May Sweeps

Tomorrow kicks off our May 'Sweeps' period. In television news, 'sweeps' is the time of the year when the competition is fiercer than usual, every second of every newscast is precisely mapped out, and each television station pulls out all the stops. There is extra-special programming, often-times more investigative reports or longer, in-depth reports.

I have to admit, here at Channel 3 News, we treat every day of the year as if it were 'sweeps.' We work just as hard during non-sweep months as we do in the thick of a ratings book. We effort original, thought-provoking stories to teach, inform, and entertain our customers every day of the year. Some days we succeed, and I guess, some days we may not.

However, May 'sweeps' officially kicks off tomorrow and runs through May 21st. There are four major 'sweeps' months: February, May, July, and November (some say October is a minor 'sweeps' month as well).

During these months, networks and local affiliates hope to boost television ratings and attract new viewers, especially in a specified demographic, in order to regulate the fees set for advertisers.

There is a lot more to the whole 'sweeps' phenomenon than I can do justice. It's a very precise process. It involves stats, strategy, and some guesswork as to what your viewers like seeing the most. It reminds me of the game of baseball, where there seems to be a stat for just about everything. You have the ratings for each local show that airs during the course of a day. Then you have the Monday thru Friday ratings, the weekend ratings and the ratings Monday thru Sunday. Then each show is broken down minute by minute so you can get a gauge as to what kind of stories the audience likes. If there is a spike (either down or up) at a certain time of a show, you see what aired during that time to get an idea of what your audience really enjoys.

I've babbled on long enough on the semantics of 'sweeps.'

We here at Channel 3 News have been working for months to bring our viewers the most interesting and informative stories during May. Please click on the attached links to get a sneak peek into what we have in store. Monica Robins shares her in-depth story on her interview with a courageous woman coming back after having acid thrown at her by her attacker.

All of our reporters will help you save money in our "30 Days, 30 Ways to Save"Series.

Sit back, relax, and get ready for a great 'May Sweeps' from us to you!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=luhZDwUc6tw

www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2KfQou8jr4&feature=user

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vX2ALBNCWxc&feature=related