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Fox affiliate WTVT-Ch. 13 claimed the most viewers ages 25 to 54 in the Tampa Bay area during November, according to figures from Nielsen Media Research.
That is one of the key groups of viewers valued by advertisers, whose rates are set based on viewership during "sweeps" months, including November.
WFLA-Ch. 8 came in second, and WSTP-Ch. 10 took third place.
Among viewers 25 to 54, WTVT ranked No. 1 from sign-on to sign-off with a 3.1 rating, followed closely by WFLA's 3.0 and WTSP's 2.3. Last year, WFLA edged WTVT in that category.
"We're encouraged to see the growth at Fox 13 and the consistency of our news audience, given the daily competition we're facing," said Brian Fields, WTVT's director of programming and marketing.
Two weeks ago, when Nielsen released household viewership numbers, the fight for No. 1 was between WFLA and WTSP. But when Nielsen released figures for viewers by gender and age, the story changed.
In addition, WTVT emerged as the leader among newscasts aired between 5 and 6 p.m., ahead of WFLA and WFTS-Ch. 28. WTSP airs Dr. Phil at that time, earning the highest viewership and pulling viewers from former time-period leader WFLA.
From 6 to 6:30, WTVT's news posted a 3.7 rating, followed by WFLA (3.6), WTSP (2.5) and WFTS (1.5). But the most viewers in that time slot are tuned to The Simpsons on WTOG-Ch. 44 (3.8).
Eric Land, general manager of NBC affiliate WFLA, said that given the popularity of Dr. Phil and CBS's prime-time offerings on WTSP, his channel was pleased with its news ratings.
The flip side is that WFLA lost ground in its 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts from a year ago. Its ratings fell from 3.6 to 2.8 and 5.2 to 3.6, respectively.
Though WTSP ranked third, director of marketing and promotion Pete Nikiel said there were reasons to be encouraged. "Dr. Phil is at an all-time high. It's shown steady increases over July and May, and I don't think it's peaked yet," he said.
WTSP's audience grew from a 1.8 rating last year.
In newscasts starting at 11 p.m., WFLA was first with a 4.9 rating among adults 25 to 54, followed by WTSP (3.4) and WFTS (2.8). WTVT has a 10 p.m. newscast and had a 5.0 rating in its time slot.