Message-ID: <20261869.1075851680044.JavaMail.evans@thyme>
Date: Mon, 8 Jan 2001 03:18:00 -0800 (PST)
From: stephen.bennett@enron.com
To: v.weldon@enron.com
Subject: TWC News
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This is a section from an internal TWC memorandum - it looks like Q4 might 
make up for the quiet tropical season as far as their profits are concerned...

WEATHER CHANNEL EARNS HIGHEST RATINGS FOR ANY DECEMBER IN ITS HISTORY
Coverage of last month's "Winter Blitz"  brought The Weather Channel the
highest ratings for any December in its 18-year history and shattered
weather.com's previous December page view records. December 2000 was the
third highest-rated month ever. The Blizzard of '96 gave TWC its highest
ratings, followed by Hurricane Floyd in September 1999.
 Among the many recording-breaking weather events reported by TWC last month
were the snowiest weather ever in at least 12 cities and the coldest weather
on record in many places, including Louisville, Ky.
December's winter weather events, coupled with early wintry weather in
October and November, boosted the network to an all-time high 4th quarter
rating, despite comparatively lower averages early in the quarter due to
quieter than usual hurricane activity.
TWC's coverage of the year-end Nor'easter that blanketed New York City with
over a foot of snow achieved a 0.870 rating, delivering 679,000 households
across the country on Saturday, December 30 (6 a.m.-6 a.m.).  The top
quarter hour occurred at 10 a.m. with a rating of 2.279 reaching 1.8 million
households.  The weekend rating for Dec. 30-31 was 0.753,  representing over
a half million households tuned in at any given time, according to Nielsen
data.  This was the second highest-rated weekend in 2000 and the sixth
highest-rated weekend in TWC's history.
Consumers also turned to weather.com in record numbers. By the close of
December, weather.com delivered more than 429 million total page views,
which is 67 percent higher than the previous monthly record, and 232 percent
higher than December 1999.  At its peak, weather.com delivered a record 27.8
million page views in a single day.  More than 1.3 million Unique Visitors
frequented weather.com  per day during the two weeks prior to Christmas,
according to Media Metrix.
The average TWC rating (6 a.m.-6 a.m.) from Dec.16-31 was 0.598, delivering
an average of 464,000 households, according to Nielsen. This was 85 percent
higher than the average rating for the same two-week period the year before.
The Weather Channel's coverage of sustained winter activity, which included
a Chicago blizzard on Dec. 10-11, brought the network its highest-rated
December ever.  TWC achieved a December rating of 0.462 (6 a.m.-6 a.m.),
delivering an average of 360,000 households.


Steve