Couric ekes out No. 1 CBS finish for second week

[stu]

Still searching for her own distinctive sign-off, Katie Couric finished her second week at the top of the network news pecking order, giving CBS its first week-to-week ratings victory in eight years.

 

For the week ended September 15, the CBS Evening News averaged 7.9 million viewers per night, up nearly 16 percent from a year ago but 2.3 million fewer than Couric's first week in the anchor chair, Nielsen Media Research reported on Monday.

 

Couric's margin of victory last week narrowed, too. CBS edged the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams by a mere 70,000 viewers last week and ABC World News Tonight with Charles Gibson by 370,000.

 

The week before, CBS beat NBC and ABC by more than 3 million viewers each.

 

The last time CBS topped NBC and ABC for two weeks straight in the network news derby was in July 1998.

 

CBS also led the way in ratings for advertisers' target news audience -- adults aged 25 to 54 -- and was the only network newscast to post year-to-year gains in that group and in total viewers.

 

CBS News President Sean McManus acknowledged that much of Couric's initial ratings success was due to the tremendous hype surrounding her debut as the first woman named solo anchor of a major U.S. network newscast.

 

"I'm discounting the first week entirely," he told Reuters last week. "It was thrilling, but it was an aberration."

 

McManus said he was very pleased with Couric's performance so far.

 

"A 16 percent jump in ratings in television is remarkable," he said, adding that her arrival appears to have at least put CBS in a "horse race" after it trailed well behind NBC and ABC for years. He said he hoped that when the dust settles, probably early next year, CBS would emerge as the No. 2 newscast in a much tighter pack.

 

"The margin of victory between one and three is probably going to be so small that it's not going to have any financial effect. It's really going to be a matter of pride," he said.

 

Couric, who gained celebrity stature during 15 years as co-host of NBC's top-rated morning show, "Today," took over as anchor and managing editor of the CBS newscast on September 5 under a deal that reportedly pays her $15 million a year.

 

As part of an unprecedented marketing blitz, CBS has sought to promote Couric as a more "accessible" broadcast journalist who also possesses the experience and gravitas to carry a network newscast.

 

But on her first night at CBS, Couric confided that she was still groping for her own distinguishing sign-off, the kind of signature phrase that concluded the newscasts of her big-league predecessors, and she invited viewers to send in suggestions.

 

After two weeks, Couric was still bidding her audience good night with variations of "thanks so much for watching."

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060918/tv_nm/...c&printer=1