In its 14th season, syndicated newsmagazine Inside Edition
is enjoying a banner year.
King World Productions' daily series is up in national ratings, it's beating many top daytime talk shows, and it continues to break more than its share of top stories.
This season, according to Nielsen Media Research, Inside Edition
is averaging a 3.1 household rating, the show's best numbers since 1998-99. It's also up in adults 18-49 (1.3) and adults 25-54 (1.6). Inside Edition
is consistently in the top 20 weekly rankings of syndicated shows, and its national household ratings top those of rivals Extra
and Access Hollywood.
Executive Producer Charles Lachman has no doubt that Sept. 11 has played a big role in the ratings resurgence, although he also credits award-winning investigative units and the show's push to air more hard-news stories. For the first six weeks after Sept. 11, he says, Inside Edition
was almost entirely dedicated to the terrorist attacks and related stories. "I think people see magazine shows as offering real information; we are the investment for their viewing time," says Lachman, who has worked as a producer on the show since it launched in fall 1988. "Certainly, a big part of that has been Sept. 11. I think there has just been a general recognition that some of the things viewers have been watching now seem trivial and silly."
According to Lachman, Inside Edition
considers prime time network newsmagazines like Dateline NBC
and CBS's 60 Minutes
as its main competition on the content side. New York-based Inside Edition
is now the only five-day-a-week newsmagazine in syndication tackling the major news stories. Entertainment Tonight, Access Hollywood
and even Extra
generally cover Hollywood and the entertainment industry.
For its 15th season, Inside Edition
is getting a facelift, Lachman says, including a new set and new on-air graphics. Deborah Norville, who took over for Bill O'Reilly as host in 1995, is expected back.
