CBC Lockout Boosts CTV & Global Ratings National news divisions lure viewers August 28th 2005 10:35pm | Posted by: Robert Falconer HNR Senior Editor After two weeks, the lockout of roughly 5,500 CBC workers represented by the Canadian Media Guild is benefitting the network's competition, namely CTV and Global, who have taken new initiatives to lure viewers to their national news products, efforts that appear to be paying off. The lockout was brought about by one significant issue: the proportion of permanent workers at CBC. Nevertheless, there are deeper concerns about how the public broadcaster should compete within an evolving media industry, one that increasingly favors filling jobs on a fixed-term contract basis rather than with permanent staff. As the CBC and its employees wrangle over this issue, The National, Global Television and CTV have taken out ads for their national newscasts in several metro dailies, targeting displaced CBC viewers. Global is also creating increased awareness of Global National with Kevin Newman by increasing the number of newsbreaks during primetime. Meanwhile, CTV is heavily courting Ontario and Quebec viewers via the print media, reminding people they can catch the Atlantic feed of CTV News with Lloyd Robertson at 10 p.m. on CTV Newsnet. As a result, the 10 p.m. Newsnet broadcast is up in the ratings about 84% over its summer average to date, and 133% over its broadcast year average with adults 18 to 49, says CTV, citing Nielsen numbers. CTV's national newscast, in its regular 11 p.m. slot on the network proper, increased 4% to 773,000 viewers per night in the overnight Nielsen ratings for the first week of the lockout, Aug. 15-19, up from an average of around 741,000 in the four weeks prior. Read the entire story here. Source: HNR / PLAYBACK Magazine In: National News |Visit the HNR Forums

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