Friday, February 13, 2009

Saturday Morning Network News Shows Growth

TVNEWSER

While we've been telling you about the growth of the network evening newscasts in 2009, there's also news on the Saturday morning front.

Once home to cartoons, the big three networks each produce one to two hours of morning news on Saturday. Weekend Today has been around the longest, since 1992; CBS has had a Saturday morning show since 1997 (first called CBS Saturday morning, now matching the weekday's The Early Show). NBC and CBS produce two hours in the morning. Good Morning America Saturday, which premiered in 2004, is a one-hour broadcast.

Last Saturday (Feb. 7) the three network news shows were up an average of 7.7% in Total Viewers and up 14% in younger viewers when compared to last year.

The Future of Network TV (The Atlantic)

Michael Hirschorn: As network television takes up a lower-brow position in the cultural pecking order, the higher-quality, more expensive shows will become increasingly independent of the networks that broadcast them. Eventually, networks will stop being brands and start becoming, at least in part, mere "distribution platforms."

See Morning Show Ratings

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