Hearst-Argyle Television Stations, Websites, Set Records for Olympics Viewing

Hearst-Argyle Television Stations, Websites, Set Records for Olympics Viewing

Baltimore NBC Affiliate is #1 in Nation for Closing-Ceremony Ratings

NEW YORK, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. stations and their websites set new audience records with the Beijing Olympics, with viewing on-air and online of the games as well as locally produced content exceeding the levels of Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004.

Hearst-Argyle's 10 NBC-affiliated stations constitute the NBC Network's second-largest affiliate group in audience reach and delivery.

Mirroring hometown favorite Michael Phelps, Hearst-Argyle's WBAL-TV, Baltimore, was a star performer. According to just-released Nielsen data for the 56 Nielsen-metered TV markets, the station ranked #1 among NBC owned and affiliated stations in ratings for last night's closing ceremony. WBAL-TV's 22.3 rating / 33 share scored a 37% rating out-performance vs. the average for metered-market NBC stations of 16.3 / 25. Also:

-- In primetime ratings and share WBAL-TV averaged a 21 rating / 35 share from the August 8 opening ceremony through the events of Saturday, August 23, surpassing the 17.8 / 31 metered-market weighted average of NBC owned and affiliated stations. Following WBAL-TV among Hearst-Argyle stations was KCRA-TV, Sacramento, with a 20 / 37;

-- It ranked #1 among all metered-market stations on Saturday, August 9, with a 22.3 / 38 in primetime, and ranked #7 for the 16-day average of primetime ratings for Friday, August 8 through Saturday, August 23. KCRA ranked #3 for the August 8 opening and #12 for the 16-day average;

-- It achieved a 16-day average 10 rating / 19 share for its local "Olympic Zone" primetime "access" newsmagazine program; KCRA scored a 10.3 / 19. These ratings roughly double the ratings these stations achieved in the timeslot at this point last year. The Olympic Zone format was originally developed for the 2006 Olympics by Hearst-Argyle and NBC for use by all NBC affiliates;

-- Its late newscasts achieved an average 11 rating / 26 share for the August 8 - August 23 16-day period compared to an 8.6 / 23 weighted average for all metered-market NBC stations. A team of reporters, producers and photographers from Hearst-Argyle stations around the country provided all the Hearst-Argyle stations with more than 1,000 reports produced on-site from Beijing.

The Hearst-Argyle stations outdistanced their performances of prior Olympics.

-- WBAL-TV's rating for the Beijing opening ceremony surpassed that of the opening ceremonies in Athens and Sydney by 38% and 23%, respectively. WXII's Beijing opening-ceremony ratings surpassed Athens and Sydney by 22% and 42%, respectively; WDSU-TV, New Orleans, surpassed its Athens and Sydney opening-ceremony ratings by 34% and 30%, respectively.

-- In average primetime ratings for Beijing, from Saturday, August 9 through Saturday, August 23, WBAL-TV achieved a 21 rating. This surpasses its overall Athens rating by 33%, its Sydney rating by 49% and its Atlanta rating by 6% -- a significant achievement vs. a domestic Olympics. In average primetime ratings for Saturday, August 9 through Wednesday, August 20, WXII-TV, Greensboro/Winston-Salem, surpassed its overall Athens rating by 24% and its Sydney rating by 65%.

-- For late night Olympics ratings, Hearst-Argyle station average Beijing ratings for the period August 9 - August 20 outperformed total Sydney Olympics average late night ratings as follows: WBAL-TV, 60%; WLWT-TV, Cincinnati, 44%; WXII-TV, 62%; WDSU, 26%; and WESH-TV, Orlando, 71%.

-- For weekend daytime ratings, for the August 9 - August 20 period, Hearst-Argyle station Beijing ratings surpassed Sydney as follows: WBAL-TV, 42%; WESH-TV, 45%; WDSU-TV, 79%; WXII-TV, 104%.

-- For weekday daytime ratings, for the August 9 - August 20 period, Hearst-Argyle station Beijing ratings surpassed Sydney as follows: WLWT-TV, 50%; WBAL-TV, 68%; WXII-TV, 152%.

Total page views (PVs) for the entire games on NBCOlympics.com by local users in Hearst-Argyle markets were nearly 37 million, led by KCRA.com at more than 7 million PVs and WBALTV.com at more than 6 million, according to Omniture data.

Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. owns 26 television stations, and manages an additional three television and two radio stations owned by Hearst Corporation, in geographically diverse U.S. markets. The Company's television stations reach approximately 18% of U.S. TV households, making it one of America's largest television station groups. Hearst-Argyle owns 12 ABC-affiliated stations, and manages an additional ABC station owned by Hearst Corporation, and is the largest ABC affiliate group. The Company also owns 10 NBC affiliates, and is the second-largest NBC affiliate owner, and owns two CBS affiliates. Also, Hearst-Argyle owns more than 30 Websites and currently multicasts 18 digital weather channels. Hearst-Argyle Series A Common Stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HTV." The company's Web address is www.hearstargyle.com.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: tom@campocomm.com

Source: Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.

CONTACT: Thomas W. Campo, +1-212-590-2464, tom@campocomm.com, of Campo
Communications, LLC for Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.

Web site: http://www.hearstargyle.com/
http://nbcolympics.com/
http://kcra.com/
http://wbaltv.com/

---

Profile: International Entertainment