year ago with much of the overall growth coming from Fox 5 though both WSB and CBS were up, too. 11 Alive was flat.)

7 p.m.-7:30 p.m.: Local viewers love "ABC World News Tonight." It draws a whopping 10.9 rating, obliterating 11 Alive's 'Wheel of Fortune" (4.5), Fox 5's "Dish Nation" (2.5) and CBS's 'Inside Edition" (1.5) (Total share: 19.4 vs. 14.5. "Wheel of Fortune" moved from WATL, where it had a 3.4, replacing Brenda Wood's news program, which drew a 1.7 a year ago. Fox 5 did better wish "Dish" than "Access" in the 7 p.m. slot. Both "Inside" on CBS and WSB's "World News" saw increases as well.)

7:30 p.m.-8 p.m.: WSB's "Entertainment Tonight" dominated with a 7.4 over 11 Alive's "Jeopardy" at 5.3 and Fox 5's "TMZ" at 2.8. CBS's 'Insider" lagged behind at a 1.1, losing to WATL's "Andy Griffith" repeat at 1.6, Peachtree TV's 1.6 for "Big Bang Theory" and CW's "Family Feud" with 2.5. (Total for the big four: 16.6 vs. 15.3 a year ago. WSB is way up, while the other three were basically flat.)

PRIMETIME average: WSB averaged a 5.6, CBS came in second with a 4.3, Fox was third with a 3.5 and 11 Alive was fourth with a 3.4. (Total: 16.8 vs. 16.6 a year ago. WSB edged up from a 5.4, CBS was flat, Fox was down from a 4.0 and 11 Alive moved up from a 3.2)

10 p.m. news: Fox 5 drew a 5.8 vs. a 0.7 for WATL's news - which is really 11 Alive. A year ago, Fox had a 5.3 and WATL the same 0.7.

11 p.m.-11:30 p.m.: Channel 2 Nightbeat drew a leading 5.8, followed by Fox 5's News Edge at 3.9, 11 Alive's 2.1 and CBS46's 1.9. (Total share: 13.7 vs. 15.5 a year ago. This was a rare time slot where year-over-year ratings fell overall. WSB dropped from a 7.3, Fox fell from a 4.1, 11 Alive down from a 2.2 and CBS46 up from a 1.8).

11:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m.: WSB's Jimmy Kimmel drew a 3.4, ahead of Fox 5's combo of "Access" and TMZ" at 2.4, Fallon on 11 Alive at 1.6 and Letterman on CBS at just 0.9. (Total share: 8.3 vs .9 share a year ago. All there talk shows dropped while Fox 5 edged up slightly.

12:30 a.m-1 a.m.: WSB's "Nightline" brought in a 2.6, ahead of "Dish Nation" on Fox with 1.8, Seth Meyers on 11 Alive at 0.9 and James Corden on CBS at 0.5. (Total share: 5.8 vs. 5.4 with "Nightline" flat, "Dish Nation" doing better than "TMZ Sports" a year ago, Myers flat, and Corden up slightly over Ferguson.)