With the preliminary numbers in, WISN-TV Ch. 12 has proven to be the most watched station in Milwaukee. The ABC affiliate edged out WITI-TV Fox 6 in the November sweeps with a sign-on to sign off rating of 3.73. WITI had a 3.72.

Each ratings point from Nielsen is representative of about 9,100 viewers in the 13-county market of southeastern Wisconsin.

Now, media writers who have been at this much longer than I, like to give the ratings crown to the most watched weekday 10 p.m. newscast. It makes sense, traditionally it is the late evening newscast that has the largest audience.

In that race, WISN is the clear winner, achieving a 7.7 rating. The next closest with WTMJ-TV Ch. 4 with a 6.0, while WITI had a 5.2 and WDJT-TV CBS 58 had a 5.1.

"We are honored to serve and inform southeastern Wisconsin viewers," said Jan Wade, president and general manager of WISN. 

"To earn their trust and loyalty is very humbling. It is also a testament to the dedication of our entire staff whose sole mission is to deliver important local coverage each and every day. That’s a responsibility we take very seriously."

The final numbers will be coming out early next week for the entire month-long sweep. Later, another set of numbers will be reported that will account for the viewers like me, who DVR newscasts and watch them outside of the normal broadcast timeslot.

Finally, the breakdowns of age and gender demographics will be available, which are the numbers area advertising agencies use to determine ad buys for their clients. That’s why the November sweeps are so important, they determine the rates TV stations will charge advertisers through to the May sweeps next spring.

WTMJ has the largest audience at 5 p.m. weekdays with a 6.4. WISN was second with a 6.2, followed by WITI (4.4) and WDJT (2.9).

At 6 p.m., WDJT’s run of "Jeopardy" is the most watched at a 7.2 rating. As far as newscasts go, WISN led with a 5.7, WTMJ 5.3 and WITI at 5.1.

In weekday mornings, WITI leads the local 4:30 to 7 a.m. block with an average of 3.8. That mark beat WISN with a 3.7.

Here’s the morning news breakdown:

4:30 a.m.: WISN 2.8, WITI 1.9, WTMJ 0.9, WDJT 0.4

5 a.m.: WITI 3.6, WISN 3.2, WTMJ 1.8, WDJT 0.8

6 a.m.: WITI 4.9, WISN 4.6, WTMJ 3.2, WDJT 1.2

In the Milwaukee market, the primetime race with to WISN and ABC with an average rating of 7.7. WDJT and CBS was second with a 6.9, WTMJ and NBC had a 5.0 and WITI and Fox had a 3.5. Keep in mind that Fox doesn’t have as much programming in primetime with WITI’s evening newscast at 9 p.m.

ABC scored five of the Top 10 series with "Dancing With The Stars," "Castle," "The Middle," "Modern Family" and "Grey’s Anatomy." The schedule also benefitted with three highly watched specials with "The CMA Awards" with a 12.8, "The American Music Awards" 11.5 and "David Blaine: Real Or Magic" 8.0.

The weekends are harder to measure between the completion, because each station runs local newscasts at different times. In the evening the newscasts are often delayed by sports programming, like "Sunday Night Football" on WTMJ.

Here’s a glance at the weekend newscast ratings:

Saturday

5 – 6 a.m.: WISN 2.8       

6 – 7 a.m.: WISN 4.2, WTMJ 1.5

7 – 8 a.m.: WISN 4.5, WTMJ 2.9, WITI 2.8

8 – 9 a.m.: WISN 4.2, WITI 3.4, WTMJ 2.3

5 p.m.: WTMJ 4.7

6 p.m.: WTMJ 6.3, WISN 3.8

10 p.m.: WTMJ 8.1, WDJT 6.7, WITI 4.2, WISN (delayed start) 2.6.

Sunday

5 – 6 a.m.: WISN 3.2

6 – 7 a.m.: WISN 4.0, WTMJ 2.7

7 – 8 a.m.: WISN 3.9, WITI 2.9, WTMJ 2.8

8 – 9 a.m.: WITI 3.6, WISN 3.0, WTMJ 2.7

5 p.m.: WITI 6.0, WTMJ 4.5

5:30 p.m.: WITI 4.6, WISN 3.3, WDJT 2.2

10 p.m.: WISN 7.4, WITI 6.9, WDJT 5.3, WTMJ (delayed start) 4.2

10:30 p.m.: WISN 4.9