• by December 1, 2000

By Anya Khait

It won't take a recount to see that WABC-TV is notching the greatest year to year share growth of any New York DMA station, according to Nielsen's November'00 sweep data.

Leading the way on ABC/7 is “Eyewitness News,” posting share increases at 5am, 6am, 12pm, 5pm and 6pm. “Eyewitness News This Morning” at 5am with Robb Hanrahan and Lori Stokes gained three share points to deliver a 1.9 rating/13 share, a 30% share increase over Nov'99. At 6am, “Eyewitness News This Morning” posted a 17% share increase over Nov'99, delivering a 3.3 rating/14 share in Nov'00.

The noon edition of “Eyewitness News” with Nancy Loo and David Ushery was up two share points over last year, delivering a 4.5 rating/16 share. With anchors Roz Abrams and Robb Hanrahan, “Eyewitness News” at 5pm also posted a two share point increase to deliver a 7.1 rating/15 share. At 6pm, “Eyewitness News” with Bill Beutel and Diana Williams scored a 15% share increase over Nov'99 and finishes in first place with an 8.2 rating/15 share. “ABC World News Tonight” with Peter Jennings won the network news race with an 8.7 rating/15 share, up two share points over last year. “Good Morning America” with Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson showed a 20% share increase and now posts a 3.9 rating/12 share. “Live! with Regis” and “Rosie O'Donnell” continued to lead in their respective 9-10am and 10-11am time periods. “Live's” 16 share was up 23% over Nov'99, while “Rosie's” 18 share was up 6% over the same period. “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune” on ABC/7 remain the dominant prime access programs, delivering a 12.4 rating/20 share and a 12.8 rating/20 share, respectively. WABC-TV, Channel 7, is the ABC, Inc. Owned Television Station in New York City. Overall, ABC used a strong Wednesday night finish to leap over NBC for the total viewers crown. “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” drew its largest audience of the season for a regular edition of the series (21.9 million viewers) and special “David Blaine: Frozen in Time” attracted just under 16 million viewers Wednesday night (Nov. 29). The combination catapulted ABC to a slim victory in total viewers for the sweep, beating NBC with an average of 14.0 million viewers vs. 13.98 million, according to Nielsen Media Research. CBS finished with 12.1 million viewers and Fox 9.9 million. NBC won the adults 18-49 race with a 5.7 rating average to ABC's second-place 5.1 for the sweep The WB network, which suffered through distribution and ratings woes last year, scored its best ever sweep ratings in its core adults 18-34 demographic. The WB also posted its all-time high November sweep numbers in adults 18-49 and showed double-digit growth in almost every ratings category compared to last November. The WB averaged a 2.3 rating/6 share in adults 18-34 (up 28% vs. last Nov.), a 1.9/5 in adults 18-49 (up 19%) and 4.5 million viewers (up 8%). The network's signature series “7th Heaven,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Angel” led t