March 9, 2009 A Matrix of News Winners Buoys NBC

By BILL CARTER

NBC’s “Today” show has the longest winning streak in television history: every week for 13 years, and counting. Now the evening newscast competition seems to be swinging NBC’s way as well.

The NBC “Nightly News” with Brian Williams, which until last fall had been in a tight race with the ABC newscast led by Charles Gibson, has finished first for 20 consecutive weeks, with about 9.5 million viewers, roughly a million more than ABC. (“The CBS Evening News With Katie Couric” trails the pack with two million to three million fewer viewers than NBC’s program.)

The bookend winning streaks — morning and evening — augmented by NBC’s continuing success on Sundays with “Meet the Press,” provide the network with a strong claim to leadership in network news — though ABC News argues that the lead in evening newscasts is cyclical.

But NBC’s surge in the evening has been strong enough for the news division president, Steve Capus, to suggest that NBC is positioned to be the first network to expand to a full-hour newscast. (He did not set any timetable for that move.)

Even though overall network audiences have eroded significantly, the evening newscasts have remained relatively stable. In the first eight weeks of 2009, the three programs drew a combined average of about 25.5 million viewers, versus about 26.9 million in 2006.

NBC is also winning one more competition — perhaps the biggest one — just as convincingly: Its news division is making a pile of money, while its competitors are making much less, or none at all. “NBC’s success in news is definitely an advantage,” said Deana Myers, a senior media analyst for SNL Kagan. “It’s their strong point. It balances their weakness in prime time.” Official figures are not disclosed, but a senior NBC executive estimated that NBC News, consisting of the broadcast news division, the all-news cable channel MSNBC and a much-viewed Web site, MSNBC. com, supplied about 13 percent of the overall profit of its parent company, NBC Universal.

In January, NBC Universal announced a yearly profit of $3.1 billion. That would put the NBC News contribution at over $400 million.

CBS and ABC, meanwhile, both say they make money in news, though not anywhere near NBC levels. With coverage costs rising and advertising revenue shrinking, all the news divisions face long-term economic questions, but NBC seems best positioned to ride out the tempest.

Jeff Zucker, the NBC Universal chief executive, identified NBC’s financial plan for news under the broad umbrella of “efficiencies of scale.”

The scales are tipped in NBC’s favor, mainly because of assets neither of its rivals possess: moneymaking, information-based cable channels.

“They have a definite advantage in reach with cable,” Ms. Myers said.

Telemundo, NBC’s Spanish-language channel, generates coverage from Hispanic perspectives — including the immigration debate — which often turn up on “Nightly News.” The Weather Channel provides coverage of meteorological events. CNBC, the company’s business news cable channel, provides financial reporting to “Today” and to Mr. Williams’s newscast.

Then there is MSNBC. Mr. Williams said in an interview that the ability to jump onto that all-news channel with a breaking story or interview “adds huge value to our newscast” because that material can be synthesized for use on the broadcast network.

Since making a commitment two years ago to opinion programming from the left side of the political spectrum, MSNBC’s ratings have surged. The channel just had its best February ever, averaging 471,000 viewers a day, up from 341,000 in February 2007.

MSNBC now pulls in a bigger percentage of the news profits than the network news department, said the senior executive who provided information on NBC’s finances. The margin was not disclosed.

CNBC, the Weather Channel and Telemundo are not counted in the news profits. But with those outlets added, the percentage of contribution to NBC Universal’s profits climbs to 25 percent — or about $775 million.

Mr. Zucker said, “One of the hallmarks of the company is how we integrate our assets.” NBC’s consistent victories in news, Mr. Capus said, “help us as we go out into the marketplace — and in a marketplace that can be a scary place to be these days.”

Television ad sales have been battered; many sponsors have exercised options to pull out of long-term commitments to buy commercials. “It’s becoming a week-to-week enterprise,” Mr. Capus said.

Peggy Green, vice chairwoman of Zenith Media, a media-buying firm, said NBC had reason to feel less daunted than its competitors. “If you are only able to buy one brand, you’re going to buy the one that’s No. 1,” she said. Some of her clients, including Toyota and Ocean Spray, have made special commercial arrangements with NBC News programs like “Today.”

Jon Banner, executive producer of ABC’s “World News,” said ratings “are cyclical” and emphasized that ABC’s newscast has been first on many big stories. “I wouldn’t be breaking out the Champagne if I were them,” he said.

He argued that Mr. Gibson had recently cut into NBC’s margin. Two weeks ago, ABC did climb back to within about 900,000 viewers (8.4 million, to 9.3 million for NBC). But the week before, the margin was 1.5 million, and in the last 14 weeks the deficit has averaged more than a million viewers.

Mr. Banner acknowledged that NBC’s cable properties “have been very helpful to them.”

Other ABC executives gave another reason for Mr. Williams’s rise: his hosting of “Saturday Night Live.” Mr. Williams had a reputation for stiffness and formality that belied his nature. The “SNL” role, as well as spots on other late-night shows, seemed to open him to wider acceptance.

Mr. Williams said he relished the late-night visits. “I get it out of my system,” he said. “I get along with these guys. It’s sword-fighting time.”