WXTV New York scores with Dominican election coverage

The May 16 presidential election in the Dominican Republic has not yet taken place, but already a winner has emerged: It’s Univision’s New York O&O WXTV, which kicked off a week of special election reporting from the Dominican Republic on its 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. news broadcasts Monday, May 12. WXTV won a key 6 p.m. news ratings race last night and saw marked audience gains in all key news categories using the May 2007 sweep period as a baseline, according to the station.

The special reports, which feature unprecedented access to the candidates as well as a rare interview with former president Hipólito Mejia at has ranch, are spearheaded by WXTV reporters Merijoel Durán, a Dominican native, and Esperanza Cervallos, the only New York TV correspondent permanently based in the Dominican Republic.

With 167,000 viewers aged 18-49 watching Noticias Univision 41 (Univision 41 News) with anchor Rafael Pineda, WXTV was No. 1 in New York’s 6 p.m. news race regardless of language, up 16 percent from second place in the May 2007 survey, according to Nielsen Station Index (NSI) Local People Meter (LPM) average quarter hour (AQH) figures. WABC placed second with 160,000 18-49 viewers, down slightly from 170,000 a year ago.

In the 11 p.m. news race, Noticias finished a strong second with 165,000 18-49 viewers, up 20 percent from May 2007 when it was third.

The story is similar among the 25-54 demo. At 6 p.m. Noticias attracted 168,000 of the key audience group, up 11 percent from May 2007, for a strong second place behind WABC’s 219,000.  At 11 p.m. WXTV’s Noticias jumped from fourth place to third with 189,000 viewers 25-54, up 17 percent. WABC held the lead with 245,000 but lost 15 percent of its May 2007 audience. WCBS placed second with 195,000, while WNBC slipped from second to fourth with 135,000, a drop of 42 percent.

Dominicans are a formidable force among New York area TV viewers. There are 756,000 in the New York tri-state area. In New York City alone, 57,000 of them are expected to vote in the presidential election on Friday, May 16. The Dominican Republic permits expatriate voting.