Focus group results: October 19th, 2006.(the long view)(CBS Evening News with Katie Couric)(Critical essay)

"CBS Evening News with Katie Couric"

What follows is a summary of the results of our extensive focus-group testing on Katie Couric's first month as host of the "CBS Evening News." As you can see from the raw data (appended), her initial positives were quite solid, but there was some negative feedback on some coverage, a few of her segments (especially the "Katie Kooks With ..." newsmaker-cooking segment), and the overall tone of the show.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS:

The overall impression of the show was extremely favorable with viewers in the desirable 60-95 age bracket. Female viewers especially liked the way she "used some makeup on her face," and some of them mentioned that the show "was loud enough finally" to really hear and enjoy. In addition, a whopping 88 percent of this demographic really responded to the larger font size on the on-screen graphics, and the bold use of color. "So much chatter and goings-on in the dayroom," one of them commented, "it's nice to be able to finally see something."

Males in the highly coveted 85-92 age range especially liked her wardrobe. "Just the right mix of sugar and spice," one commented.

Younger viewers--those in the 60-65 age range--were delighted by the cheerful tone of the broadcast, which suggests that the network strategy of lightening the tone to appeal to younger, more dynamic viewers has succeeded.

Females and males in the difficult 90-95 age range reported falling asleep during the first half of the broadcast, which is a net benefit as it is likely that their sets will remain tuned to CBS for the duration of the evening's programming, resulting in an overall lift of CBS primetime household numbers.