Gray Announces Record-Setting Audience Rankings

ATLANTA, Jan. 18, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Gray Television, Inc. ("Gray," "we," "us" or "our") (NYSE: GTN and GTN.A) announced today that its television stations set new records of ratings excellence during the November 2017 sweeps period conducted by the Nielsen Company.

Gray's more than 100 television stations in 57 markets collectively broadcast over 200 program streams, including 103 Big Four network program streams.  These stations collectively produced and aired approximately 7,200 hours of original local news content in November alone.  Importantly, the stations achieved the following milestones during sweeps period:

All-Day Ratings Leader

• A Gray television station achieved the first or second highest all-day ratings in 57 of the 57 markets in which Gray operates.
• A Gray television station was the top-ranked television station in all-day ratings in 40 Nielsen Designated Market Areas (DMAs).

News Leader Locally

• A Gray television station was the top-ranked station for local news in 40 DMAs.
• A Gray television station was the number two ranked station for local news in 24 DMAs.

News Leader Nationally

• Three Gray television stations broadcast local newscasts that ranked as the first, second, and third highest rated news programs across all local station, national broadcast network, and cable network news programs.
• Gray television stations broadcast five local newscasts and three network newscasts that collectively accounted for eight of the top ten rated news programs across all local, national broadcast, and cable network news programs.
• Seven of the top ten local newscasts nationally were broadcast by Gray television stations.

Total Viewership Share Leadership

• In 31 of our markets, Gray's television channels attracted 45 percent or more of all broadcast viewing, and in our 26 markets, Gray's channels attracted 50 percent or more of all broadcast viewing.
• In other words, in more than two dozen markets, local residents spent more time watching Gray television stations than all other local television stations combined.

News Viewership Share Leadership

• In nine markets, the local Gray station achieved 90 percent or more of all local news viewing.
• In 29 markets, 50 percent or more of local news viewing occurred on the market's Gray station.

"We are immensely proud of the talents, dedication, and excellence of our stations and their strong local news teams," said Gray CEO Hilton Howell.  "To achieve this many historic milestones confirms our long-standing belief that we can create and maintain powerful connections to our viewers through unbiased, and relevant local news combined with extensive community service and leading technology offerings." 

Gray's 57 television markets comprise 56 Nielsen Designated Market Areas and the East & Southeast Kentucky Trade Report, which covers the Hazard, Kentucky Trading Area, in which WYMT-TV is located.  Ratings and rankings data are provided under licenses from the Nielsen Company and SQAD LLC's Wrap Sweeps plus Program Ranker Report. 

About Gray:

Gray owns and/or operates over 100 television stations across 57 television markets that collectively broadcast over 200 program streams including over 100 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, the NBC Network, the ABC Network and the FOX Network.  Our portfolio includes the number-one and/or number-two ranked television station operations in each of our markets, which collectively cover approximately 10.4 percent of total United States television households.  For further information, please visit www.gray.tv.

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SOURCE Gray Television