Switching Channels KDNL, KPLR increase revenues due to change in measuring viewership

Advertisers are starting to view St. Louis' two independent television stations in a different light.

KDNL-TV, Channel 30, and KPLR-TV, Channel 11, are benefiting by about $7 million from a growth in advertising revenues, one that comes largely because a new rating system shows they have more viewers than was previously thought.

That growth came at the expense of St. Louis network affiliates - KSDK-TV, Channel 5 (NBC); KMOV-TV, Channel 4 (CBS) and KTVI, Channel 2 (ABC). Those stations have shown relatively flat revenues during the last year.

"The market is not growing as fast as this station," said Barry Baker, general manager KDNL, "You're seeing the pie being redivided."

Media buyers said in large part the growth of the independents here has been tied to a switch in rating systems, from Arbitron "diaries" to the more accurate Nielsen television meters. Programming changes at both independent stations - Cardinal Baseball on KPLR and the addition of the Fox Network on KDNL - also have helped those stations, media buyers said.

In the St. Louis television market, one valued at $153 million in 1989 by Duncan's Radio Guide and other broadcasters, even a 1 percent change in the market translates into a potential $1.5 million shift in television advertising revenue. Duncan's is an Indianapolis-based broadcast research firm.

Electronic Media, a trade publication that tracks broadcasting, reported Jan. 8 that the meters have redistributed five sign-on-to-sign-off share points in St. Louis, moving them from Multimedia's KSDK and Viacom's KMOV to independents KPLR and KDNL. What the data means is that 5 percent of the television viewing audience...