Spanish-language Newscasts Draw Eyeballs

Two Univision stations pulled in the most-watched local evening newscasts among 18-49s, according to the Spanish-language media operation. Based on June measurements, KMEX-TV in Los Angeles and WXTV-TV in New York were No. 1 and 2 consecutively among Nielsen“s people metered markets.

KMEX ranked No. 1 station across the nation among all adults 18-49 from April through June, Univision said in a press release. In June, the KMEX 6 p.m. newscast delivered 140,000 18-49s, around 73 percent more than its closest competitor in that demo, KABC. In New York, WXTV“s 6 p.m. newscast attracted an average of 116,000 18-49s, pacing around 9 percent higher than WABC-TV“s No. 2 newscast.

Univision has the largest Spanish-language broadcast network in the nation in addition to at least 19 full-power TV stations. Terry Mackin, president of the television group, noted that the audience scores reflect a larger demographic phenomenon across the country. Collectively, Hispanics vote more, their spending power is climbing faster than that of average white households and they are predominantly bilingual. According to numbers from the Pew Hispanic Center, 63 percent of Hispanic eligible U.S. voters are 18-44, compared to 45 percent for non-Hispanic whites. The group“s $964 billion purchasing power is growing half again as fast as that of whites.

In a separate item pertaining to national news, The New York Times reported that ABC“s “World News” registered its smallest audience in 20 years with 25-to-54s. The evening newscast drew 2.12 million viewers in the demo for the week, according to people meter numbers. Across all demos, it averaged around 6.9 million, it“s smallest audience in nearly three years.