Programming Buzz from Zenith

Sunday 01/29/12 - NBC's NFL Pro Bowl Dominates

2012-01-31T11:16:00.001-05:00

Filling the week off between the Playoffs and Super Bowl, NBC's NFL coverage of the 2012 Pro Bowl (4.06 A18-49 Live Rating), featuring All-Stars from the AFC versus NFC, easily garnered the largest A18-49 audience Sunday night. Growing 16% from its Pre-Game show, this year's edition of the Pro Bowl could not surpass FOX's coverage a year ago, as NBC's coverage declined 10% with A18-49 viewers.

Landing in a distant second place, CBS rolled out all new episodes of its Sunday night lineup, including 60 Minutes (1.25), Undercover Boss (2.60), The Good Wife (1.75) and CSI: Miami (1.98). After beginning the evening with a 9% viewing loss from last week's episode of 60 Minutes, the network experienced growth of 31% and 13%, respectively, among its next two programs, before CSI: Miami closed the evening with a drop of 14% from three weeks ago.

Fueled by the latest airings of America's Funniest Home Videos (1.71) and Once Upon a Time (2.45), which grew 61% and 14%, respectively, among A18-49 from a week ago, ABC landed third with the demo Sunday night. Following its original telecasts to start the evening, the network featured a special two-hour movie airing of A Smile As Big As The Moon (1.44) at 9pm, which dropped 26% from last year.

Finishing behind its broadcast counterparts, FOX kicked off the evening with a repeat of Bob's Burgers (0.71) at 7pm, followed by original airings of The Cleveland Show (1.13), The Simpsons (1.93), Napoleon Dynamite (1.89), Family Guy (2.42) and American Dad (2.06). Lacking the stronger lead-in of the NFC Championship game from two weeks ago, the network experienced significant declines beginning during the 8pm hour, with only American Dad holding relatively steady from 01/15/12.

Across cable Sunday night, E! landed the largest A18-49 cable audience, fueled primarily by the one-hour season 2 finale of Kourtney & Kim Take New York (2.01), which reported more than double the viewership from the program's first season closer on 04/03/11. Additionally, the increase in A18-49 viewers for the reality program helped the network's second season finale of After Lately (0.89) at 11pm, which also grew by triple-digit percentages from its previous closer on 04/24/11.

Turner cable networks TBS (0.72) and TNT (0.68) simulcasted The 18th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Sunday night. While TBS reported 7% growth among A18-49, TNT dropped by 17%, leaving both networks trailing USA, Bravo and History among A18-49 cable viewers, with TNT also landing behind FX and ESPN on the evening.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 1/27/12 - Univision Wins, NBC's Chuck Comes to an End

2012-01-30T17:28:00.001-05:00

Improving 10% overall from a week ago, a fresh lineup of Univision's Friday night programming, including Familia Con Suerte (1.50 A18-49 Live rating), Que No Podia Amar (1.76) and Rosa De Guadalupe (1.27) averaged the largest A18-49 audience Friday night.

Trailing Univision, ABC's second week of Shark Tank (1.25), Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.52) and 20/20 (1.36), combined for second place among A18-49 viewers, with only the network's 9PM program holding steady from last week, while the other two programs declined by double-digit percentages.

Despite featuring a full lineup of repeats, CBS' A Gifted Man (0.94), CSI: NY (1.10) and Blue Bloods (1.22) landed ahead of the remaining broadcast networks and ESPN last night, as the cable network's NBA game between the New York Knicks and Miami Heat helped pull in the night's largest A18-49 cable audience.

NBC's Friday night schedule kicked off with the final two episodes of Chuck at 8PM (0.92) and 9PM (1.06), with the former airing improving 8% from a week ago and the latter declining 9% from its fourth season finale. The network's 10PM airing of Dateline NBC (1.03) dropped 19% among A18-49 from last week.

Declining 6% among A18-49 from a week ago, FOX's 8PM airing of Kitchen Nightmares (1.18) led into the network's 9PM episode of Fringe (0.80), which garnered relatively similar results to last week, though only landed FOX ahead of The CW's repeats of Nikita (0.33) and Supernatural (0.40) among A18-49 broadcast viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 01/26/12 - American Idol Helps FOX Win Again

2012-01-27T17:15:00.000-05:00

Featuring new episodes of its Thursday night fare, FOX averaged the largest A18-49 television audience for the fifth night in a row. Though American Idol (4.17 A18-49 Live Rating) declined 6% from a week ago, the reality program helped grow viewership for the network's 9pm episode of The Finder (2.44) by 27%.

With a mix of original and repeat programming last night, CBS landed second among A18-49, helped by its 8pm comedy hour of The Big Bang Theory (3.82) and Rob (3.11), both of which increased 4% from last week. CBS completed the evening with repeats Person of Interest (1.95) and The Mentalist (1.75).

Improving 5% from a week ago, Univision's lineup of Una Familia Con Suerte (1.69), La Que No Podia Amar (1.96) and Dale Con Ganas (0.85) placed ahead of the remaining broadcast networks last night, in addition to MTV, which reported the largest A18-49 cable audience as a result of the latest episode of Jersey Shore (2.96).

ABC continued to run repeats this week, though its lineup of Wipeout (1.41), Grey's Anatomy (1.27) and Private Practice (0.81) still placed ahead of an all-original schedule on NBC. While the network's Thursday night comedy block of 30 Rock (1.07), Parks & Recreation (1.23), a special 9pm 30 Rock (1.53) and Up All Night (1.27) all reported viewership declines among A18-49, the latest episode of The Firm (0.89) at 10pm increased 17% from last week.

Over on The CW, the network took a break from its regularly scheduled programming, choosing instead to air The Covenant (0.50) movie. Continuing to trail significantly behind its broadcast competition, A18-49 viewership to the network's movie also declined 17% from last week's Thursday night dramas.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 01/25/12 - American Idol Helps Touch to Solid Premiere on FOX

2012-01-26T17:12:00.002-05:00

As the only network to roll out a full schedule of original programming Wednesday night, FOX averaged the largest A18-49 audience for the fourth consecutive evening. Though it declined 16% from its season premiere last week, American Idol (5.04 A18-49 Live Rating) was still the highest rated program of the night among A18-49 viewers, providing a solid lead-in to the series debut of Touch (3.30) at 9pm, which reported a 25% improvement over the network's 2-hour series opener of Alcatraz on 01/16/12.

Landing in a distant second place, CBS featured a mix of repeat and original programming. While opening the 8pm hour with a repeat of Criminal Minds (1.67), the network followed with originals of Criminal Minds (3.09) and CSI (2.90), reporting increases of 16% and 18%, respectively, among A18-49 from last week's episodes.

Following its Wednesday night broadcast of Que No Podia Amar (1.59) at 8pm, Univision featured Mexico versus Venezuela in an International Friendly (1.70) soccer match for the remainder of the evening. This combination of programming placed the Hispanic broadcast network ahead of ABC's Wednesday night repeat lineup of The Middle (1.40), Suburgatory (1.36), Modern Family (2.29), Happy Endings (1.51) and Revenge (0.85).

Similar to CBS, NBC also scheduled a mix or repeat and original programs last night, though chose the 8pm hour to run their new episodes. However, reporting declines of 3% and 18% from a week ago, original airings of Whitney (1.34) and Are You There Chelsea? (1.30), respectively, provided a soft start to the network's back-to-back repeats of Law & Order: SVU at 9pm (1.06) and 10pm (1.29).

On cable, repeats of Storage Wars and a new episode of Dog the Bounty Hunter helped A&E draw the largest A18-49 cable audience last night, while original airings of Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy and American Restoration landed History second among A18-49 cable viewers.

Continuing to trail its broadcast competition significantly, The CW kicked off the evening with the latest episode of One Tree Hill (0.49), which declined 4% among A18-49 from a week ago. Trying to generate additional viewership for its newest reality show, the network used the 9pm hour for an encore of Remodeled (0.21), which lost nearly 60% of its lead-in audience.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 01/24/12 - State of Union Shuffles Lineups, American Idol Encore Wins for FOX

2012-01-25T16:58:00.003-05:00

With the annual State of the Union Address broadcast Live last night at 9pm, ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX altered their lineups for the President. However, due to a lack of commercial activity in the Address, Nielsen does not provide ratings for the Speech, so last night's data excludes the program on the four broadcast networks.

Against minimal competition, FOX's encore of Sunday's American Idol (3.05 A18-49 Live Rating) auditions was the highest rated program of the evening, landing the network first with A18-49 viewers.

Univision's lineup of Familia Con Suerte (1.49) and Que No Podia Amar (1.80) edged out CBS' lineup of a repeat of NCIS (1.97) at 8pm and a repeat of The Big Bang Theory (1.28) at 10:30pm.

Though NBC's 8pm original airing of The Biggest Loser (1.69) declined 8% from a week ago, the reality program still outdrew ABC's combination of back-to-back repeats of Last Man Standing at 8pm (1.41) and 8:30pm (1.42), and 10:30pm repeat of Modern Family (0.85).

Over on cable, TBS' acquired series, The Big Bang Theory, drew the largest A18-49 cable audience for the evening, followed by A&E's Storage Wars and Shipping Wars, which landed the network second among A18-49 cable viewers.

Though it was the only network to not air the President's Address, The CW still trailed its broadcast competition significantly, however new episodes of 90210 (0.47) and Remodeled (0.39) improved their A18-49 viewership by 15% and 70%, respectively, from last week's airings.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Monday 01/23/12 - FOX's New Monday Night Lineup Wins

2012-01-24T17:03:00.003-05:00

Kicking off the week with a new Monday night lineup, FOX's combination of House (2.11 A18-49 Live Rating) and Alcatraz (2.42) provided the network with the largest A18-49 television audience last night. Shifting to 8pm, House reported an 11% increase in A18-49 viewing from its 9pm Fall finale on 11/28/11. Though Alcatraz lost 9% of its audience from last week's series premiere, it grew 15% from its lead-in while also providing the network a 13% bump with A18-49 from last year's episode of Lie to Me.

Filling last night's schedule with repeats of its Monday night fare, CBS still grabbed second place among A18-49 viewers. Encores of How I Met Your Mother (2.17), 2 Broke Girls (2.40), Two and a Half Men (2.79), Mike & Molly (2.26) and Hawaii Five-O (1.58) combined for greater A18-49 viewership than ABC's latest episodes of The Bachelor (1.86) and Castle (1.72), with the former increasing 3% and latter declining 9% from a week ago.

Univision's lineup of Familia Con Suerte (1.75), Que No Podia Amar (2.05) and Don Francisco Presenta (1.19) landed fourth overall with A18-49 viewers, averaging a 16% larger audience than History's Pawn Stars and American Pickers, which made it the highest rated cable network among A18-49 last night.

Though its latest episodes of Who's Still Standing (1.63) and two-hour Rock Center with Brian Williams (1.46) improved 7% and 23%, respectively among A18-49, NBC continued to trail most of the other broadcast networks on Monday, only drawing better viewership than The CW's Gossip Girl (0.38) and Hart of Dixie (0.42), both of which declined by double-digit percentages from their previous airings.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 1/22/12 – FOX’s NFC Conference Championship Dominates Viewership

2012-01-24T11:05:00.003-05:00

With its NFC Conference Championship Game (20.44) between the New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers covering the majority of Primetime, FOX easily drew the largest A18-49 audience Sunday night, with the NFL playoff game also providing a solid lead-in for a special 60-minute audition episode of American Idol (7.26) starting at 10:57pm.

Faced with greater competition this week, ABC's original airings of America's Funniest Home Videos (1.06), Once Upon A Time (2.14), Desperate Housewives (1.80) and Pan Am (0.76) all experienced moderate declines with A18-49 from a week ago, though the network still edged past CBS' original episode of Undercover Boss (1.99) and repeats of 60 Minutes Presents (1.38), The Good Wife (1.10) and CSI: Miami (1.29).

Landing fourth overall for the night, Univision's Vida Mejor Cantando (0.56), Gran Show Los Peques (1.17) and Sal Y Pimienta (0.71) placed ahead of NBC's two-hour Dateline (1.03) and the last two episodes of Prime Suspect at 9pm (0.70) and 10pm (0.65), as the freshman drama continued its viewership decline with A18-49 through Sunday's series finale.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Friday 01/20/12 - Premieres of Shark Tank and Primetime Help Give ABC the Win

2012-01-23T17:36:00.000-05:00

Anchoring the night for ABC, the network got off to a strong start with the third season premiere of Shark Tank (1.46 A18-49 Live Rating), which led into the fifth season opener of Primetime: What Would You Do? (1.51) at 9pm. Though the programs declined 13% and 3%, respectively, with A18-49 from their previous season debuts, the network's 10pm airing of 20/20 (1.66) improved 13% from a week ago and was the highest-rated telecast of the evening.

Dropping to second place this week, Univision's lineup of Familia Con Suerte (1.43), Que No Podia Amar (1.64) and Rosa De Guadalupe (1.11) beat NBC's Friday night slate of original programming, as Chuck (0.85), Grimm (1.37) and Dateline (1.27) all reported a larger A18-49 audience than last week's episodes.

Repeats filled CBS' schedule this past Friday, though the combination of A Gifted Man (0.94), CSI: NY (1.07) and Blue Bloods (1.22) still drew greater A18-49 viewership than FOX's original airings of Kitchen Nightmares (1.26) and Fringe (0.82), the latter of which increased 14% from a week ago.

Shifting to the cable landscape, a new episode of Gold Rush (1.38) and season 2 finale of Flying Wild Alaska (0.70) provided Discovery with the largest A18-49 cable audience, while ESPN's regular season NBA double-header (LA Lakers vs. Orlando Magic & Minnesota Timberwolves vs. LA Clippers) landed second with A18-49 cable viewers.

Similar to CBS, The CW also featured encores Friday night, though repeats of Remodeled (0.26) and Supernatural (0.36) didn't fare as well with A18-49, as the network significantly trailed its broadcast competition.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 01/19/12 - American Idol Helps FOX Edge CBS

2012-01-20T16:46:00.001-05:00

Opening with its Thursday debut of American Idol (4.45 A18-49 Live Rating) at 8pm, the one-hour airing pushed FOX to first place with A18-49 viewers last night. Despite declining 30% from a year ago, the program was still the highest rated of the evening, helping the network's 9pm airing of The Finder (1.92) improve 34% from its series premiere last week.

Trailing FOX by 10% for the night among A18-49, CBS' 8pm hour was affected by Idol's debut, as The Big Bang Theory (3.69) and Rob (3.00) declined by 7% and 17%, respectively, from a week ago. With the network's 9pm airing of Person of Interest (2.67) holding steady, the subsequent episode of The Mentalist (2.60) jumped 10% from last week, remaining the highest rated program in the 10pm hour.

Falling to third place with A18-49 viewers for the evening, each program in ABC's Thursday night lineup took a hit from last week's viewership levels. While the network's 8pm telecast of Wipeout (1.63) saw the largest drop (-21%), the latest airings of Grey's Anatomy (2.57) and Private Practice (1.66) experienced more moderate declines.

Featuring a highly anticipated matchup between Lebron James and the Miami Heat against Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, TNT easily drew the largest A18-49 cable audience with its NBA double-header last night. Combining its first telecast with a matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz, the cable network edged Univision's lineup of Una Familia Con Suerte (1.68), La Que No Podia Amar (1.89) and Rosa De Guadalupe (1.07).

Landing sixth overall for the second consecutive week, NBC bookened weekly viewing losses among A18-49 by 30 Rock (1.08) at 8pm and The Firm (0.76) at 10pm with slight gains from Parks & Recreation (1.43), The Office (2.11) and Up All Night (1.55). Lagging behind NBC, The CW's lineup of Vampire Diaries (0.70) and The Secret Circle (0.50) also trailed five other cable networks, as the network's programs declined 18% and 21%, respectively, from a week ago with A18-49 viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 1/18/12 – FOX’s American Idol Returns, Dominates Despite Declines

2012-01-19T17:35:00.005-05:00

Wednesday night belonged to FOX as the eleventh season premiere of American Idol returned last night. In its second year with Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez as judges alongside Randy Jackson, the opener averaged a 6.0 A18-49 Live Rating, falling a hefty 26% among A18-49 from its season ten premiere. Despite the declines, the reality series made a significant dent in viewership across NBC programming and other select shows during the 8-10pm time period.

Placing a distant second overall, ABC’s 8pm hour of The Middle (1.98) and Suburgatory (2.13) lost 13% and 9% of its week ago A18-49 audience, respectively. Modern Family (3.37) at 9pm fended off Idol’s competition, remaining stable from last week’s performance, while Happy Endings (2.39) dipped slightly in the demo. Revenge (1.99) ended the night on a positive note, improving a bit with A18-49 from week ago.

Falling just behind ABC for the night, CBS opened with a special repeat of NCIS (1.42), followed by new episodes of Criminal Minds (2.71) and CSI (2.49), both off by single digit percentages with A18-49 viewers from last week.

Losing momentum across its entire line-up, NBC ranked fifth behind Univision across A18-49, dropping week to-week by double-digit percentages among Whitney (1.24), Are You There, Chelsea? (1.45) and Harry’s Law (0.89). Placing last in the 10pm hour, Law & Order: SVU (1.56) declined 7% with A18-49 from its week ago performance.

Trailing in last place, an original of The CW’s One Tree Hill (0.51) fell 20% from its premiere last week among A18-49, while a repeat of Remodeled (0.27) ended the evening.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 1/17/12 – FOX Bounces Back With Originals, Weak Debut for The CW's Remodeled

2012-01-19T10:52:00.001-05:00

Returning with a full lineup of new episodes for the first time in over a month, FOX's Glee (2.13 A18-49 Live Rating), New Girl (2.43) and Raising Hope (1.79) combined to average the largest A18-49 audience Tuesday night, with only the latter program declining from its previous airings on 12/13/11.

Despite rolling out repeats of its Tuesday night fare, CBS' NCIS (2.12), NCIS: LA (1.63) and Unforgettable (1.45) still landed second among A18-49 viewers.

Splitting the opening hour with an original of Last Man Standing at 8pm (1.94) and repeat at 8:30pm (1.75), ABC's remaining schedule of Celebrity Wife Swap (1.90) and Body of Proof (1.37) pushed the network to third overall with A18-49, as each program experienced growth from a week ago.

Reporting declines from last week's episodes, NBC's Tuesday night schedule of The Biggest Loser (1.83) and Parenthood (1.41) dropped to fourth place with A18-49 viewers, though still placed ahead of Univision's Una Familia Con Suerte (1.60), La Que No Podia Amar (1.90) and Aqui Y Ahora (1.01).

Trailing significantly behind its competition, The CW's 90210 (0.41) and series debut of Remodeled (0.23), with the former program dropping 32% from its previous episode (12/06/11) and the latter declining 69% from the 17th season premiere of America's Next Top Model (09/14/11).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 1/16/12 – FOX's Alcatraz Debuts To Solid Ratings, NBC's Betty White Special and the Premiere of Betty White's Off Their Rockers Delivers Results

2012-01-18T18:03:00.008-05:00

Posting a 9% increase with A18-49 compared to the series opener of Terra Nova on 9/26/11, the two-hour series debut of Alcatraz (2.65) pushed FOX to a second place finish for the night among the demo.

NBC's 90-minute Betty White's 90th Birthday special (2.53), combined with the series premiere of Betty White Off Their Rockers (2.29) and a new episode of Rock Center (1.19) landed the network in third place for the night with A18-49, with both Betty White programs delivering signficant growth compared to their benchmarks. The series debut of Betty White Off Their Rockers helped boost Rock Center with Brian Williams A18-49 Live ratings, improving 68% with the demo week-to-week.

CBS' line-up returned from a week of repeats, capturing a first place win with A18-49 viewers Monday ngiht. The 150th episode of How I Met Your Mother at 8PM (3.28), 2 Broke Girls (3.60) and Two and a Half Men (3.78) all enjoyed a ratings bump with the demo from 2 weeks ago (+17%, +9% and +5%, respectively), while Mike & Molly (3.25) remained relatively steady. At 10PM, Hawaii Five-O (2.44) posted minimal viewing declines, winning the hour with A18-49.

ABC placed fourth with A18-49 viewers across the TV landscape, with a two-hour The Bachelor (1.80) improving 20% with the demo from last week's episode. Ranking second at 10PM, a new episode of Castle (1.89) experienced slight improvemetn with the demo compared to its prior original.

Trailing behind its broadcast counterparts, a new original of Gossip Girl (0.45) and a repeat of Hart of Dixie (0.34) drew minimal A18-49 viewership to The CW, with the former up 13% from its prior original on 12/05/11.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Sunday 1/15/12 – NBC’s Golden Globes No Match for NFL Playoff Overrun on FOX

2012-01-18T13:32:00.007-05:00

Garnering over 15 million Live total viewers and featuring returning host Rick Gervais, the 69th Annual Golden Globe Awards reported a 4.28 Live A18-49 rating, though declined 6% from last year's ceremony, securing only second place for NBC.

FOX easily won the night among A18-49, powered by an NFC divisional game overrun between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers, leading into The Simpsons (4.83), which more than doubled last week's A18-49 audience. Scheduled for 8:30pm, the series premiere of Napoleon Dynamite (3.95) significantly improved over the previous time period debut of Allen Gregory (+81%) on 10/30/11, while Family Guy (3.85) jumped 48% from its last original. A Napoleon Dynamite special (3.11) rounded out the night, losing 21% of its premiere audience.

CBS edged past ABC for third place among A18-49 with new episodes of 60 Minutes (1.25) and The Good Wife (1.55) suffering significant declines week-to-week. The third season premiere of Undercover Boss (2.61) at 8pm was CBS' highest rated program of the night with A18-49, despite losing one quarter of its audience from the season two opener on 9/26/10. The eye network ended the evening with a repeat of CSI: Miami (1.48) at 10pm.

Even with strong competition from FOX and NBC, ABC rolled out an all original lineup of America's Funniest Home Videos (1.13), Once Upon A Time (2.41), Desperate Housewives (2.01) and Pan Am (1.01) with Desperate Housewives reporting the heaviest decline (-11%) from week ago.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Saturday 1/14/12 – CBS' AFC Divisional Game Overshadows the Miss America Pageant on ABC

2012-01-18T13:31:00.005-05:00

Attracting 32.8 Live total viewers, CBS' coverage of the AFC Divisional Game between the Denver Broncos vs. New England Patriots dominated Primetime viewing, registering an 11.89 A18-49 Live rating and experiencing a 4% uptick from the network's afternoon coverage between the Baltimore Ravens & Pittsburgh Steelers last year.

FOX hosted the first game of the weekend's NFL Divisional Playoffs coverage with the NFC matchup between the New Orleans Saints vs. San Francisco 49ers (+9% from last year's game between the Green Bay Packers & Atlanta Falcons) bleeding into Primetime. Bolstered by the NFL overrun, FOX placed second in Primetime with A18-49 viewers, airing a new episode of Cops (1.47) and a repeat of Terra Nova (0.71).

Leading out of a Wipeout repeat (0.81), ABC's coverage of the 2012 Miss America Pageant (1.72) improved its A18-49 viewership by 16% from last year's event (01/15/11) and pushed the network to third place for the night.

Variety series, Sabado Gigante (0.84), helped Univision outperform NBC's repeat programming of The Firm (0.33) and Law & Order: SVU (1.64) with A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Friday 1/13/12 – Univision Top Player Against All Original Line-ups on Broadcast

2012-01-17T16:55:00.003-05:00

Up against a full night of originals on broadcast, Univision’s popular line-up of Familia Con Suerte (1.45 A18-49 Live Rating), Que No Podia Amar (1.68) and Rosa De Guadalupe (1.12) brushed past ABC for first place among A18-49 Friday night.

Placing second overall in the demo, ABC’s back-to-back episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 8pm (1.31) and 9pm (1.58) experienced modest gains from last week’s performance, while 20/20 (1.47) at 10pm improved a solid 20% with A18-49 viewers.

Original episodes of CBS' A Gifted Man (1.16), CSI: NY (1.48) and Blue Bloods (1.56) landed the network third among A18-49, with only the latter program drawing higher viewership than last week.

Ranking fourth for the night, FOX’s Kitchen Nightmares (1.29) at 8pm grew 12% from its last original on 11/18/11, followed by a new Fringe (0.72), which remained flat from its previous episode back in November.

Falling behind Discovery in fifth place among A18-49 viewers, NBC’s full line-up of Chuck (0.74), Grimm (1.08) and Dateline NBC (1.18) fell slightly from their previous originals.

Placing last across broadcast, new telecasts of CW's Nikita (0.36) and Supernatural (0.49) suffered double-digit percentage declines from their week ago airings.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Thursday 01/12/12 - Strong Debut of Rob Helps CBS Capture the Win

2012-01-13T16:58:00.002-05:00

For the first time in nearly a month, all the broadcast networks rolled out all new episodes of their respective Thursday night lineups.

Helped by the highest rated program of the evening, The Big Bang Theory (3.97 A18-49 Live Rating), CBS averaged the largest A18-49 audience last night, after the show grew 23% from its prior original on 12/08/11. Holding 91% of its strong lead-in, the series debut of Rob (3.60) reported a 54% viewership improvement over the network's series premiere of How to Be a Gentleman on 09/29/11. While the network's 9pm airing of Person of Interest (2.66) also showed significant growth, the latest episode of The Mentalist (2.37) held relatively steady with A18-49 viewers.

Despite displaying double-digit percent viewership declines across all of its Thursday night programs from last week, ABC's lineup of Wipeout (2.06), Desperate Housewives (2.78) and Private Practice (1.87) still drew the second largest A18-49 audience last night.

With one week left until the season debut of American Idol, FOX anchored its Thursday night with a special episode of Bones (1.73) at 8pm, followed by the series opener of The Finder (1.43), the latter of which declined 46% from the season premiere of Bones on 11/03/11. Despite the soft debut of FOX's new program, the network still drew more A18-49 viewers than Univision's schedule of Una Familia con Suerte (1.43), La que No Podia Amar (1.84) and Dale con Ganas (0.84).

Fueled by the latest episode of The Jersey Shore (2.92) at 10pm, MTV drew the largest A18-49 cable audience last night, with the network's reality program losing only 7% of last week's audience for the fifth season premiere.

Revamping its Thursday night lineup, NBC opened the evening with the network's sixth season premiere of 30 Rock (1.22) at 8pm. Despite the program declining 37% among A18-49 from its fifth season opener on 09/23/10, the network's 8:30 airing of Parks & Recreation (1.42) improved 19% from its previous airing on 12/08/11, while The Office (2.05) and a relocated Up All Night (1.50) held relatively steady. Landing third in the 10pm hour, the time-slot debut of The Firm (0.94) struggled to find an audience, losing a quarter of its A18-49 audience from its two-hour premiere on Sunday (01/08/12).

Continuing to trail its broadcast competition among A18-49 viewers, The CW's latest episodes of Vampire Diaries (0.85) reported 11% lower viewership, while The Secret Circle (0.67) improved slightly from a week ago.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 1/11/12 – People’s Choice Awards No Match for ABC, Chelsea Premieres Okay

2012-01-12T17:33:00.001-05:00

Despite being up against the People’s Choice Awards on CBS, ABC easily took the lead across the television landscape among A18-49 viewers. Its strong comedy line-up of The Middle (2.28 A18-49 Live Rating), Suburgatory (2.35), Modern Family (3.35), and Happy Endings (2.46) along with drama Revenge (1.92) experienced minimal week to week declines in the demo.

Following a repeat of Criminal Minds, the two-hour People’s Choice Awards (2.32) averaged 8.4 million total viewers, but fell 9% from last year’s event, ranking CBS second for the night with A18-49.

At No. 3, NBC debuted its new comedy hour of relocated Whitney (1.55) and the series premiere of Are You There, Chelsea? (1.86) with the former remaining relatively flat from its last Thursday 9:30PM original on 12/8/11, while the latter grew 20% out of its lead-in among A18-49. Opening with a new schedule Wednesday helped Harry’s Law (1.10) and Law & Order: SVU (1.68), as they both improved slightly from their last originals on 12/7/11.

Ranking ahead of FOX, Univision's lineup of Que No Podia Amar (1.74) and the premiere of Dale Con Ganas (0.95) landed the network in fourth place overall among A18-49 viewers Wednesday night.

Ranking behind ESPN (NBA coverage), FOX followed a repeat of Mobbed at 8pm with an original airing of the same program (1.24), which boosted A18-49 viewership by 10% from its telecast one week ago.

Trailing in last place across broadcast, The CW aired the ninth season premiere of One Tree Hill (0.64) at 8PM and a repeat airing at 9PM. In its last season, the premiere lost 26% of A18-49 viewers from its eighth season opener back on 9/14/10.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 1/10/12 – Original Dramas on CBS Win the Night

2012-01-11T17:13:00.004-05:00

Excluding FOX, the major broadcast networks aired their regularly scheduled programming Tuesday night. With a full lineup of new episodes, CBS' NCIS (3.32 A18-49 Live Rating), NCIS: LA (2.80) and Unforgettable (1.92) averaged the largest A18-49 audience last night, despite only the former program reporting greater viewership than a week ago.

After experiencing slight growth from last week's episodes, performances for NBC's The Biggest Loser (1.98) and Parenthood (1.45) were strong enough to land the network in second place with A18-49 broadcast viewers.

Although ABC's 8pm comedy hour declined 19% from a week ago, the network's lineup of Last Man Standing (1.57), Work It (1.28), Celebrity Wife Swap (1.85) and Body of Proof (1.29) averaged a larger A18-49 audience than Univision's Una Familia con Suerte (1.42), La Que No Podia Amar (1.70) and Aqui Y Ahora (1.08).

All ranking ahead of FOX, TBS' block of The Big Bang Theory, averaged the highest cable viewership with A18-49, while BET's fifth season premiere of The Game (2.48) fueled the network to the second largest A18-49 cable audience, despite the sitcom declining 26% from its fourth season debut last year.

Choosing to run with a repeat schedule last night, FOX's combination of Glee (1.01), New Girl (1.21) and Raising Hope (0.98) was only good enough to draw better A18-49 ratings than The CW's special movie airing of Table for Three (0.22).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 1/9/12 – BCS Leads ESPN to #1, CBS Encores Beat Rest of Broadcast

2012-01-10T16:59:00.002-05:00

Closing out the college football season, ESPN aired the BCS Championship Game (8.24 A18-49 Live Rtg), featuring No. 2 Alabama’s win over top-ranked LSU Monday night. Despite dropping 14% from last year’s national championship match-up between Auburn and Oregon, ESPN still led the night among A18-49, topping all of broadcast and cable.

Even with a full repeat line-up of its regularly-scheduled comedy block and Hawaii Five-O, CBS captured second place overall and a first place broadcast win with A18-49, beating out originals on ABC and NBC.

Ranking fourth overall behind Univision’s telenovelas Familia con Suerte (1.53), La Que No Podia Amar (1.88) and talk show Don Francisco Presenta (1.14), ABC’s two-hour The Bachelor (1.50) lost more than a third of its A18-49 audience from last year, while dropping 14% from its premiere last week. At 10pm, ABC's latest episode of Castle (1.81) grew 21% from its lead-in, while also improving from its last original on 12/5/11.

New episodes of Pawn Stars and American Pickers landed History in fifth place, while NBC’s combination of Who’s Still Standing (1.52), Fear Factor (2.02) and Rock Center with Brian William (0.71) fell behind the cable network with A18-49 viewers, with the latter dropping a hefty 35% from last week’s A18-49 performance.

Back-to-back repeat telecasts of House on FOX and encores of The CW's Gossip Girl and Hart of Dixie closed out the rest of the broadcast landscape.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Sunday 1/8/12 – CBS' AFC Wildcard Overshadows Weak Debut of NBC's The Firm

2012-01-10T11:22:00.001-05:00

With about half of its AFC Wildcard Game (14.44) coverage between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Denver Broncos landing in Primetime, CBS easily averaged the largest A18-49 audience Sunday night, with the network's remaining lineup of 60 Minutes (4.34), The Good Wife (2.25) and CSI: Miami (2.31) benefiting from the overrun, as each program reported greater A18-49 viewership than their previous original airings.

Ranking fourth for the night, NBC began its post-NFL Sunday night schedule with the two-hour season premiere of Dateline NBC (1.13), improving 11% from a year ago and leading into the two-hour series debut of The Firm (1.28), which reported a 42% drop among A18-49 viewers from last year's series opener of The Cape (01/09/11) and a 19% decline from the series debut of cancelled drama, Prime Suspect (09/22/11).

Rolling out a full lineup of originals for the first time in over a month, ABC reported double-digit percent viewership improvement with the latest episodes of Once Upon a Time (2.46) and Desperate Housewives (2.27), though experienced smaller audiences with America's Funniest Home Videos (1.24) and Pan Am (1.06), resulting in a second place finish for the network among A18-49 viewers.

Trailing slightly behind ABC, FOX opened the evening with repeats of Bob's Burgers (0.70) and The Cleveland Show (0.92) during the 7pm hour, followed by original episodes of The Simpsons (1.90), The Cleveland Show (2.00), Family Guy (2.60) and American Dad (1.96), with only the former and latter experiencing significant declines with A18-49 from their previous airings on 12/11/11.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Saturday 1/7/12 – Viewers Choose NFL Playoffs over Republican Debate

2012-01-10T11:17:00.003-05:00

As the NFL moved into post-season play, NBC's Primetime coverage of the NFC Wildcard Game (10.65 A18-49 Live Rating), featuring the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints, was easily Saturday's highest rated program, providing the network with the largest A18-49 audience as the game reported a slight drop from the network's AFC Primetime game last year (NY Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts), but a 17% improvement over last year's NFC afternoon matchup (New Orleans Saints vs. Seattle Seahawks).

ABC's special telecast of Wipeout (0.82) combined with the network's two-hour Republican Debate special, Your Voice, Your Vote (0.94), landed the network in a distant second among A18-49 Saturday night, tying with Univision's Sabado Gigante (0.90) among A18-49.

Repeat Episodes of CBS' Comedytime, Crimetime and an original 48 Hours Mystery (0.92) averaged the same A18-49 viewership as FOX's episodes of Cops (0.90), Cops 2 (0.98) and encore of Terra Nova (0.42), with both networks landing at the bottom of the broadcast landscape.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Friday 01/06/12 - FOX's Cotton Bowl Leads a Strong Friday Lineup

2012-01-09T16:46:00.001-05:00

Entering the final week of college football bowl games, FOX's coverage of the 2012 Cotton Bowl (2.47 A18-49 Live Rating) between the #6 Arkansas Razorbacks and #8 Kansas State Wildcats garnered the largest A18-49 audience Friday night, despite this year's game declining 20% from last year's contest, which featured the #11 LSU Tigers and #17 Texas A&M Aggies.

Following FOX, Univision's fresh lineup of Familia con Suerte (1.46), Que No Podia Amar (1.65) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.18) gave the network a second place finish, improving slightly from a week ago among A18-49 viewers.

For the first time in over a month, CBS also rolled out a full Friday night schedule of original programming, experiencing double-digit percent improvement among A18-49 with A Gifted Man (1.25) at 8pm, CSI: NY (1.51) at 9pm and Blue Bloods (1.52) at 10pm from their respective episodes on 12/02/11.

Though ABC also featured all new episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 8pm (1.30) and 9pm (1.48) and 20/20 at 10pm (1.23), the network still trailed CBS by 7% among A18-49 viewers, despite each program drawing greater viewership than their previous airings a few weeks ago.

Fueled by the one-hour series finale of Wizards of Waverly Place (1.59), Disney reported the largest A18-49 cable audience of the evening, with the program reporting significant improvement over the show's season 3 finale on 10/15/10. New episodes of Gold Rush (1.40) and Flying Wild Alaska (0.69) gave Discovery the second biggest A18-49 cable ratings on the night, ahead of both NBC and The CW.

Sandwiching new episodes of Chuck (0.75) and Dateline NBC (1.23) around a repeat of Grimm (0.58), NBC landed higher than only The CW's lineup of Nikita (0.42) and Supernatural (0.58) among A18-49, with the latest airings on the former network reporting greater viewership growth than those on the latter.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 1/5/12 – ABC Dominates with Returning Grey’s and Private Practice, Jersey Shore Premieres Decent

2012-01-06T17:23:00.008-05:00

Only ABC and CW returned with full line-ups of original content Thursday. The former easily won the night with the fifth season premiere of Wipeout (2.51 A18-49 Live Rtg) leading the schedule. Placing second in the time period, the competition series delivered a 24% smaller A18-49 audience than its year ago premiere. New since its last original on 11/10/11, Grey’s Anatomy (3.47) garnered a 17% lift from its previous episode with A18-49, while Private Practice (2.24) improved a healthy 10% from its last telecast on 11/17/11.

Despite airing all repeats, CBS’ Thursday repertoire of The Big Bang Theory (3.08), Rules of Engagement (2.38), Person of Interest (1.74) and The Mentalist (1.81) placed the network second overall among A18-49.

Univision's lineup of Familia con Suerte (1.64), the premiere of Que No Podia Amor (1.79) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.25) placed ahead of the remaining broadcast networks, drawing the third largest A18-49 viewership across the Thursday night.

Fueled by the season five opener of Jersey Shore at 10PM (3.13), MTV averaged the largest A18-49 cable audience. Watched by 6.1 million Live total viewers, the reality series was off just 4% among A18-49 from its fourth season premiere in August, but fell 11% from its season three opener one year ago.

A Family Guy and Big Bang Theory marathon on TBS and NBA coverage of the Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks game on TNT averaged the second and third largest A18-49 cable ratings, beating out back-to-back encores of FOX's Bones (1.06 and 1.03, respectively).

Falling behind the aforementioned networks, NBC aired encores of its Thursday comedy block, including special repeats of The Office (0.68) and Up All Night (0.67) in the 10PM hour.

Keeping The CW in last place across broadcast, a new episode of Vampire Diaries (0.97) grew 11% with A18-49 viewers from its last November telecast, while Secret Circle (0.62) remained relatively flat.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Wednesday 01/04/11 - ABC Originals Beat its Weaker Competition, ESPN Bowls Roll Along

2012-01-05T16:35:00.001-05:00

Returning from a four-week hiatus, ABC rolled out originals of its entire Wednesday night lineup, making the network the top choice of A18-49 television viewers. While the network's first two comedies, The Middle (2.33 A18-49 Live Rating) and Suburgatory (2.41) experienced slight improvement over the prior originals, the 9pm hour of Modern Family (3.80) and Happy Endings (2.53) reported 12% viewership increases with A18-49. Placing first in the 10pm hour, ABC's freshman drama Revenge (1.99) also displayed slight growth.

Shifting to the cable landscape, ESPN continued its college football coverage with the 2012 Orange Bowl (2.33), featuring the #23 West Virginia Mountaineers and #15 Clemson Tigers, which pushed the network to second place among A18-49 viewers. However, as West Virginia set a bowl scoring record with their high-powered offense, the one-sided game was not as enticing with viewers, as the telecast reported a 32% decline with A18-49 from last year's matchup between the #4 Stanford Cardinal and #13 Virginia Tech Hokies.

Opening its evening with a special airing of I Get That A Lot (2.08), which showed significant improvement over the show's half-hour airing on 12/17/10, CBS landed second among the broadcast networks but third overall among A18-49, as the network completed the evening with repeats of Criminal Minds (1.88) and CSI (1.66).

FOX employed the opposite philosophy last night, as it kicked off the night with an 8pm repeat airing of Glee (0.72), followed by a special episode of Mobbed (1.13), which reported a significant decline among A18-49 from its previous special on 11/23/11.

Choosing not to compete with original programming last night, NBC landed fourth among its broadcast competition with an all-repeat lineup of Up All Night (0.93), Whitney (0.89), Harry's Law (0.70) and Law & Order: SVU (1.05), while The CW continued to air back-to-back encores of The Secret Circle at 8pm (0.29) and 9pm (0.27), keeping the network in a distant last place with A18-49 viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 01/03/12 – Coverage of ESPN's Sugar Bowl Wins the Night, Soft Debut for ABC's Work It

2012-01-05T10:09:00.007-05:00

ESPN's coverage of the 2012 Sugar Bowl (3.31 Live A18-49 Rating) between Michigan and Virginia Tech was the highest rated program with A18-49, fueling the network to average the evening's largest A18-49 audience.

CBS returned with a full original schedule following a three week hiatus, capturing a broadcast win with A18-49 Tuesday night. NCIS (3.19 A18-49 Rtg), NCIS: LA (2.92) and Unforgettable (2.34) all posted double-digit percentage growth from their prior originals on 12/13/11, with NCIS drawing the largest A18-49 broadcast audience of the night.

Despite the network edging past ABC to earn a second place finish across broadcast, NBC's 13th season premiere of The Biggest Loser (1.90) experienced a significant decline (-31%) among A18-49 from its season 11 opener a YAG, leading into Parenthood at 10pm (1.38), which was down 20% from its last original airing on 11/29/11.

ABC finished behind NBC with the 8:30pm series premiere of Work It (1.69) delivering a 19% smaller A18-49 audience than the debut of Man Up! on 10/18/11. Its lead-in, Last Man Standing (1.84), grew 6% with A18-49 from its prior original on 12/13/11, while at 9pm, the time-slot premiere of Celebrity Wife Swap (1.85) lost 12% of its audience from its debut on Monday. Rounding out the night for ABC, Body of Proof (1.29) retained all of its A18-49 viewership after a four week hiatus, but still finished in last place at 10pm.

Both FOX and The CW continued with their repeat lineups this week, as FOX featured episodes of Glee at 8pm (0.81) New Girl at 9pm (1.22) and Raising Hope (0.88) at 9:30pm, while The CW went with back-to-back airings of The Secret Circle (0.37, 0.28), landing the network's fourth and fifth, respectively, with A18-49 among the Big 5 broadcast networks.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 01/02/12 - ESPN Fiesta Bowl Overshadows Weak Bachelor Premiere on ABC

2012-01-04T16:41:00.004-05:00

As college football's Bowl season continued Monday night, ESPN's coverage of the 2012 Fiesta Bowl (4.47 Live A18-49 Rating) between the #3 Oklahoma State Cowboys and #4 Stanford Cardinal was the highest rated program with A18-49, fueling the network to average the evening's largest A18-49 audience.

Among the broadcast networks, CBS returned with a full slate of original programming for the first time in over three weeks. The network's most recent episodes of How I Met Your Mother (2.80), 2 Broke Girls (3.30), Two and a Half Men (3.61), Mike & Molly (3.21) and Hawaii Five-O (2.53) combined to average the second largest A18-49 viewership of the evening, despite only 2 Broke Girls reporting a larger audience than its previous original airing on 12/12/11.

ABC opened the New Year with a Monday night of premieres, as the network scheduled the two-hour 16th season opener of The Bachelor (1.74) at 8pm followed by the 7th season debut of Celebrity Wife Swap (2.11) at 10pm. While the former declined 26% among A18-49 viewers from its previous season premiere a year ago, the latter program showed a 4% improvement over last year's airing of Castle.

Also rolling out fresh episodes of its Monday night fare, NBC placed third among A18-49 broadcast viewers, though experienced slight declines with its latest episodes of Who's Still Standing? (1.40) and Fear Factor (2.14) from the previous original airings. The network's 10pm telecast of Rock Center with Brian Williams (1.09) however, reported an increase of 38% with A18-49 viewers from a week ago.

Both FOX and The CW continued with their repeat lineups this week, as FOX featured back-to-back episodes of House at 8pm (1.11) and 9pm (1.20), while The CW went with back-to-back airings of The Secret Circle (0.29, 0.25), landing the network's fourth and fifth, respectively, with A18-49 among the Big 5 broadcast networks.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 12/22/11 - X Factor Crowns Fox the Winner

2011-12-23T16:52:00.001-05:00

Growing 18% from Wednesday, Part 2 of The X Factor (3.14 A18-49 Live Rating) season finale drew the largest A18-49 audience of the evening, as the first season closed with Melanie Amaro becoming the first ever US X Factor Champion.

Despite rolling out a full lineup of repeats, CBS' schedule of The Big Bang Theory (2.42), Rules of Engagement (1.77), Person of Interest (1.57) and The Mentalist (1.43) still landed the network second with A18-49 among its broadcast competition and third overall for the evening.

Over on the cable landscape, the NFL Network hosted its sixth week of Thursday Night Football (1.53), featuring the matchup between the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts. Drawing the biggest A18-49 cable viewership of the evening, last night's game improved slightly from both last week's game between the Atlanta Falcons and Jacksonville Jaguars and from a year ago (Carolina Panthers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers).

Continuing to roll out holiday specials for the fifth consecutive week, ABC started off the evening with repeats of holiday specials, including Disney's Prep & Landing (1.02) at 8pm, Prep & Landing 2: Naughty vs. Nice (1.06) at 8:30pm and I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (1.12) at 9pm. Following its holiday specials, the network closed the night with a repeat of Grey's Anatomy (0.71) at 10pm.

Over on NBC, Thursday's edition of Who's Still Standing? (1.40) at 8pm declined 13% among A18-49 viewers from Wednesday's airing, with the network scheduling repeats of The Office (0.80) and Whitney (0.71) during the 9pm hour. Closing the evening, the network's latest episode of Prime Suspect (0.80) improved 11% from a week ago, landing ahead of ABC in the hour with A18-49.

For the sixth consecutive week, The CW featured an all repeat Thursday night schedule, as its lineup of Vampire Diaries (XX) and The Secret Circle (XX) trailed significantly behind its broadcast competition.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 12/21/11 – X Factor Part 1 Finale Leads, Mostly Repeats Elsewhere

2011-12-22T17:10:00.001-05:00

FOX capitalized on its full line-up of originals, including the Part 1 of the X Factor finale (2.66). With the reality competition holding relatively steady from a week ago, FOX easily reported the largest A18-49 audience Thursday night, as the strong lead-in also provided a boost for its lead-out, I Hate My Teenage Daughter (1.84), which improved 13% from a week ago.

Growing slightly from a week ago with A18-49, Univision's lineup of Familia con Suerte (1.58), Fuerza del Destino (2.08) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.36) still placed ahead of the remaining broadcast networks.

Despite rolling out a full lineup of repeat programming last night, ABC's regular Wednesday schedule landed the network third overall among A18-49.

CBS’ only new program, a special airing of A Home for the Holidays with Martina McBride (0.74), drew 7% more A18-49 viewers than last year's episode, which was followed by repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI, dropping the network behind ABC for the evening.

Also airing only one original, NBC anchored its lineup with the Thursday edition of Who's Still Standing? (1.60), declining 8% from Wednesday's airing, with the network closing out the rest of the night with repeats of A Michael Buble Christmas and Law & Order: SVU.

Falling significantly behind its broadcast counterparts, repeats of Gossip Girl and Gaga by Gaultier special drew minimal A18-49 audiences to The CW.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 12/20/11 – CBS ties NBC for First, Who’s Still Standing Week Two Decent

2011-12-21T16:52:00.006-05:00

With the holidays approaching, there was little original content on last night. The only new broadcast program to air was NBC’s latest game show, Who’s Still Standing (1.74 A18-49 Live Rtg) at 8pm, which grew 20% among A18-49 from its premiere last week, due to little competition. A two hour holiday special repeat of Saturday Night Live: A Very Gilly Christmas (1.91) followed, out-delivering its lead-in by 11% in the demo. NBC tied with CBS for first place, as the latter network aired encores of NCIS, NCIS: LA and Unforgettable.

Falling behind Univision and TBS with its marathon of Big Bang Theory, all other broadcasters aired repeats of their respective Tuesday night schedules.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 12/19/11 – Monday Night Football Wins Again

2011-12-20T17:06:00.002-05:00

With only one regular season telecast remaining, ESPN's Monday Night Football (6.12 A18-49 Live Rating) coverage, featuring the Pittsburgh Steelers and San Francisco 49ers, fueled the network to average the largest A18-49 audience Monday night, improving 76% from a week ago (San Diego Chargers vs. Jacksonville Jaguars) and 5% from last year (Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings).

Although returning to a full night of repeats, including How I Met Your Mother (2.02), 2 Broke Girls (2.33), Two and a Half Men (2.18), Mike & Molly (2.10) and Hawaii Five-0 (1.76), CBS landed in second place among A18-49 viewers, ahead of all other broadcasters.

Ranking third in the demo, NBC rolled out its latest game show, Who’s Still Standing? (1.45) at 8pm, which dropped 47% across A18-49 from last week's Fear Factor premiere. Settling into its regular timeslot, week two of Fear Factor (2.20) at 9pm was unable to combat its weaker lead-in, declining 29% from last week’s 9pm episode. Despite the erosion experienced earlier in the night, Rock Center with Brian Williams (1.12) at 10pm improved 7% among A18-49 from its previous airing.

FOX's two-hour season finale of Terra Nova (1.54) pushed the network to third place among A18-49 broadcast viewers, with last night's closer reporting a 37% smaller audience than the program's series debut on 9/26/11, after holding relatively steady from last week's one-hour telecast.

Declining slightly from a week ago with A18-49, Univision's lineup of Familia Con Suerte (1.53), Fuerza del Destino (1.95) and Don Francisco Presenta (0.87) still placed the network ahead of ABC and The CW.

For the fourth consecutive week, ABC filled the 8pm time slot with holiday specials, including Kung Fu Panda (1.19) and A Chipmunk Christmas (1.20), which helped the network's 9pm episode of You Deserve It (0.87) hold steady week-to-week with A18-49 viewers. The network rounded out the night with an encore of Castle (0.79) at 10pm.

Remaining last among the broadcast networks, The CW ran back-to-back repeats of Hart of Dixie at 8pm (0.34) and 9pm (0.30).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Sunday 12/18/11 - NBC Sunday Night Football Wins, Beating CBS' Survivor Finale

2011-12-20T15:06:00.000-05:00

With only two weeks left in the regular season, the NFL continued to dominate the Sunday night landscape, as NBC's Sunday Night Football (5.95 A18-49 Live Rating), featuring the Baltimore Ravens and San Diego Chargers, helped the network average the largest A18-49 audience of the evening. Though ranking as the number one program, this week's game reported a 28% smaller audience than last year's telecast (Green Bay Packers vs. New England Patriots) and a 33% decline from last week (New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys).

Delayed a half-hour from NFL overrun earlier in the day, CBS' latest edition of 60 Minutes (3.78) benefited the most from the NFL coverage, reporting growth of 32% with A18-49 from last week's episode. The remainder of the network's Primetime schedule was dedicated to the two-hour finale of Survivor (3.06) at 8pm and the traditional Survivor Reunion (2.53) special at 10pm, both of which drew smaller A18-49 audiences than last year's telecasts.

FOX's traditional Sunday night animation lineup featured a majority of repeat airings, beginning with American Dad (0.90) at 7pm, The Cleveland Show (1.46) at 7:30pm and The Simpsons (2.17) at 8pm. The first season finale of Allen Gregory (1.44) followed at 8:30pm, with the closer reporting a 34% decline from its series debut on 10/30/11, along with a 36% drop from its previous original episode two weeks ago. Finishing off the evening for FOX was a one-hour repeat of Family Guy (1.99) at 9pm.

Landing fourth for the evening among A18-49, ABC also rolled out a lineup of repeats for its Sunday night schedule. Episodes of America's Funniest Home Videos (1.31) and Once Upon a Time (1.08) opened things up for the network, with a two-hour repeat movie airing of Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (1.23) rounding out the evening.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 12/16/11 - Univision Wins Sixth Consecutive Friday, Beating The Discovery Channel

2011-12-19T16:20:00.005-05:00

For the sixth consecutive week, Univision averaged the largest A18-49 audience on Friday, as its lineup of Familia con Suerte (1.41 A18-49 Live Rating), Fuerza del Destino (1.66) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.15) placed first across the TV landscape, despite all three programs declining from last week's viewing benchmarks.

The latest episodes of Gold Rush (1.63) and Flying Wild Alaska (0.74) fueled The Discovery Channel to the second largest overall A18-49 viewership of the evening, and largest cable audience, as both programs reported significant improvement over their previous original airings, increasing 21% and 54%, respectively, from last week.

One of the only networks to schedule original programming on Friday, ABC reported the biggest A18-49 viewership among English-speaking broadcast networks. Recently announced that this will be the show's last season, back-to-back episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 8pm (1.14) and 9pm (1.27) increased 19% and dropped 5%, respectively, compared to last week's viewership. At 10pm, the latest airing of 20/20 (0.82) declined significantly with A18-49 viewers from a week ago, ranking last in the hour.

Trailing ABC by 10%, NBC tied FOX for the second-highest A18-49 ratings among the English-speaking broadcast networks as its entire schedule reported lower viewership than last week. While its 8pm airing of Chuck (0.64) dropped 27% and 9pm episode of Grimm (1.11) declined 17%, the network's latest airing of Dateline (1.16) at 10pm reported a 21% smaller A18-49 audience.

Breaking from its regularly scheduled programming, FOX opened the evening with holiday specials, including Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown (0.94) at 8pm, followed by Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas (1.09) at 9pm. An encore airing of The Simpsons (0.93) rounded out the evening at 9:30pm, with the network tying NBC for the night.

Over on CBS and The CW, repeats of their usual Friday night lineup took center stage, with the former airing A Gifted Man (0.72), CSI: NY (0.84) and Blue Bloods (0.99), and latter putting forth Nikita (0.30) and Supernatural (0.33), landing the networks fourth and fifth, respectively, among English-speaking A18-49 broadcast viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 12/15/11 - CBS Beats NFL Network's Thursday Night Football

2011-12-16T16:41:00.006-05:00

While opening the night with a repeat of The Big Bang Theory (2.60 A18-49 Live Rating) at 8PM, CBS featured original airings throughout the remainder of its schedule, including new episodes of Rules of Engagement (2.20), Person of Interest (2.28) and The Mentalist (2.34), which helped the network average the largest A18-49 audience last night, despite the former and latter both experiencing viewership declines from a week ago.

Although FOX's Live episode of the X Factor (2.37) results show remained at similar A18-49 ratings levels from last week, it was still not enough to help FOX achieve a broadcast win for the night among A18-49. X Factor, combined with a repeat of Bones, landed the network in second place overall with the demo last night.

Continuing with its special programming, ABC kicked off the night with a special repeat of A Charlie Brown Christmas (1.71), followed by a two-hour special airing of The Year With Katie Couric (1.36), which displayed a 34% A18-49 viewership drop from ABC's Barbara Walters special on 12/14/11.

With the NFL Network hosting its fifth week of Thursday Night Football (1.49), last night's game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Atlanta Falcons declined 39% compared to last week's match-up between the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers, only managing a fifth place finish for the night across the TV landscape among A18-49.

NBC chose to run repeats of its two-hour Thursday night comedy block last night. Burning off the remainder of its episodes, the only original program to air on NBC last night, Prime Suspect (0.72), posted a double-digit percentage decline among A18-49 (-41%) from its last original airing on 12/01/11.

Over on The CW, the network featured an all repeat schedule for the fifth consecutive week, with its lineup of Vampire Diaries (0.30) and The Secret Circle (0.25) trailing significantly behind its broadcast competition.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 12/14/11 - CBS & FOX Battle Again, But CBS Wins This Week

2011-12-15T16:18:00.002-05:00

Overtaking FOX for the first time in the past three weeks, CBS' second consecutive week of post-holiday original programming averaged the largest A18-49 audience Wednesday night. Despite its opening programs, Survivor (2.10 A18-49 Live Rating) and Criminal Minds (2.83), declining from last week's performance among A18-49, the network's 10pm airing of CSI (2.65) reported better results, improving 16% from a week ago.

Lagging behind CBS by only 5%, FOX’s combination of X Factor (2.65) and I Hate My Teenage Daughter (1.63) landed the network in second place for the night with A18-49 viewers. While the network's reality held relatively steady among A18-49 from a week ago, FOX's sitcom continued its downward trend, declining 15% with this target.

Splitting the evening between repeat and new programming, ABC opened the evening with encores of The Middle (1.55), Suburgatory (1.53) and Modern Family (2.07), filling the remainder of its schedule with the 90-minute special, Barbara Walters Presents the 10 Most Fascinating People (2.05), which declined 28% from last year with A18-49 viewers. Combining the special with ABC's earlier sitcoms, the network averaged the third largest target audience of the evening.

Trailing both TBS and Univision's Wednesday night lineup of Familia con Suerte (1.56), Fuerza del Destino (1.95) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.33) among A18-49, NBC filled last night's schedule with repeat airings of Up All Night (1.07), Whitney (1.04), Harry's Law (0.73) and Law & Order: SVU (1.09).

On The CW, the network rolled with a repeat airing of America's Next Top Model (0.40) at 8pm, followed by a repeat of CBS' Victoria's Secret Fashion Show at 9pm, the latter of which reported a 26% smaller A18-49 audience than last week's season finale of America's Next Top Model.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 12/13/11 – All New on CBS Delivers First Place Status, Biggest Loser Finale Down

2011-12-14T17:18:00.001-05:00

CBS returned with a full original schedule following a three week hiatus, capturing a win with A18-49 Tuesday night. NCIS (2.71 A18-49 Rtg), NCIS: LA (2.64) and Unforgettable (1.99) all held relatively steady from their prior originals on 11/22/11, with NCIS drawing the largest A18-49 audience of the night.

New episodes of Glee (2.03), New Girl (2.42) and Raising Hope (1.87) secured FOX a second place finish with A18-49. Both Glee and Raising Hope posted modest improvement week-over-week, while New Girl remained relatively flat in the demo.

NBC took third place with the relatively weak-performing Will & Kate: Inside the Royal Marriage special (1.15) at 8pm, which led into the two-hour season finale of The Biggest Loser (2.32). Slipping only 5% among A18-49 from its season 11 finale this past spring, the reality series garnered one-third less A18-49 viewers as its 10^th season finale one year ago.

Airing only one original, ABC fell to fifth place, behind Univision, with Last Man Standing (1.73) at 8pm declining double-digit percentages from its previous episode among A18-49.

Rounding out broadcast, The CW chose to air encores of 90210 (0.29) and Ringer (0.22), dropping the network out of the top 25 with A18-49 viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 12/12/11 - NFL on ESPN Wins, But NBC Instills Fear

2011-12-13T17:11:00.008-05:00

The NFL continued its string of victories on Monday, as ESPN's NFC West matchup between the Seattle Seahawks and St. Louis Rams (3.48 A18-49 Live Rating) drew the largest A18-49 audience of the evening, despite reporting a slight decline of 4% from last week's game between the San Diego Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars and a 20% drop from last year (Houston Texans vs. Baltimore Ravens).

Over on broadcast, CBS filled its first hour of programming with back-to-back airings of 2 Broke Girls, with an original at 8pm (3.06) retaining all of last week's How I Met Your Mother audience, while the 8:30pm (3.03) repeat held nearly all of its lead-in. The network's second hour of comedies had worse luck, as Two and a Half Men (3.60) and Mike & Molly (3.35) each declined from a week ago, with the network's 10pm drama, Hawaii Five-O (2.53), experiencing a similar drop.

Fueled by the network's relaunch of Fear Factor, NBC landed second among the broadcast networks with A18-49 viewers last night. With the network's 8pm airing (2.76) drawing nearly the same audience as last year's episode of The Sing Off, viewership grew 12% for the 9pm episode (3.09). Benefiting from the stronger lead-in, Rock Center with Brian Williams (1.05) at 10pm reported a 19% improvement among A18-49 from a week ago.

A week removed from its coverage of the American Country Awards, FOX opened the evening with the latest episode of Terra Nova (1.57), which declined 4% from its previous original episode two weeks ago. Following at 9pm, a repeat of House (1.27) pushed the network to third place with A18-49 viewers among its broadcast competition.

For the third week in a row, ABC used its 8pm hour for another holiday special, with I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (1.30) leading off the night. With a softer lead-in than normal, the most recent episode of You Deserve It (0.88) dipped 8% from last week with A18-49, while the network chose to run a repeat of Castle (0.92) at 10pm.

Over on the The CW, the network scheduled back-to-back repeats of Hart of Dixie at 8pm (0.44) and 9pm (0.45), keeping the network in a distant last place among its broadcast competition.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 12/11/11 – NBC Football Reigns, CBS’ 60 Minutes Helped by NFL Overrun

2011-12-13T17:03:00.001-05:00

With a mix of original and encore content on air, NBC’s Sunday Night Football (8.91 A18-49 Live Rtg) took its usual place at the top among A18-49 viewers, featuring NFC East rivals New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys. The highly anticipated match-up attracted a 25% larger A18-49 audience than last week’s game (Detroit Lions vs. New Orleans Saints), while remaining relatively steady from last year's Philadelphia Eagles vs. Dallas Cowboys game.

Driven by an NFL overrun, CBS was runner up with 60 Minutes (2.86), featuring an interview with President Obama, significantly improving over its week ago’s telecast, up by 88% among A18-49. Leading out, the 19^th season finale of Amazing Race (2.57) also benefited from the high profile coverage, delivering a 39% larger A18-49 audience than its closer last season. The Good Wife (1.89) experienced similar success, growing 27% among A18-49 week-to-week, followed by CSI: Miami (1.89), which garnered identical ratings as its lead-in, staying relatively flat from its previous episode.

Ranking third overall, FOX aired a combination of repeats (7pm hour) and new episodes of its animated fare, with The Simpsons (2.54), Cleveland Show (1.99) and Family Guy (2.55) each suffering double-digit declines among A18-49 from last week. Only American Dad (2.25) at 9:30pm was able to improve over its previous episode from two weeks ago, posting a 15% improvement in the demo.

Sandwiched between encores of America’s Funniest Home Videos and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, ABC’s Once Upon A Time (1.98) fell 9% from its week ago telecast among A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 12/9/11 – Univision Leads CBS Friday Night

2011-12-12T17:17:00.002-05:00

With mostly repeat programming across broadcast prime, Univision’s line-up of telenovelas, including Familia con Suerte (1.50 A18-49 Live Rtg), Fuerza del Destino (1.86) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.24), easily took the win among A18-49 Friday night.

CBS’ holiday repeat block, including the highest rated English-language program, Frosty the Snowman (1.80), followed up by an encore of Blue Bloods at 10pm (1.02) led the network to rank second overall with A18-49 viewers.

With NBC ranking third in the target demo, Dateline at 10pm (1.47) improved a hefty 67% with A18-49 from last week’s airing, while Grimm at 9pm (1.34) posted nearly an identical audience from its previous original, which aired in a special Thursday 10pm timeslot the night before. Despite garnering less than a 1.0 A18-49 rating, Chuck (0.88) delivered a 16% larger audience than its last original three weeks prior.

Two episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8pm 0.96, 9pm 1.34) and a relatively flat week-to-week performance by 20/20 (1.23) led to a fourth place finish for ABC across A18-49. Showing some prospect, the second hour of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition significantly improved over the 8 o’clock hour (+40%), also experiencing a 9% lift over its week ago performance.

Rounding out the rest of the broadcasters, FOX and The CW fell behind a number cable networks, ABC Family (The Santa Clause, Sant Clause 3), Discovery (Gold Rush) and Syfy (WWE), scheduling all encores of its Friday line-up.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Thursday 12/08/11 - CBS' Return to Originals Beats NFL Network's Thursday Night Football

2011-12-09T16:59:00.003-05:00

For the first time in three weeks, CBS entered Thursday night with a full lineup of original episodes, including the night's highest rated program of the evening, The Big Bang Theory (3.22 A18-49 Live Rating), Rules of Engagement (2.46), Person of Interest (2.23) and The Mentalist (2.41). While the network's comedies couldn't improve upon their previous airings on 11/14/11 with A18-49, the dramas reported better success, improving 5% and 12%, respectively.

With the NFL Network hosting its fourth week of Thursday Night Football (2.45), last night's game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns surpassed the A18-49 audience for last week's game (Philadelphia Eagles vs. Seattle Seahawks) by 6%, while also growing 24% from a year ago (Indianapolis Colts vs. Tennessee Titans).

With stiffer competition on CBS this week, FOX's Live episode of the X Factor (2.36) results show, combined with the latest episode of Bones (1.96), dropped the network to third place overall after both programs declined with A18-49 viewership from their previous episodes a week ago.

Continuing with its special programming, ABC kicked off the night with Christmas editions of Wipeout (1.66) at 8pm and America's Funniest Home Videos (1.75) at 9pm, with the former reporting lower viewership and latter garnering better ratings than their previous airings. At 10pm, the network's special airing of The Great Big American Auction (1.34) landed last in the hour, displaying a 53% drop from ABC's Barbara Walters special last year.

NBC's comedy block experienced mixed results, as the most recent airings of Community (1.04) and Parks & Recreation (1.19) experienced moderate declines with A18-49 from a week ago. With The Office (2.02) holding steady from its previous episode, Whitney (1.57) reported a 5% larger audience than last week. With the network struggling in the 10pm hour, a special airing of Grimm (1.35) took a turn last night, improving 10% with A18-49 viewers from NBC's airing of Prime Suspect a week ago.

Over on The CW, the network featured an all repeat schedule for the third consecutive week, with its lineup of Vampire Diaries (0.41) and The Secret Circle (0.32) trailing significantly behind its broadcast competition.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 12/07/11 – FOX and CBS Battle for First Place, Top Model Season Finale Up

2011-12-08T17:46:00.006-05:00

Barely edging past CBS, FOX’s combination of X Factor (2.69 A18-49 Live Rtg) and I Hate My Teenage Daughter (1.91) landed the network in first place for the night with A18-49 viewers. With the reality competition declining 9% among A18-49 from last week, the latest FOX sitcom fell even further, losing more than a quarter of its premiere audience.

Returning to a full line-up of originals this week, CBS garnered the second largest A18-49 audience overall. Survivor (2.21) opened the evening strong, up 11% among A18-49 from last week, while Criminal Minds (2.87) declined 10% from its previous episode three weeks ago. Closing out the night, CSI (2.28) was on par with its last original telecast in the key demo.

Despite experiencing growth across its entire line-up, ABC could only capture third place with A18-49. ABC’s comedy block, including the highest-rated program of the night, Modern Family (3.40), posted 6-14% A18-49 increases from its last round of new episodes on 11/23/11, with the 10pm drama, Revenge (1.95), improved over its last original that same week by 15%.

With the network ranking behind Univision, NBC’s Up All Night (1.34) returned with a new episode, growing from its last original three weeks ago, followed by an encore at 8:30pm. Falling slightly from last week, Harry’s Law (1.01) led into Law & Order: SVU (1.64), which also declined week-to-week with A18-49 viewers.

Rounding out broadcast, the 9pm season finale of The CW’s America’s Next Top Model (0.86) following an encore, posted a 28% larger A18-49 audience than last season’s finale on 5/18/11.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 12/06/11 – FOX #1, American Chopper Helps Discovery Win Cable

2011-12-07T17:32:00.003-05:00

With an all repeat line-up on CBS, FOX inched ahead for first place among A18-49 with Glee (1.90 A18-49 Live Rtg), New Girl (2.40) and Raising Hope (1.76), despite experiencing 9-11% week-to-week declines across all programs in the demo.

Encores of CBS’ regularly scheduled Tuesday fare, including NCIS (2.05), NCIS: LA (2.08) and Unforgettable (1.59) still nabbed the network the No. 2 position with A18-49 viewers.

Falling 21% among A18-49 from its last Christmas special (Christmas in Rockefeller Center), NBC’s A Michael Buble Christmas (1.39) provided a weak lead-in for Biggest Loser (1.91) at 9pm, which slipped slightly from its week ago performance.

Telenovelas, Familia con Suerte (1.65) and Fuerza del Destino (2.03), and an hour-long interview with Shakira on Aqui y Ahora (1.12) drove Univision to garner the fourth largest A18-49 audience of the night.

Over on cable, the winner of the American Chopper: Senior vs. Junior Buildoff (2.04) was revealed last night on Discovery, fueling the network to the top across cable, while ranking fifth overall, ahead of ABC and The CW. Boosted by its lead-in, the series premiere of Moonshiners (1.20) more than doubled its year ago time period occupant, Auction Kings, among A18-49.

Posting only small gains from last week, Last Man Standing (2.01) still remained the highest rated series on ABC, while Man Up! (1.42) fell slightly with A18-49 viewers. Following repeats of The Middle (0.99) and Suburgatory (1.18), Body of Proof (1.29) at 10pm dropped the most versus a week ago, down 17% among A18-49.

Rounding out broadcast, a new episode of The CW’s 90210 (0.60) at 8pm preceded an encore of Ringer (0.35), delivering one of the only week-to-week increases across broadcast last night.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 12/05/11 - ESPN MNF Continues its Streak as CBS Returns with Original Episodes

2011-12-06T17:45:00.003-05:00

Continuing to dominate the Monday night landscape, ESPN's Monday Night Football (3.62 A18-49 Live Rating) telecast, featuring the San Diego Chargers and Jacksonville Jaguars, fueled the network to average the largest A18-49 audience, despite reporting double-digit percent declines from both a week ago (New York Giants vs. New Orleans Saints) and a year ago (New York Jets vs. New England Patriots).

Shifting to the broadcast landscape, CBS returned to an all original lineup last night for this first time in two weeks, though new episodes of its comedies How I Met Your Mother (2.99), 2 Broke Girls (3.47), Two and a Half Men (4.00) and Mike & Molly (3.44) all experienced slight declines among A18-49 from their previous airings on 11/21/11. The network's 10pm drama, however, experienced slightly better results, as Hawaii Five-O (2.62) reported an 8% larger audience.

Trailing CBS, FOX's special telecast of the American Country Awards (1.83) drove the network to second place among its broadcast competition with A18-49, with the program improving viewership by 26% from last year's awards show on 12/06/10.

For the second consecutive week, ABC filled the 8pm time slot with holiday specials, as Charlie Brown Christmas (2.56) and Prep and Landing 2 (2.02) led off the night. Despite the solid start from its animation programs, new episodes of You Deserve It (0.96) at 9pm and Castle (1.63) at 10pm still dropped by double-digit percentages from their previous originals among A18-49.

A special Christmas edition of The Sing Off (1.02) provided NBC with a weak start last night, as the program declined by nearly 60% among A18-49 from both its season finale a week ago and the programs' season 2 premiere last year. Affected by the weak lead-in, the network's 10pm program, Rock Center with Brian Williams (0.88), drew an 18% smaller A18-49 audience than last week's episode.

With additional original competition on the broadcast networks than in past weeks, The CW's latest episodes of Gossip Girl (0.40) and Hart of Dixie (0.63) both experienced declines in viewing among A18-49 from a week ago, dropping 13% and 9%, respectively.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 12/04/11 - Sunday Night Football Helps NBC Edge FOX

2011-12-06T11:52:00.000-05:00

With all four broadcast networks returning to their regularly scheduled Sunday night programming, NBC's Sunday Night Football (7.14 A18-49 Live Rating) telecast, featuring the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints, fueled the network to the highest A18-49 viewership of the evening, despite reporting a 6% decline from the previous week's matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Pittsburgh Steelers.

Helped by some overrun of its National NFL Game (10.29) and the most recent episode of The OT (7.16), FOX averaged the second highest A18-49 audience Sunday night. With its stronger lead-in programming, the network's animation block of The Simpsons (3.42), Allen Gregory (2.25), Family Guy (2.90) and The Cleveland Show (2.28) all reported double-digit percent viewership increases from their respective episodes a week ago.

Facing greater competition during the earlier hours Sunday, CBS and ABC tied for third among A18-49 viewers, with nearly all of the network's programming experiencing declines from their previous original airings.

CBS' latest episode of 60 Minutes (1.52) was the most impacted show, declining 56% among A18-49 from a week ago. While the network's airings of Amazing Race (1.96) and The Good Wife (1.49) experienced less erosion, CSI: Miami (1.86) was the only program to report greater viewing with A18-49, increasing 10% from its last original episode on 11/20/11.

Over on ABC, the network's lineup of America's Funniest Home Videos (1.34), Once Upon A Time (2.18), Desperate Housewives (2.03) and Pan Am (1.30) all experienced declines from their previous original, averaging a 13% drop between the four programs.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 12/02/11 - Univision Wins, But FOX's Pac-12 Championship Also Scores

2011-12-05T16:38:00.004-05:00

For the fourth consecutive week, Univision averaged the largest A18-49 audience Friday night, with its lineup of Familia con Suerte (1.56 A18-49 Live rating), Fuerza del Destino (1.98) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.19) improving 12% over the network's schedule a week ago.

Following the conference expansion from 10 teams to 12 this year, FOX negotiated the rights to host the first-ever Pac-12 Conference Championship (1.29) game. With a berth in the Rose Bowl at stake, Friday night's game between the #9-ranked Oregon Ducks and unranked UCLA Bruins drove the network to a first place finish among the English-speaking broadcast networks with A18-49 viewers, nearly doubling the audience of FOX's lineup of Good Guys last year.

Returning to its regularly scheduled Friday programming, CBS trailed only FOX among its English-speaking broadcast competition, as new episodes of A Gifted Man (1.09), CSI: NY (1.15) and Blue Bloods (1.32) each reported declines among A18-49 compared to their previous original airings two weeks ago.

On ABC, back-to-back episodes of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition at 8pm (0.98) and 9pm (1.23) started things off for the network, with each program averaging a lower A18-49 audience than their respective airings two weeks ago. Retaining nearly all of its lead-in audience, the network's newest edition of 20/20 (1.19) reported a slight gain in A18-49 viewership from its previous original episode a week ago.

Finishing slightly ahead of The CW, NBC's original movie, Game of Your Life (0.49), declined 50% among A18-49 from the network's movie the previous week, National Treasure: Book of Secrets, while also reporting a similar drop from another feature film last year, A Walk in My Shoes. At 10pm, the latest episode of Dateline (0.88) failed to improve upon its previous original airing two weeks ago, declining 34% among A18-49

The Fall finales of Nikita (0.41) and Supernatural (0.55) on The CW also reported lower A18-49 viewership from their previous original airings on 11/18/11, while displaying even sharper drop-offs from last year's editions of Smallville and Supernatural on 12/03/10.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live ratings

Thursday 12/01/11 - FOX Edges NFL Network for #1

2011-12-02T16:36:00.000-05:00

Entering its third week of Thursday Night Football (2.21 Live A18-49 Rating), the NFL Network averaged the largest cable audience of the evening, though trailed FOX's combination of X Factor (2.51) and Bones (2.27), as both programs held relatively steady from their previous original airings two weeks ago.

Sticking with another week of holiday programming, ABC kicked off the evening with an encore airing of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (2.08) at 8pm. Continuing with the Christmas theme, the network followed with a two-hour special at 9pm, CMA Country Christmas (2.00), which improved 48% from its 90-minute telecast last year, helping ABC land the second-largest broadcast viewership among A18-49.

For the second consecutive week, CBS featured an all-repeat lineup of The Big Bang Theory (2.68), Rules of Engagement (2.09), Person of Interest (1.49) and The Mentalist (1.57), dropping the network 5% with A18-49 viewers from the previous week's average, but still placing ahead of NBC and The CW.

Returning from its holiday hiatus last week, original episodes of NBC's Community (1.08), Parks & Recreation (1.28), The Office (2.02) and Whitney (1.49) all reported moderate viewing declines with A18-49 from two weeks ago, while the network's latest airing of Prime Suspect (1.23) improved viewership by 17%, though still ranked last in the 10pm hour.

Similar to CBS, The CW rolled out an all-repeat schedule for the second week in a row, with its lineup of Vampire Diaries (0.39) and The Secret Circle (0.34) lagging significantly behind its broadcast competition among A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 11/30/11 – FOX Wins, I Hate My Teenage Daughter Debuts

2011-12-01T18:25:00.001-05:00

FOX paid tribute to Michael Jackson in last night’s The X Factor (2.97), fueling an A18-49 win for the network overall. Dropping 12% out if its lead-in, the last fall series premiere of the season, I Hate My Teenage Daughter (2.60), improved over the year ago time period, but was far less successful when compared to FOX’s other freshman series debut of New Girl on 9/20/11 (-29%).

With less competition on ABC and NBC, CBS’ Survivor (1.99) significantly grew over last week’s performance, up 47% with A18-49. Following a repeat of Criminal Minds, the Grammy Nomination Concert special (1.86) also grew, increasing by 15% from the same special a year ago. Overall, the network placed second among A18-49 viewers.

An all repeat line-up of ABC’s comedy block and Revenge still garnered a third place finish among A18-49 Wednesday night.

Slightly down from last year, the Christmas in Rockefeller Center special (1.75) led into new episodes of Harry’s Law (1.08) and Law & Order: SVU (1.91), both improving among A18-49 from their previous episodes two weeks ago

Ranking last across broadcast, a special airing of Muppets Christmas Special: Letters to Santa (0.80) helped America’s Next Top Model (0.60) at 9pm double its A18-49 audience from its week ago telecast.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 11/29/11 – CBS’ Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Most-Watched

2011-11-30T17:24:00.002-05:00

CBS led the night with its annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show (4.17 A18-49 Live Rtg), which garnered the largest A18-49 audience of the night, improving by 32% from its last special one year ago. Preceding the 10pm telecast, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer (3.72) at 8pm and a repeat of NCIS (2.72) at 9pm also delivered solid viewership.

Opening the night on FOX, Glee (2.10) returned with an original episode, remaining flat versus two weeks ago. Sitcoms New Girl (2.64) and Raising Hope (1.98) followed at 9pm, with both improving 9% among A18-49 from their previous episodes and helping the network to second place for the evening.

With less competition from ABC (DWTS) and FOX (X Factor) this week, NBC’s two-hour Biggest Loser (1.97) grew 25% from week ago, though still delivered a 24% smaller A18-49 audience than last year. Helped by its elevated lead-in, a new Parenthood (1.73) at 10pm was up 23% in the demo from last week, as the network moved up to third place overall for the night.

ABC’s Tuesday comedy hour delivered less than stellar results compared to a week ago, as both Last Man Standing (1.93) and Man Up! (1.47) declined by double-digit percentages among A18-49. Leading out of an hour-long repeat of The Middle at 9pm, Body of Proof (1.56) was also down from its last original two weeks ago, dropping the network to fifth place behind Univision.

Even with 90210 (0.52) up by 24% from last week among A18-49 viewers, The CW fell out of the Top 10 Tuesday night. Ringer (0.47) at 9pm delivered its lowest A18-49 viewership in more than 6 weeks, fueling The CW’s weak performance.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 11/28/11 – ESPN Leads with Monday Night Football

2011-11-30T10:38:00.001-05:00

Football reigned Monday night as ESPN took the top spot across broadcast and cable among A18-49, airing the New York Giants vs. New Orleans Saints match-up (5.23 A18-49 Live Rtg) Monday night, up 12% from last week’s game in the demo.

Even with an all repeat line-up of its Monday programming, CBS was the top broadcaster with A18-49 viewers, trailing ESPN by more than two full rating points.

Placing third overall, FOX’s Terra Nova (1.63) and House (1.90) each inched up 4% and 5%, respectively in the demo from last week. Despite placing second in the hour behind CBS’ comedies, House remained significantly down from its year ago performance.

Opening the night, ABC’s holiday specials, a new episode of You Deserve It (1.29) and repeat of Castle kept the network in fourth place. Dropping 20% from its premiere, You Deserve It at 9pm ranked third in the hour across broadcast.

With the season finale of The Sing Off (1.38) down more than 40% among A18-49 from last year’s finale, NBC fell behind Univision, History and USA for the night. Despite growing by double-digit percentages, Rock Center with Brian Williams (1.08) ranked last with A18-49 viewers in the 10pm hour.

Last across broadcast, The CW’s Gossip Girl (0.46) remained flat, while lead-out Hart of Dixie (0.69) improved over week ago among A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Sunday 11/27/11 – Sunday Night Football Wins for NBC

2011-11-29T18:37:00.002-05:00

Returning to regularly scheduled programming after the holiday, NFL coverage on NBC of the Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Kansan City Chiefs game (7.63 A18-49 Live Rtg) led Sunday night among A18-49, growing from both year ago and week ago benchmarks.

CBS was runner up Sunday night with a mix of original and repeat content. An NFL overrun helped 60 Minutes (3.48) gain a 28% larger A18-49 audience over last week’s performance, followed by Amazing Race (2.21), which remained relatively flat from week ago with A18-49 viewers. Finishing up the night, CBS aired two encores of Person of Interest.

With the exception of The Simpsons (2.21), which was flat week-to-week, FOX’s animated programming suffered declines among A18-49 with Allen Gregory (1.40) down the most (-19% from last week), landing the network in third place.

Rounding out the night, ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos (1.70) at 7pm delivered a solid A18-49 performance, improving 7% from its previous original on 11/13/11, while a new episode of Once Upon a Time (2.41) at 8pm fell 14% from two weeks among A18-49. Keeping the network in last place, a special airing of Mitch Albom's Have a Little Faith movie (1.02) underperformed in the demo.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Friday 11/25/11 – Univision Leads, Tyler Perry’s Latest Sitcom Premieres on TBS

2011-11-29T11:13:00.001-05:00

With a mix of repeats and holiday specials scheduled across English-language broadcast, Univision led the night with telenovelas, Fuerza del Destino (1.83 A18-49 Live Rtg) and Rosa de Guadalupe (1.07).

FOX was runner up with an encore airing of Iron Man (1.26), followed by ABC which featured Shrek the Third (1.06) and 20/20 episode (1.14).

TBS beat out NBC, CBS and The CW with a House of Payne block and the debut of its latest Tyler Perry sitcom, For Better or Worse (1.30), which tripled the year ago time period occupant (The Office) among A18-49.

College football (Pittsburgh vs. West Virginia, California vs. Arizona State) on ESPN also edged passed the remaining broadcasters with A18-49 viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Thursday 11/24/11 – NFL Network Rules on Thanksgiving Night

2011-11-29T11:08:00.009-05:00

On Thanksgiving night, coverage of the San Francisco 49ers vs. Baltimore Ravens game (3.90 A18-49 Live Rtg) on the NFL Network ruled the evening among A18-49. The game was up by nearly 50% from the year ago game (Cincinnati Bengals vs. New York Jets) among A18-49, while also improving over the network’s week ago match-up between the New York Jets and Denver Broncos.

With an all-repeat line-up of its Thursday programming, CBS trailed in second place, followed by FOX which aired a mix of Christmas specials and a repeat of The Simpsons.

Ranking fourth in the demo, ABC ended the night with a 90-minute Very Gaga Thanksgiving (1.47), which grew over last year’s Beyonce special by 19% among A18-49.

A special telecast of Horton Hears a Who? and Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade special on NBC and repeats of The CW’s regular Thursday line-up rounded out the night across broadcast.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Wednesday 11/23/11 – Broadcast Down, ABC the Clear Winner

2011-11-28T18:14:00.014-05:00

Despite declines across every program on ABC’s all-original line-up, the network owned the night before Thanksgiving across A18-49 viewers as its holiday-themed Wednesday comedies and Revenge (1.69 A18-49 Live rtg) easily surpassed FOX’s combo of The X Factor (2.05) and special telecast of Mobbed (1.40). With X Factor down 18% from its previous episode on 11/17/11 among A18-49, Howie Mandel’s Mobbed special fell a hefty 59% from its last telecast in March.

CBS slipped to third place with A18-49 as only Survivor (1.35) aired a new episode, falling by double-digit percentages from week ago and year ago benchmarks. Although growing out of the 8pm hour, both repeats of Criminal Minds and CSI were unable to carry the network to second place.

NBC’s performance was underwhelming as a new Up All Night at 8pm registered just at a 1.0 A18-49 Live rating, followed by a repeat episode at 8:30pm. A two hour Biggest Loser: Where Are They Now? (1.00) also delivered lackluster ratings, down 28% from the same special a year ago.

Preceded by a repeat, an original America’s Next Top Model (0.30) at 9pm garnered only half of the A18-49 audience from last week.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 11/22/11 – ABC Leads Tuesday with DWTS Finale, FOX’s X Factor Second

2011-11-28T11:38:00.003-05:00

Tuesday night marked ABC’s 13^th season finale of Dancing with the Stars (3.53). The network easily took first place for the night among A18-49, despite posting 25% declines in the demo from last year’s closer. Prior to the finale, its comedy hour of Last Man Standing (2.21) and Man Up! (1.72) delivered double-digit increases among A18-49 week-to-week, up 14% and 15%, respectively.

Although the reality series posted a 15% decline from its 11/16/11 airing, a two-hour episode of The X Factor (2.64) still helped FOX average the second-highest A18-49 viewership of the evening.

Falling to third place with A18-49, CBS’ Tuesday night drama line-up, NCIS (2.70), NCIS: LA (2.60) and Unforgettable (2.05), each suffered declines from their prior originals.

With significant competition, NBC’s Biggest Loser (1.58) and Parenthood (1.41) fell by double-digit percentages among A18-49, with the latter ranking last in the 10PM hour.

Followed by an encore of Hart of Dixie, The CW's 90210 original (0.42) at 8pm experienced a 13% decline with A18-49 viewers from the week prior.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Monday 11/21/11 - Monday Night Football Reigns

2011-11-22T16:25:00.003-05:00

Continuing its dominance on Monday night, ESPN's latest Monday Night Football (4.69 A18-49 Live Rating) matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots averaged the largest A18-49 audience of the evening, despite declining by 15% from last week's NFC North rivalry between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.

Though CBS' entire lineup experienced viewership declines from a week ago, the network still placed second among A18-49 viewers for the evening. While comedies How I Met Your Mother (3.15), 2 Broke Girls (3.53), Two and a Half Men (4.11) and Mike & Molly (3.52) fueled viewership for CBS, Hawaii Five-O (2.42) still remained the highest rated program at 10pm, despite a decline of 15% from last week's airing.

The final performance episode of the Fall season for Dancing with the Stars (2.81) helped draw the second largest A18-49 broadcast audience last night, as the 8pm hour improved slightly from last week's two-hour episode with viewers tuning in to see the last three contestants. Aided by a solid lead-in, the series debut of game show You Deserve It (1.61) at 9pm still lost 43% of its Dancing audience, landing lower than last year's series debut of Skating with the Stars. Stemming from the loss of viewership during the previous hour, the network's 10pm episode of Castle (1.90) dropped 15% from the programs' previous original two weeks ago.

FOX's newest episode of Terra Nova (1.57) got the network off to a third place start as the telecast declined 5% with A18-49 from last week. The 9pm hour fared slightly better for the network, as House (1.81) held relatively steady with week ago viewing levels, providing FOX with the second largest A18-49 audience in the hour.

Retaining all of its A18-49 viewership from last week, NBC’s two-hour airing of The Sing-Off (1.14) continued to struggle for the network, while the most recent episode of Rock Center (0.87) at 10pm lost 10% from last week's telecast, which featured a phone interview with Penn State Assistant Football Coach, Jerry Sandusky.

Over on The CW, the network's airings of Gossip Girl (0.47) and Hart of Dixie (0.54) each showed improvement from their airings a week ago, growing 12% and 8%, respectively, with A18-49 viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 11/20/11 - NBC's NFL Overshadows ABC's American Music Awards

2011-11-22T08:56:00.006-05:00

This past Sunday reported a similar result seen so far this season, as NBC's Sunday Night Football (7.33 A18-49 Live Rating ), featuring the NFC rivalry between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants, averaged the largest A18-49 audience of the evening, despite declining 14% from last year's telecast, which featured the exact same matchup, and 6% from the previous week's game between the New York Jets and New England Patriots.

Taking the night off from its regularly scheduled programming, ABC's award show lineup of Countdown to the AMA's (1.20) and the 2011 American Music Awards (3.86) placed the network second among A18-49 viewership Sunday night, with the latter remaining relatively steady from last year's awards telecast.

Despite receiving the aid of some NFL overrun into Primetime on Sunday, CBS drew the third largest A18-49 audience among the broadcast networks as its entire lineup reported double-digit percent declines from a year ago. However, compared to the previous week, 60 Minutes (2.72) and Amazing Race (2.16) both benefited from extended NFL coverage, improving viewership by 45% and 9%, respectively, while the The Good Wife (1.56) and CSI: Miami (1.69) dipped 4% and 8%, respectively, from a week ago.

Bringing up the rear among the broadcast networks, FOX kicked off its animation schedule with a repeat of The Cleveland Show (0.94) at 7pm and the program's new time-slot premiere at 7:30pm (1.58), the latter of which dropped 15% among A18-49 from last year's Simpson's repeat. The majority of the network's remaining lineup, including The Simpsons (2.24), Allen Gregory (1.73) and Family Guy (2.41), also reported drops from both year ago and week ago benchmarks, while the 9:30 airing of American Dad (2.13) held relatively steady with A18-49 viewers.

Looking at Sunday's cable landscape, extended coverage of the Ford 400 (2.53), the final NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season, helped ESPN drew the greatest A18-49 cable audience Sunday night, while the latest episode of The Walking Dead (2.13) fueled AMC to a second place finish with A18-49 cable viewers, holding relatively steady to last week's viewing benchmarks.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live viewing

Friday 11/18/11 - Univision Leads, Most Broadcast Programs Improve Week-To-Week

2011-11-21T16:32:00.002-05:00

A18-49 viewers flocked to Univision with its line-up of Familia Con Suerta (1.59 A18-49 Live Rtg), Fuerza Del Destino (1.79) and Rosa De Guadalupe (1.17), driving the network to rank first across the TV landscape.

CBS landed the network in second among A18-49, with freshman drama, A Gifted Man (1.13) opening the night and improving 10% from a week ago, while CSI: NY (1.47) remained relatively steady week-to-week. Drawing an 18% higher A18-49 audience from its prior original, Blue Bloods at 10PM (1.79) ranked as the most-watched program on English-language broadcast with A18-49.

Third place ABC benefitted from a two hour block of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8PM 1.03, 9PM 1.47), which improved 49% and 10% from their respective prior originals. 20/20 (1.25) at 10PM reported mininal viewing decreases from one week ago.

On NBC, a new episode of Chuck (0.76) increased 9% among A18-49 from week prior, while Grimm (1.25) enjoyed double-digit percentage growth with A18-49 from last week (+17%). Ranking second at 10PM, Dateline (1.34) reported minimal viewing increases from one week ago.

FOX's Kitchen Nightmares (1.15) suffered declines from its week ago airing, but still managed a first place finish during the 8PM hour with A18-49. The 4th season Fall Finale of Fringe at 9PM (0.72) suffered less fall-off, down just 6% from its week ago performance.

Ranking last across broadcast, The CW’s Nikita (0.54) and Supernatural (0.59) still posted A18-49 ratings increases, up 6% and 2%, respectively, from last week.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Thursday 11/17/11 - CBS Nabs First Thursday Win Among A18-49

2011-11-18T16:31:00.002-05:00

CBS emerged as the highest rated network among A18-49 last night for the first time this season, with The Big Bang Theory continuing its reign among all programming (3.91), remaining relatively steady week-to-week. While Rules of Engagement (3.03) also remained at similar week ago levels, both drama series (Person of Interest and The Mentalist) were unable to improve from their prior originals two weeks ago.

While FOX secured a second place finish across broadcast networks among A18-49, X Factor at 8PM (2.51) posted an 7% decline from last week, while Bones (2.31) topped the 9PM hour, drawing a larger A18-49 audience compared to last week's episode (+10%).

Improving 36% from last week's airing of Charlie's Angels, ABC's 8PM 20/20 special, featuring Regis Philbin, also increased 25% from the network's previous 20/20 special on 11/11/11 at 9PM, while a two-hour episode of Private Practice declined 10% from its 10PM telecast a week ago.

On NBC, only Community (1.21), Parks & Recreation (1.37) and The Office (2.16) posted an uptick with A18-49 viewers over last week, as the rest of the line-up, including Whitney (1.57) and Prime Suspect (1.05), both fell from week ago benchmarks.

Breaking from its regular Thursday schedule, The CW featured a repeat of the two-hour television movie, Beneath the Blue (0.32), resulting in a significant A18-49 viewing decline of 57% from last week's schedule of Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Wednesday 11/16/11 - X Factor Wins For FOX, Suburgatory and Revenge Decline

2011-11-17T16:42:00.001-05:00

Fueling FOX to a first place finish across the TV landscape last night, X Factor (3.09) achieved a similar A18-49 audience versus last week.

CBS secured a second place finish Wednesday night among A18-49, with both Survivor (2.31) and Criminal Minds (3.19) enjoying an uptick in ratings versus their prior originals. Remaining at WAG viewership levels, CSI at 10PM (2.30) ranked #1 for the hour, displaying 30% growth with A18-49 over last year's The Defenders.

ABC ranked third among A18-49, with its entire line-up (The Middle, Suburgatory, Modern Family, Happy Endings, Revenge) reporting viewing declines versus their prior originals two weeks ago. Although Revenge (2.12) posted an 11% decline with A18-49 viewers, the drama still managed a second place finish at 10PM.

Achieving 16% higher A18-49 viewership levels versus last week, NBC's Up All Night (1.45) opened the night on a positive note, followed by a repeat of the series at 8:30PM. Harry’s Law (0.92) suffered double-digit percentage declines from WAG (-16%), while Law & Order: SVU (1.73) experienced an 8% ratings boost.

Leading out of a repeat of The CW's America’s Next Top Model, an original of the same series (0.64) at 9PM rebounded from week-ago levels with A18-49 (+14%).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 11/15/11 - CBS Continues to Roll, While FOX Edges ABC

2011-11-16T17:17:00.004-05:00

Continuing to dominate Tuesday nights with its slate of dramas, CBS' lineup of NCIS (3.13 A18-49 Live Rating), NCIS: LA (2.86) and Unforgettable (2.21) averaged the largest A18-49 audience of the evening, with each of its programs holding relatively steady to last week's viewership levels.

Though FOX's 8pm hour of Glee (2.08) remains significantly lower than its performance last year, the network's 9pm comedy hour, consisting of freshman New Girl (2.43) and Raising Hope (1.81), continues to draw a larger audience than a year ago, pushing the network to a second place finish with A18-49 viewers.

The latest episodes of ABC's comedies Last Man Standing (1.94) and Man Up! (1.49) both reported declines from last week's A18-49 benchmarks, though the network's 9pm airing of Dancing with the Stars: Results Show (2.36) held relatively steady despite the weaker lead-in. At 10pm, Body of Proof displayed slight gains from a week ago, remaining the second-highest rated program in the hour.

Drawing an 11% smaller A18-49 audience than last week's episode, NBC's Biggest Loser (1.76) provided a softer lead-in for Parenthood (1.65) at 10pm, though the latter retained nearly all of its Loser audience, reporting only a slight dip from last week's viewership levels.

Over on The CW, the network's latest airing of 90210 (0.48) dropped 14% among A18-49 viewers from a week ago, though its 9pm episode of Ringer (0.56) held relatively steady with this target, while also remaining slightly ahead of last year's time-period occupant, Life Unexpected.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live ratings

Monday 11/14/11 – Monday Night Football Leads, CBS Only Broadcast Net to Improve

2011-11-15T17:38:00.001-05:00

Declining 15% among A18-49, ESPN’s coverage of Monday Night Football (5.49 A18-49 Live Rtg), featuring the Minnesota Vikings vs. Green Bay Packers, still fueled the network’s win across broadcast and cable.

Beyond football on cable, CBS fell into its regular #1 position across broadcast prime, with the eye network’s entire schedule inching up or remaining roughly flat versus their week ago performance. Along with single digit A18-49 improvement posted by 2 Broke Girls (3.82), Two and a Half Men (4.37) and Hawaii Five-0 (2.85), How I Met Your Mother (3.33) and Mike & Molly (3.65) were both steady week-to-week in the demo.

Ranking behind CBS, ABC's Dancing with the Stars (2.75) experienced some fall-off from last week among A18-49, while a 20/20 special edition (2.23), featuring Representative Gabrielle Giffords, significantly grew over week ago’s In the Spotlight.

After week-to-week increases last week, FOX’s Terra Nova (1.66) and House (1.77) both experienced double-digit declines from its previous episodes, down 16% and 13%, respectively among A18-49 viewers Monday night.

Placing behind USA, Univision and VH1 (Basketball Wives: LA finale, Love and Hip Hop 2 premiere), NBC had little success as The Sing Off (1.13) declined 10% among A18-49, while Rock Center with Brian Williams (0.97), including an interview with Jerry Sandusky, only improved 5% over last week.

The CW also delivered mixed results as Gossip Girl (0.42) garnered a 7% smaller A18-49 audience than week prior, while Hart of Dixie (0.50) was up 4%.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Sunday 11/13/11 - NBC Wins with NFL, Walking Dead Remains Top Rated Cable Series

2011-11-15T17:25:00.003-05:00

Reporting an 8% A18-49 viewership decline from last week's match-up between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday Night Football (7.83), featuring AFC East Rivalries New York Jets and New England Patriots, led NBC to a Sunday win among A18-49.

Powered by an NFL overrun and new episodes of its animated series, FOX delivered the second largest A18-49 audience with The Simpsons (2.94) posting an 8% drop-off from a week ago, while Allen Gregory (1.87), Family Guy (2.49) and American Dad (2.13) all remained relatively steady.

All of ABC's programming including America's Funniest Home Videos (1.59), Once Upon A Time (2.80), Desperate Housewives (2.23) and Pan Am (1.49) reported week-to-week viewership increases among A18-49, with America's Funniest Home Videos achieving the largest percent gains (+15%).

Closing out broadcast, CBS ranked last among A18-49 with both 60 Minutes (1.88) and CSI: Miami (1.83) drawing a stronger A18-49 audience compared to week ago (+7% and +12%, respectively), while Amazing Race (1.99) and The Good Wife (1.63) remained relatively steady week-to-week.

The top three cable telecasts among A18-49 remained the same from last Sunday night, with AMC's Walking Dead (2.20,-8% from last week) claiming top honors with this demographic, pushing the network to first place across cable. Losing 29% of A18-49 viewers from its Walking Dead lead-in and declining 24% from its series premiere last week, AMC's Hell On Wheels (1.29) captured the second largest cable viewership, inching past week 2 of Bravo's Real Housewives of Atlanta (1.28) fourth season (up 8% from last week).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 11/11/11 – Univision Leads, ESPN Top Three with College Basketball

2011-11-14T18:38:00.002-05:00

A18-49 viewers flocked to Univision with its Familia Con Suerta (1.52 A18-49 Live Rtg) and coverage of Mexico’s final soccer match of the year against Serbia (1.54) beginning at 9pm, driving the network to rank first across the TV landscape.

Mixed results on CBS still landed the network in second with A18-49. Freshman drama, A Gifted Man (1.03) opened the night, remaining relatively flat from week ago, while CSI: NY (1.49) inched up 3% among A18-49 from last week. Unable to significantly grow out of its lead-in like previous weeks, Blue Bloods (1.52) fell 21% in the demo from last week, but still ranked as the most-watched program on English-language broadcast with A18-49.

ESPN’s Carrier Classic (1.43), featuring No.1 North Carolina win over Michigan State, pushed the cable network to third place with A18-49 viewers, ahead of NBC, FOX and ABC.

On NBC, a new episode of Chuck (0.70) improved minimally in A18-49 viewership from week prior, while Grimm (1.07) took a double-digit hit in its third week, declining 24% in the demo. Dateline (1.32) kept the network afloat, growing its A18-49 audience by 25% in the 10pm hour.

FOX’s Friday line-up experienced little change as Kitchen Nightmares (1.28) improved slightly from lat week, while Fringe (0.77) fell by 5% among A18-49.

Anchoring the night, ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (0.69) at 8pm, fell sharply from week ago, down 39% among A18-49, followed by a 20/20 special (1.06) which held steady week-to-week. Even with double-digit increases from its previous 10pm episode, another 20/20 telecast (1.31) ranked behind Dateline in the hour.

Ranking last across broadcast, The CW’s Nikita (0.51) and Supernatural (0.58) still posted A18-49 ratings increases, up 13% and 4%, respectively from last week.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Thursday 11/10/11 – Thursday Night Football Scores, FOX Barely Edges Out CBS for First Place

2011-11-11T18:13:00.001-05:00

Despite it’s line-up of The X Factor (2.70 A18-49 Live Rtg) and Bones (2.10) experiencing double-digit percentage declines from last week among A18-49, FOX still edged ahead in the close race against CBS for first place.

With repeats of Person of Interest (1.89) and The Mentalist (1.78) weighing down CBS’ prime average, the network placed second with A18-49. CBS’ comedies The Big Bang Theory (3.84) and Rules of Engagement (3.09) held steady week-to-week among A18-49, while easily earning the top two highest program ratings of the evening.

Even with a lackluster lead-in of Charlie’s Angels (0.98), Grey’s Anatomy (2.96) still managed to grow 11% over last week’s episode, beating FOX in the time period. Also showing modest improvement, Private Practice (2.27) ranked #1 in the 10pm hour.

Fueled by the fifth season opener of Thursday Night Football (2.05), the NFL Network ranked ahead of NBC last night. Watched by 5 million Live total viewers, last night's game between the Oakland Raiders and San Diego Chargers, achieved similar A18-49 viewership levels as last season's match-up of the Baltimore Ravens and Atlanta Falcons.

On NBC, only Whitney (1.75) and Prime Suspect (1.15) posted an uptick with A18-49 viewers over last week, as the rest of the line-up, including Community (1.12), Parks and Recreation (1.36) and The Office (2.09) all fell from week ago benchmarks.

Placing last across broadcast prime, The CW’s Vampire Diaries (0.87) and Secret Circle (0.62) both declined 15% and 14%, respectively, from their previous performances among A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Wednesday 11/9/11 - CMAs Win for ABC, No Ratings Impact from Penn State Scandal Fallout

2011-11-10T19:00:00.001-05:00

Even with heavy news coverage of Joe Paterno’s firing Wednesday night, ESPN and cable news networks did not experience any substantial lift among A18-49 viewing versus week ago and year ago prime daypart benchmarks.

Across broadcast, The Country Music Awards (4.19 A18-49 Live Rtg) on ABC averaged the largest A18-49 viewership across broadcast prime. Remaining relatively flat from last year’s awards show, the special fueled ABC to a first place finish Wednesday night.

Following in second place, FOX’s The X Factor (3.12) fell slightly in the key A18-49 demo, though still delivered 51% more viewers than year ago’s Hell’s Kitchen.

CBS’ full schedule experienced declines over last week’s performances among A18-49. Survivor (2.21) fell the most, dropping 11% in the demo from last week, while Criminal Minds (2.80) and CSI (2.30) were off 8% and 7%, respectively.

Holding steady week-to-week with A18-49 viewers, Up All Night (1.25) opened the night on NBC, followed by a repeat of the series at 8:30pm. Harry’s Law (1.10) rebounded from last week, up a solid 21% among A18-49, while Law & Order: SVU (1.60) remained roughly flat.

Leading out of a repeat of America’s Next Top Model, an original of the same series (0.56) at 9pm declined double-digit percentages versus its previous episode with A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data.

Tuesday 11/8/11 – CBS Leads Tuesday, Other Networks Mixed

2011-11-09T17:07:00.005-05:00

Tuesday night was an expected win for CBS as its juggernaut franchise of NCIS (3.24 A18-49 Live Rtg) and NCIS: LA (2.92) fueled the network’s win among A18-49. Both series posted slight A18-49 increases over last week, followed by Unforgettable (2.22), which also experienced a ratings boost over its previous episode and led the 10pm hour.

FOX’s much-hyped Glee “First Time” episode (2.22) and an original New Girl (2.60) drove the network to a second place status with A18-49 viewers. Despite remaining down significantly from the year ago benchmark, Glee improved 8% from last week, while New Girl also posted a small bump among A18-49. However, even with the better lead-in, Raising Hope (1.68) at 9:30pm failed to trend up from week ago, posting a 14% decline in the demo.

No. 3 position ABC felt little movement as its entire line-up of Last Man Standing (2.15), Man Up! (1.60), Dancing with the Stars Results (2.41) and In the Spotlight with Robin Roberts (1.60) slipped between 2% and 5% week-to-week in the time period with A18-49.

Keeping up the positive momemtum from last week, the two-hour Biggest Loser (1.98) on NBC garnered a modest, but stronger A18-49 audience, growing by 5% from its last episode. Leading out at 10pm, Parenthood (1.70) fell slightly among A18-49, ranking second in the hour, ahead of ABC.

The CW also experienced mixed results as 90210 (0.56) stepped up 10% from last week among A18-49 viewers, while Ringer (0.57) fell slightly in the demo.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data. *Cable ratings not available by press time.

Monday 11/7/11 – ESPN Dominates, Week-to-Week Growth for Others

2011-11-08T17:12:00.001-05:00

With viewing levels back up from Halloween, the majority of broadcast prime and key cable programs experienced week-to-week increases with A18-49 Monday night.

ESPN dominated among A18-49 with Monday Night Football coverage of the visiting Chicago Bears upset win over the struggling Philadelphia Eagles. The game (6.47 A18-49 Live Rtg) out-delivered ESPN’s week ago performance between the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs by 46%, while also boosting its audience by 10% versus the year ago game (Steelers vs. Bengals).

Ranking second in primetime, CBS easily garnered a larger A18-49 audience than any other broadcast network as its entire line-up of How I Met Your Mother (3.31), 2 Broke Girls (3.59), Two and a Half Men (4.21), Mike & Molly (3.61) and Hawaii Five-0 (2.74) each posted growth over week ago and year ago time period performances.

Following CBS, Dancing with the Stars (2.93) and Castle (2.04) pushed ABC to third place among A18-49. Dancing with the Stars benefitted from the higher HUT levels this week with the reality series up 26% week-to-week, although Castle fell 11% from its previous episode.

Anchoring the night, Terra Nova (1.97) at 8pm began the week on a positive note, rebounding 34% from last week’s dismal performance, while House (2.04) earned a 14% larger A18-49 audience than last week.

Despite A18-49 viewing levels being slightly up for NBC’s The Sing Off (1.26), lead-out, Brian William’s Rock Center (0.92) at 10pm, failed to grow in the time period.

Over on The CW, a new episode of Gossip Girl (0.45) remained flat among A18-49 from its previous original two weeks ago, while Hart of Dixie (0.48) suffered a 19% drop-off in the demo, though still remained ahead of its lead-in in the demo.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 11/6/11 - NBC Wins with NFL, AMC’s Hell on Wheels Debuts

2011-11-08T11:16:00.002-05:00

Following week four of the ever-popular series, The Walking Dead, AMC’s latest original series, Hell on Wheels, debuted at 10pm on Sunday night. Averaging a 1.69 A18-49 Live Rtg, the debut fell 29% from its lead-in, while delivering a 26% smaller audience than The Walking Dead’s series premiere last fall (10/31/10) in the same time period. However, with its strong lead-in, Hell on Wheels easily tripled the network's audience of its more recent series opener, The Killing, on 4/3/11, pushing the network to first place with A18-49 across the cable landscape.

Slightly down from last week, Sunday Night Football (8.54), featuring the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, led NBC to a Sunday win among A18-49.

Heavily weighted by NFL overrun, FOX was runner up among A18-49 for the night. With the exception of American Dad (2.18) at 9:30pm, the network’s animated line-up of The Simpson (3.20), Allen Gregory (1.87) and Family Guy (2.47) posted declines from last week, with week 2 of Allen Gregory suffering the heaviest declines (-14%).

Leading out of an encore of Once Upon a Time at 7pm, ABC’s original telecasts of Once Upon a Time (2.68), Desperate Housewives (2.09) and Pan Am (1.40) each experienced single-digit percentage declines with A18-49 week-to-week.

Closing out broadcast, CBS ranked last among A18-49 as its entire schedule of 60 Minutes (1.76), Amazing Race (2.01), The Good Wife (1.65) and CSI: Miami (1.64) garnered lower ratings than last week.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 11/4/11 - CBS’ Blue Bloods Leads the Pack, Grimm Down in Week 2

2011-11-07T17:13:00.003-05:00

CBS owned Friday night among A18-49 with its all original drama line-up. Despite week-to-week declines among A Gifted Man (1.04 A18-49 Live Rtg) and CSI:NY (1.44), the highest rated broadcast program of the night, Blue Bloods (1.92), not only improved from last week by double-digit percentages, but also gained over its year ago A18-49 performance by 20%.

With the World Series over, third placeholder ABC (behind #2 Univision), benefitted from a two hour block of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (8pm 1.14, 9pm 1.34), which grew last week’s audience by more than 25% among A18-49. 20/20 (1.05) at 10pm had little change, remaining relatively flat from last week among A18-49.

Barely edging out FOX, NBC ranked fourth among A18-49. Even though Grimm (1.40) more than doubled its Chuck (0.68) lead-in, the freshman series declined double-digits from its premiere telecast. Dateline (1.06) suffered less fall-off, down just 7% from its week ago performance.

Back to its regular programming, Kitchen Nightmares (1.23) at 8pm improved a decent 11% among A18-49 over its last original on 10/21/11, while lead-out Fringe (0.81) experienced a modest 7% bump from its previous telecast on 10/14/11.

Rounding out the night, The CW’s Nikita (0.45) fell slightly among A18-49 from last week, while Supernatural (0.56) held steady in the demo.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 11/3/11 - X Factor and Bones Premiere Secure FOX’s #1 Spot

2011-11-04T18:31:00.002-04:00

A live results show of X Factor (3.10 A18-49 Live Rtg) and the season premiere of Bones (2.67) delivered FOX a Thursday night win among A18-49. While X Factor remained flat from its previous Thursday airing on 10/13/11, it was positioned as a strong lead-in for Bones, which experienced a 25% ratings boost among A18-49 versus its premiere last fall.

Falling just short of first place, CBS’ entire line-up of Big Bang Theory (3.83), Rules of Engagement (3.13), Person of Interest (2.26) and The Mentalist (2.48) posted A18-49 increases from last week.

While burning off additional episodes of cancelled Charlie’s Angels (1.06) at 8pm, ABC had more promising news at 9pm and 10pm as Grey’s Anatomy (2.67) and Private Practice (2.19) both grew double-digit percentages from their week ago airings.

With the exception of comedy Whitney, NBC’s schedule benefitted with the World Series over. Community (1.27), Parks and Recreation (1.51) and The Office (2.26) each garnered double-digit growth, followed by Prime Suspect (1.09) increasing its week ago A18-49 viewership by 9%. Although out-delivering its lead-out, Whitney (1.59) at 9:30pm still fell 4% week-to-week.

New episodes of The CW’s Vampire Diaries (1.02) and Secret Circle (0.72) were slightly off from last week.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 11/02/11 - X Factor Wins For FOX, ABC's Revenge Climbs

2011-11-03T16:56:00.009-04:00

Fueling FOX to a first place finish across the TV landscape last night, the newly renewed X Factor returned to Wednesdays, achieving a similar A18-49 audience versus its prior Wednesday airing one month ago.

ABC secured a second place spot Wednesday night among A18-49, with three of its comedies reporting minimal viewing declines from their prior originals (The Middle, Suburgatory, Happy Endings). The 9PM episode of Modern Family (3.97 A18-49 Live Rating) was the highest rated program among A18-49 last night, as the comedy continues to retain all of its week ago audience. Revenge (2.38) at 10PM experienced a 9% A18-49 ratings boost versus last week's episode, ranking second in the 10PM hour.

CBS took third place Wednesday night among A18-49, with both Survivor and CSI enjoying an uptick in ratings versus their prior originals; Despite achieving the highest A18-49 rating on the network, Crimimal Minds at 9PM (3.06) experienced an 8% ratings decline from its last original.

Returning to originals, NBC's line-up of Up All Night (1.26), Harry's Law (0.91) and Law & Order: SVU (1.63) all delivered lower A18-49 ratings versus their previous originals, with Up All Night posting its smallest A18-49 audience of the season.

Anchoring the night, an encore of The CW's Ringer (0.41) led into a new episode of America's Next Top Model (0.66), which suffered double-digit declines among A18-49 from last week (-16%).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 11/01/11 - FOX's Glee, New Girl and Raising Hope Return to Ratings Decline, NBC's The Biggest Loser and Parenthood On The Rise

2011-11-02T16:39:00.007-04:00

CBS took first place Tuesday night among A18-49, though its entire schedule suffered rating declines from last week. Despite the dropoff, both NCIS at 8PM and Unforgettable at 10PM won their respective times periods among A18-49.

With the conclusion of the World Series, FOX returned to its regular-scheduled line-up last night. While FOX ranked second for the night across the TV landscape with A18-49, Glee (2.05), New Girl (2.53) and Raising Hope (1.95) all posted double-digit percentage declines among A18-49 from their previous originals. All three series also hit season lows with this demo.

ABC's comedy hour of Last Man Standing (2.20) and Man Up! (1.69) delivered similar A18-49 viewership levels week-to-week, while Dancing with the Stars results show (2.45) and Body Of Proof (1.75) each grew their A18-49 audience 11% from last week.

NBC experienced a night of growth as The Biggest Loser (1.89) rebounded by 17% among A18-49, a much needed improvement over last week's season low performance. Parenthood at 10PM (1.76) also stepped week to week, up 7% from its last original two weeks ago.

The CW's 90210 (0.51) and Ringer (0.58) both experienced minimal A18-49 viewing declines from their prior originals two weeks ago (-6% and -5%, respectively).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Monday 10/31/11 - ESPN Wins With NFL Football, Mostly Declines on Halloween Night, NBC's Rock Center Debut Weak

2011-11-01T17:34:00.007-04:00

As expected, ESPN dominated primetime A18-49 viewing last night with Monday Night Football, between the San Diego Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs.

Following in second place, CBS’ line-up of comedies and Hawaii 5-0 gave the network a broadcast win among A18-49. The 9PM airing of Two and a Half Men (3.83) continued to be the highest rated broadcast program among A18-49 on Monday night, though on a downward trend, has now reached similar A18-49 viewing levels as last year's telecast. The network's subsequent program, Mike & Molly (3.17), held 83% of its lead-in audience, although reported double-digit A18-49 declines from a week ago. With the exception of Hawaii 5-0 (relatively steady from week ago), the remaining comedies 2 Broke Girls and How I Met Your Mother delivered week-to-week A18-49 viewership declines.

ABC aired a rerun of the Scared Shrekless special, followed by the 90-minute episode of Dancing With The Stars (2.33), which was down 13% from last week to an all-time low this season. At 10PM, ABC's Castle (2.30) displayed the only A18-49 broadcast increase of the night compared to week ago (+14%).

NBC's The Sing-Off declined among A18-49, falling 6% from last week and posting its smallest audience of the season. The debut of Brian Williams’ new Primetime newsmagazine Rock Center achieved the lowest broadcast ratings at 10PM (0.95), losing over 50% of its A18-49 YAG audience (SNL Special: Women of SNL).

FOX's Terra Nova (1.47) and House (1.79) posted smaller A18-49 audiences versus their previous originals (-29% and -18%, respectively), overall finishing the night in fourth place across the TV landscape with A18-49. Terra Nova also reached its lowest A18-49 ratings to date.

The CW aired back-to-back airings of The Ringer, overall delivering the weakest A18-49 ratings for the night.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 10/30/11 - NFL Pushes NBC to #1, FOX's Allen Gregory Soft Debut and Week Two of ABC Once Upon a Time Holds

2011-11-01T12:51:00.007-04:00

Led by NFC East Rivalries, Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles, NBC's Sunday Night Football dominated Sunday night (8.90 Live Rating), posting 79% viewership growth over last week's match-up between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints.

With the help of NFL overrun, CBS' 60 Minutes (3.86), featuring a segment on Ruth Madoff and son Andrew, greatly improved its A18-49 performance from last week, up 91%. The remainder of CBS' line-up (Amazing Race, The Good Wife and CSI: Miami) also enjoyed week-to-week viewership increases.

In week two, ABC's newest fantasy drama, Once Upon A Time (2.84) reported an 8% A18-49 viewing decline from its premiere, followed by Desperate Housewives, which was flat from a week ago. Averaging its lowest A18-49 rating-to-date (1.50), ABC's Pan Am lost 31% of its Desperate Housewives (2.18) lead-in audience, however retained nearly all of its WAG viewership, finishing last at 10PM.

FOX’s new animated series Allen Gregory (2.18) was off to a slow start (-23% from the 9/26/10 Cleveland Show opener), behind the highly rated annual The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror ( 3.43). New episodes of Family Guy at 9PM and The Cleveland Show at 9:30PM posted declines from their previous airings on 10/02/11 (-11% and -9%, respectively).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 10/28/11 - Solid Debut for NBC's Grimm Against Game 7 of the World Series on FOX

2011-10-31T17:19:00.007-04:00

Featuring the first series since 2002 to go the full seven games, FOX's Friday night Game 7 World Series coverage between the Texas Rangers & St. Louis Cardinals dominated the evening with A18-49 viewers (7.18 A18-49 Live Rating), posting 80% viewership growth over last year's series-deciding Game 5 between Texas and the San Francisco Giants. The game also attracted a similar audience compared to the deciding Game 6 between the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies in 2009.

Across the English-Language broadcasters, NBC found second place and success from the series debut of Grimm at 9PM (1.65), which experienced minimal viewing A18-49 declines from last year (-5%), attracting the highest rated non-sports audience of the night. Leading off the night, the fifth and final season premiere of Chuck at 8PM (0.81) achieved lower ratings compared to last year's opener on Monday 9/20/10 (-46%), while a stronger lead-in helped Dateline at 10PM improve 28% week-to-week, edging out ABC's 20/20 in the hour.

Facing tough competition from FOX, all of ABC's shows (back-to-back airings of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and 20/20) were down week-to-week, with the latter losing 46% of its A18-49 audience.

The CW's Nikita and Supernatural also suffered declines from their week ago airings, with both shows continuing to post significant erosion year-over-year.

Unlike the other broadcast networks, CBS opted to run a full line-up of repeats (A Gifted Man, CSI: Mami and CSI: NY) versus the World Series coverage Friday night, but still managed to place ahead of ABC for the evening with A18-49 viewers.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 10/27/11 - CBS' Comedies Deliver, But FOX's World Series Wins

2011-10-28T17:08:00.001-04:00

Hosting arguably the most exciting game in World Series history, last night's Game 6 between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals (6.30 A18-49 Live Rating), which featured multiple two-out rallies and a walk-off home run by the Cardinals, easily gave FOX the win among A18-49. Viewership levels to last night's telecast were 58% greater compared to last year's series-deciding Game 5 between Texas and the San Francisco Giants, though still remained 13% lower than series-deciding Game 6 of the 2009 series, which hosted larger market teams in the New York Yankees and Philadelphia Phillies.

Among scripted fare last night, CBS' comedy hour at 8pm gave the network a strong start once again, as The Big Bang Theory (3.33) and Rules of Engagement (2.78) combined for a first place finish in the hour among A18-49, with the latter program dipping 9% from its season debut a week ago. Recently picked up for a full season, the network's 9pm airing of Person of Interest (2.22) held steady from last week's viewership benchmarks, while the 10pm episode of The Mentalist (2.23) improved 7%, remaining the highest rated scripted program in the hour.

Welcoming the upcoming holiday, ABC's It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (2.14) nearly doubled the A18-49 viewership from last week's episode of Charlie's Angels, providing the network with its best Thursday night start in weeks. On par with its previous telecast, the network's 9pm airing of Grey's Anatomy (2.71) won the hour among scripted programming, with Private Practice (1.97) at 10pm also holding steady among A18-49 from week ago levels.

Choosing to run an all-original lineup against FOX's MLB coverage this week, NBC's Primetime schedule struggled to gain an audience last night. Experiencing double-digit percent declines from their previous original episodes two weeks ago, the network's first two comedies, Community (1.00) and Parks and Recreation (1.30) kicked off the night in fourth place among A18-49 viewers. The 9pm fared slightly better ratings-wise, as The Office (2.06) dropped 9% and Whitney (1.65) held relatively steady from two weeks ago, though the 10pm airing of Prime Suspect (1.00) continues be a weak spot for NBC, as the freshman drama declined 11% from its last original airing on 10/13/11.

Improving 16% from a week ago and nearly drawing a larger A18-49 audience during the 8pm hour, The CW's Vampire Diaries (1.04) again provided a solid lead-in for the network's freshman series The Secret Circle (0.74) at 9pm, which remained on par with last week's viewership levels.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 10/26/11 - Mostly Repeat Schedule Helps ABC Wins The Night

2011-10-27T16:59:00.005-04:00

With all broadcast networks featuring repeats on their schedules last night, the originals all posted week-to-week viewership growth among A18-49.

A two-hour Halloween themed comedy block, including The Middle (2.54), Suburgatory (2.86), Modern Family (repeat, 3.92), and Happy Endings (3.07) combined with a new episode of Revenge at 10PM (2.19), led ABC to a win last night among A18-49. Even in repeat mode, ABC's Modern Family at 9PM still managed to win the night among A18-49, with Revenge at 10PM also topping the hour among this demo.

Survivor (2.42) combined with repeats of Criminal Minds at 9PM and CSI at 10PM still led the network to a second place finish among A18-49 last night.

NBC's all repeat line-up, including Up All Night, Whitney, Harry's Law and Prime Suspect drove the network to a fifth place finish last night across broadcast and cable with A18-49 (tied USA), behind FX.

The postponement of Game 6 of the World Series last night prompted FOX to air back-to-back repeats of Glee, pushing the network to a ninth place finish for the night, behind A&E and TBS.

The CW's repeat airing of Ringer (0.39) continued to provide a better start for the network at 8PM, leading to 11% A18-49 viewership growth for America's Next Top Model (0.79) from its previous episode.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 10/25/11 – First Live X Factor Show Draws Premiere-Level Audience

2011-10-26T16:58:00.005-04:00

Growing 16% from last week and matching its premiere ratings, last night’s first live telecast of X Factor (3.57 A18-49 Live Rtg) led FOX to a #1 status among A18-49.

Up against heavier competition from FOX, CBS still improved overall for the night among A18-49 with both NCIS (3.27) and NCIS: LA (3.21) posting modest A18-49 increases over last week. Unforgettable (2.24) at 10pm was roughly flat from its previous episode, but remained ahead of the year ago time period performance of The Good Wife.

ABC’s 8pm comedies took a hit against X Factor with Last Man Standing (2.18) down 13% among A18-49 and the second episode of Man Up! (1.68) down 20% from its premiere. Having already established its A18-49 audience this season, Dancing with the Stars was on par from last week. At 10pm, Body of Proof (1.58) also delivered similar viewership levels week to week among A18-49.

A two hour Biggest Loser on NBC held flat with A18-49 from a week ago, while an encore of Prime Suspect at 10pm in place of Parenthood, ranked last in the hour.

The CW was in repeat mode, choosing to air back-to-back repeats of Ringer last night.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Monday 10/24/11 – World Series Game 5 on FOX Leads Monday Night

2011-10-25T16:50:00.010-04:00

*ESPN Monday Night Football ratings were unavailable before press time and excluded from this analysis.

With the Texas Rangers one game away from winning the World Series (4.05 A18-49 Live Rtg), FOX ranked first across the night among A18-49, posting an 11% advantage over second place CBS. The game attracted similar audience levels as last year’s game 5 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants on 11/01/10.

CBS' line-up was not impacted by World Series coverage, as How I Met Your Mother (3.07), 2 Broke Girls (3.67) and Mike & Molly (3.64) all posted a slight uptick in A18-49 ratings week-to-week. Both Two and a Half Men (4.42) and Hawaii Five-O (2.67) remained on par from their previous episodes, with Two and a Half Men topping all broadcast programs for the night among A18-49.

Capturing a third place spot across broadcast last night, ABC's Dancing With The Stars (2.67) and Castle (2.02) remained below YAG levels (-28% and -20%, respectively), also experiencing a slight A18-49 ratings decline from last week (-7% and -6%, respectively).

Faced with stiffer competition from FOX, NBC's The Sing-Off suffered declines from last week's episode, averaging a series low 1.26 A18-49 rating. In an attempt to gain more sampling, the network aired an encore of Prime Suspect at 10PM.

The CW experienced double-digit percentage gains versus the prior week among both Gossip Girl (0.45) and Hart of Dixie (0.59).

Sunday 10/23/11 – World Series Game 4 and NFL Push FOX to #1, Once Upon A Time Debuts Well

2011-10-25T11:57:00.002-04:00

Driven mostly by NFL over-run, FOX topped Sunday night among A18-49 with Game 4 coverage of the World Series (4.08) between the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals, which remained flat from year ago’s game between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.

Ranking second, NBC’s Sunday Night Football game (4.96), featuring the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, declined 21% from last week, while losing nearly half the audience from last year’s game between the Minnesota Vikings versus the Green Bay Packers.

On Sunday, ABC debuted fantasy drama, Once Upon A Time (3.10), at 8pm more than doubling its America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.38) lead-in and improving last fall’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition premiere performance by 32% with A18-49. Down 29% from its lead-in, Desperate Housewives’ A18-49 audience (2.19) grew slightly from last week, while Pan Am (1.52) at 10pm held steady week-to-week.

With the help of a segment on Steve Jobs through author Walter Isaacson, CBS’ 60 Minutes (2.02) greatly improved its A18-49 performance from last week, up 30%. Despite all programming being down double-digit percentages on the network from year ago, Amazing Race (2.07) experienced an uptick from its previous episode. Both The Good Wife (1.59) and CSI: Miami (1.87) fell from week ago airings among A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 10/21/11 – ABC Tops with Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and 20/20

2011-10-24T18:00:00.004-04:00

With Extreme Makeover: Home Edition’s move to Friday nights and 20/20, ABC beat out CBS for first place among A18-49. Starting off slowly, the 8pm hour of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (1.04 A18-49 Live Rtg) fell 41% from its most recent episode last Sunday, however, gained momentum in the 9pm hour (1.56) growing 50% from the first hour. The significant promotion surrounding the debut of Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon’s twins powered 20/20 (1.89) to rank as the highest-rated program of the night among A18-49, growing 82% from last week.

Second place CBS still found success in its Friday night line-up with A Gifted Man (1.11) up 9% among A18-49 and CSI: NY (1.65) up an additional 11%. Blue Bloods (1.56) at 10pm remained flat week to week, attracting the third largest A18-49 program of the night.

Up slightly from last week, Kitchen Nightmares (1.11) and encore of Fringe placed FOX third among A18-49, while a three hour Dateline (0.89) on NBC landed fourth, down 31% from week prior.

Improving 11% from last week, Nikita (0.52) still posted heavy A18-49 losses from year ago’s Smallville, as Supernatural (0.62) remained relatively steady versus its previous episode.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 10/20/11 – Game 2 Leads Thursday Night, NBC In Repeat Mode

2011-10-21T17:44:00.006-04:00

With the Texas Rangers ninth-inning rally to tie up the series against the St. Louis Cardinals in game 2 (3.86 A18-49 Live Rtg), FOX easily ranked first across the night among A18-49, posting a 47% advantage over second place CBS. The game also attracted similar audience levels as last year’s game 2 of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants on 10/28/10.

CBS’ Thursday comedy hour was not impacted by the sporting event as both Big Bang Theory (3.54) and recently relocated Rules of Engagement premiere (3.07) boosted year ago and week ago time period performances among A18-49. Person of Interest (2.23) and The Mentalist (2.08) also remained unchanged, holding relatively steady from last week.

In third place, ABC’s burned off original episode of now cancelled Charlie’s Angels (1.11), which fell 5% from its week ago airing, while Grey’s Anatomy (2.71) and Private Practice (2.02) inched up slightly week-to-week among A18-49.

Declining 8% from week ago, The CW’s Vampire Diaries (0.90) also suffered heavy drop-off from year ago, losing 34% of its A18-49 audience. Posting similar declines from last year, The Secret Circle (0.74) did gain viewership over last week’s telecast, up 16% among A18-49.

Unlike any other broadcast network, NBC opted to run a full line-up of repeats versus the World Series coverage last night.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 10/19/11 – First Game of World Series Dominates, Little Change Across Other Nets

2011-10-20T17:41:00.003-04:00

FOX's Game 1 coverage of the 2011 World Series, featuring the Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals (4.10 A18-49 Live Rating), pushed the network to #1 among A18-49 Wednesday night, despite declining 8% from the network's Game 1 telecast between the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants on 10/27/10.

Helping CBS to a second place finish last night with A18-49, the network's 9pm episode of Criminal Minds (3.31) grew 40% from its 8pm lead-in, resulting in an 8% larger audience than last week, while Survivor (2.36) at 8pm and CSI (2.35) at 10pm held last week's viewership levels.

ABC’s “must see” Wednesday line-up continued to be fueled by ABC's Modern Family (3.93), which remained the highest rated scripted program among A18-49 of the night, retaining all of its audience from a week ago. Delivering solid ratings, The Middle (2.39), Suburgatory (2.73) and Happy Endings (2.65), each grew their A18-49 audience slightly from a week ago. At 10pm, freshman drama Revenge (2.03), experienced a slight 4% decline from a week ago with A18-49, trailing CSI in the hour.

Even with heavy competition, NBC’s 8pm comedy, Up All Night (1.50), experienced a small lift from its previous episode, leading into a repeat of Whitney. With an 8% increase week to week with A18-49, Harry’s Law (1.05) pushed pass the one rating mark, but was still down considerably from the year ago time period. Although improving 78% from its lead-in, Law & Order: SVU (1.87) remained relatively flat from last week, ranking only ahead of The CW in the 10 o’clock hour.

The CW's repeat airing of Ringer continued to provide a better start for the network at 8pm, leading to an 11% increase for America's Next Top Model (0.71) from its previous episode.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 10/18/11 – X Factor on Tuesday Pushes Fox to #1, ABC’s Man Up! Debuts

2011-10-19T18:18:00.006-04:00

With the World Series scheduled to begin tonight, FOX moved up X Factor (3.08 A18-49 Live Rtg) to Tuesday, drawing in a slightly larger A18-49 than Sunday’s special airing that pushed CBS out of first place for the night.

Ranking second, CBS’ line-up of NCIS (3.17), NCIS: LA (2.92) and Unforgettable (2.29) still delivered stronger A18-49 audiences than last week, although both NCIS and NCIS: LA suffered some declines from year ago airings.

As expected, ABC’s Last Man Standing (2.52) dropped in week 2 among A18-49, however, the show still garnered a significantly stronger audience than the year ago time period. Retaining 83% of its lead-in, the series premiere of Man Up! averaged a 2.09 A18-49 Live Rtg, 21% lower than the second half of No Ordinary Family’s debut last fall. Despite growing slightly out of its lead-in, Dancing with the Stars Results (2.22) declined 23% from last week among A18-49. Experiencing less erosion from week ago, Body of Proof was still off from year ago’s Detroit 1-8-7 performance.

In fourth place, NBC’s Biggest Loser (1.61) and Parenthood (1.64) stumbled a bit from last week down 5% and 9%, respectively, with A18-49.

Gaining some traction, The CW’s 90210 (0.54) and Ringer (0.61) grew week-to-week among A18-49, with the latter posting increases for the third consecutive week.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Monday 10/17/11 – ESPN Wins with Monday Night Football, CBS a Close Second

2011-10-18T17:31:00.004-04:00

As expected, ESPN dominated primetime A18-49 viewing last night with Monday Night Football, featuring the AFC East rivalry between the New York Jets and Miami Dolphins.

Following in second place, CBS’ solid line-up of comedies and Hawaii 5-0 gave the network a broadcast win among A18-49. Improving year ago performances by double-digit percentages, How I Met Your Mother (2.93 A18-49 Live Rtg), 2 Broke Girls (3.60) and Mike & Molly (3.40) also posted slight increases from last week’s episodes. Two and a Half Men at 9pm was the only program to drop in A18-49 viewers week-to-week, however was easily the highest-rated broadcast program of the night, averaging a 4.41 A18-49 Live rating. Remaining relatively steady from year ago, Hawaii 5-0 (2.70) grew a healthy 16% among A18-49 from its previous episode.

Securing a second place spot across broadcast in week 5, ABC’s two-hour Dancing with the Stars (2.86) delivered a 10% larger A18-49 audience from last week, while Castle (2.14) experienced a 14% lift.

With viewership finally settling since its debut, Terra Nova (2.06) on FOX still remained below last year’s House time period benchmarks. Growing 5% out of its lead-in, a new episode of House (2.17) at 9pm garnered similar A18-49 audience levels as last week.

On one of the network’s weakest nights, NBC’s Sing-Off (1.37) was able to fend off erosion, actually posting a slightly increase from last week among A18-49, driving an uptick in the Prime Suspect encore that followed at 10pm.

The CW also saw single-digit percentage gains versus the prior week among both Gossip Girl (0.39) and Hart of Dixie (0.50).

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 10/16/11 – Sunday Night Football Tops Broadcast, The Walking Dead Premieres

2011-10-18T13:20:00.001-04:00

Despite delivering lower viewership levels than last week, Sunday Night Football’s match-up between the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears (6.24 A18-49 Live Rtg), still earned NBC the #1 spot among A18-49 across primetime.

Leading out of regional NFL game coverage on FOX, the postponed episode of X Factor (2.97) proved audiences will follow as A18-49 viewership levels were nearly equivalent to Thursday’s airing, while also boosting the 8pm hour by 21% from two weeks ago (last Sunday of animation originals).

With the exception of CSI: Miami (2.17) at 10pm, CBS’ line-up suffered declines week to week, most notably 60 minutes (1.55). Lacking an NFL lead-in, the 7pm newscast dropped a hefty 48% among A18-49 from week ago, while Amazing Race (1.98) and The Good Wife (1.70) were down 13% and 3%, respectively.

Ranking last across broadcast, ABC experienced mixed results as America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.47) and Desperate Housewives (2.06) performed better than their previous episodes, while Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (1.76) and Pan Am (1.52) attracted smaller audiences, with the latter program posting a series low. Additionally, the entire ABC Sunday night line-up remains down from year ago viewership levels.

Regarding the cable landscape, the much anticipated season 2 premiere of The Walking Dead (2.94)on AMC returned with a bang Sunday night, out-delivering its Halloween debut last fall by 29% among A18-49, while also pushing AMC to a third place position for the night across all broadcast and cable networks.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 10/14/11 – MLB Playoffs Fuel TBS Win

2011-10-17T17:31:00.001-04:00

Broadcast prime placed second to Friday night's coverage of the NLCS game 5 on TBS, featuring the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals, as the cable network dominated A18-49 viewership.

CBS ranked as the highest-rated English-language network among A18-49 on Friday, driven by originals of A Gifted Man (1.02 A18-49 Live Rtg), CSI: NY (1.48) and Blue Bloods (1.57). Settling into their regular viewership patterns, both A Gifted Man and CSI: NY remained steady versus last week among A18-49, while Blue Bloods experienced a 12% decline from its previous episode.

Taking first place during 8pm with an hour-long encore of its latest comedy, Last Man Standing (1.22), with repeats of Modern Family (1.18) and Suburgatory (0.98) filling out the 9pm hour, ABC sustained healthy A18-49 audience levels leading into 20/20 (1.04) at 10pm, which was roughly flat from last week.

NBC’s two-hour Dateline (1.29), leading out of an hour of The Office and Parks and Recreation encores, held its A18-49 audience from last week, but built over its year ago performance by 14%.

Suffering from double-digit percent drop-offs from last week, both Kitchen Nightmares (1.07) and Fringe (0.76) kept FOX ahead of The CW among broadcast prime A18-49 rating levels.

Even with significant year over year erosion, viewership for The CW’s Nikita (0.47) and Supernatural (0.60) has started to flatten out week-to-week, albeit at low audience levels.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 10/13/11 – X Factor and FOX Lead the Night, ABC’s Grey’s and Private Practice Finally See Growth

2011-10-14T17:51:00.001-04:00

In week four, a noticeable amount of sampling has leveled off across the competitive Thursday night with Live viewing. Leading the night in primetime, FOX won first place with a 20% advantage over second place among A18-49, fueled by a two-hour X Factor episode that was initially scheduled for Wednesday night. Relatively steady from last week, the series averaged a 3.08 A18-49 Live rating, boosting last year's Fringe/Bones audience levels.

Starting off CBS on a positive note, Big Bang Theory at 8pm (3.29) remained flat from week ago, while staying ahead of last fall’s performance by 9%. Following a special repeat of Big Bang Theory (3.33) at 8:30pm, replacing How to Be a Gentleman (which happened to deliver the highest ratings of the night), Person of Interest at 9pm (2.27) attracted a slightly larger A18-49 audience than last week, though still remained down from year ago’s CSI (-16%). Rounding out the night, The Mentalist (2.11) suffered declines from both week ago and year ago benchmarks.

Even with some uptick from A18-49 ratings versus last week, today ABC announced the cancellation of Charlie’s Angels (1.17). The network's subsequent programs are starting to gain some momentum this season, as both Grey’s Anatomy (2.65) and Private Practice (1.97) grew by double-digit percentages week to week among A18-49.

Ranking behind NLCS Game 5 coverage on TBS, NBC’s comedy line-up of Community (1.35), Parks and Recreation (1.52), The Office (2.26) and Whitney (1.61) all continued to suffer heavy drop-off from year ago time period performances. Even with additional encore airings scheduled throughout the week for sampling opportunities, Prime Suspect at 10p (1.12) fell a steep 18% from week ago viewership levels. Only Community garnered any notable growth from its last original episode, up 18% from a week ago.

Thursday proved to be a solid night for The CW as both Vampire Diaries (0.98) and Secret Circle (0.64) were able to improve over year ago ratings, even with a heavy night of competition.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 10/12/11 – Playoffs Win for FOX, ABC and CBS Follow Close Behind

2011-10-13T18:03:00.002-04:00

Even with a rain delay pushing the ALCS playoff coverage into primetime and ousting the network's time period occupant, X Factor, from its schedule, FOX still delivered an A18-49 win last night.

ABC followed with the help of its strong comedy line-up and Revenge at 10pm. Proving to be key staples for Wednesday night viewing, ABC’s The Middle (2.30 A18-49 Live Rtg), Suburgatory (2.65), Modern Family (3.88) and Revenge (2.11) all experienced increases over year ago benchmarks. Happy Endings (2.53) at 9:30pm was the only program to remain relatively flat from last year, though did improve 5% over its week ago performance.

Ranking third for the night across A18-49, CBS’s line-up had varying degrees of success. Anchoring the night, Survivor (2.31) fell 15% from last fall, though did grow week to week by 9%. Despite each delivering an uptick in A18-49 from last year, Criminal Minds (3.07) and CSI (2.36) were off slightly from week ago viewership levels.

Continuing to land in fourth place among the five broadcasters, NBC’s only real growth was encompassed in Up All Night (1.43), up a healthy 15% from last year’s Undercovers. Following an encore of Whitney, which took the place of the cancelled Free Agents, Harry’s Law (0.97) leveled out from last week, though was still unable to deliver SVU-sized ratings from a year ago. With less sampling in week four, Law and Order: SVU (1.83) also began to flatten out, while also remaining on par with last year's Law and Order: LA performance.

With a Ringer encore lead-in replacing the cancelled H8R, America’s Next Top Model delivered better results than its previous episode, averaging a 0.64 A18-49 Live Rating, increasing viewership by a solid 7%.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 10/11/11 - ABC Debuts Last Man Standing, But CBS Dramas Still Win

2011-10-12T16:50:00.010-04:00

Four weeks into the 2011-2012, a couple of the broadcast networks shook up their programming a bit. While CBS, NBC and The CW rolled our their usual Tuesday night fare, FOX ran with its annual MLB Playoff coverage and ABC debuted another of its freshman series.

Seemingly the picture of consistency, CBS delivered the largest A18-49 Live audience for the fourth consecutive week, as the network's airings of NCIS (3.08 A18-49 Live Rating), NCIS: LA (2.80) and Unforgettable (2.17) reported slight drops from their previous episodes, with the latter continuing to control its competition during the 10pm hour.

Kicking off its night with the return of Tim Allen to ABC, freshman comedy Last Man Standing (2.98) debuted to impressive results with A18-49 viewers at 8pm, as the one-hour premiere bested last week's Dancing with the Stars special by 83%, while also improving 12% from last year's timeslot premiere of No Ordinary Family on 09/28/10. Retaining 96% of its stronger lead-in, the network's 9pm Dancing with the Stars Results (2.87) reported growth of 18% from its previous airing, though the network lost a bit of steam at 10pm, as Body of Proof (1.60) dropped 10% from last week, dropping to third in the hour.

As the MLB Playoffs advanced into the League Championship Series, FOX began its annual ritual of post-season baseball coverage, with last night featuring Game 3 of the 2011 ALCS between the Detroit Tigers and Texas Rangers. Landing the network in third place for the evening, FOX's telecast reported a 2.39 A18-49 Live Rating, a 7% drop from TBS' ALCS Game 3 coverage between the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers last year, but an 11% increase from FOX's ALCS Game 3 featuring the Yankees and Los Angeles Angels two years ago.

Unfortunately for NBC, sticking with its normal Tuesday night schedule resulted in the same story for the network among A18-49. Though the 2-hour airing of The Biggest Loser (1.69) at 8pm and Parenthood (1.80) at 10pm kept the network in fourth place throughout the evening, both programs held relatively steady to week ago viewing levels, with the latter even showing a slight 3% improvement with A18-49 viewers.

Benefiting from less scripted competition on FOX, The CW's Primetime lineup of 90210 (0.51) and Ringer (0.59) bounced back with double-digit percent growth from their lowest A18-49 audience levels last week, with the former growing 19% and latter experiencing a 28% viewership increase among A18-49.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Monday 10/10/11 – CBS #1 Broadcast Net Among A18-49, Others Down vs. Sports and Cable Premieres

2011-10-11T17:35:00.001-04:00

With the exception of CBS, traditional broadcast prime had difficulty competing with the slew of cable options Monday night, include Monday Night Football on ESPN, NLCS MLB playoffs on TBS, the Kim Kardashian wedding on E!, among a number of series premieres across cable.

CBS’ comedy block of How I Met Your Mother (2.82 A18-49 Live Rtg), 2 Broke Girls (3.41), Two and a Half Men (4.71) and Mike & Molly (3.33) experienced only single-digit drop off week to week among A18-49. In week four, freshman series, 2 Broke Girls, has proven to be a compatible addition to CBS’ line-up, regularly growing out of its lead-in and into Two and a Half Men, easily winning its time period with the demo. While still #1 in the 10pm hour among A18-49, Hawaii Five-0 (2.33) was the only program on the network to erode from both year ago and week ago viewership levels.

Let by an overrun of the ALCS playoffs, FOX ranked second across broadcast prime. Pushed to 8:52pm EST, Terra Nova (2.07) was off 10% from last week’s episode, while House (2.18) lost a quarter of its week ago premiere audience.

With less sampling occurring each week, ABC’s Dancing with the Stars (2.60) viewership has leveled out, remaining flat from last week, but still showed signs of its age, declining 26% among A18-49 from last fall’s telecast. Lead-out, Castle (1.88), also fell from its year ago performance, down 22%.

Over on NBC, ratings continued to be a struggle for reality competition series, The Sing Off, averaging a series low 1.33 A18-49 rating. With Playboy Club cancelled and an attempt to get more sampling for the show, an encore of Prime Suspect did little to improve the network’s Monday average.

Up against E!’s well-promoted Keeping Up with the Kardashians part 2 wedding special, The CW suffered heavy declines across both its Gossip Girl (0.38) and Hart of Dixie (0.46) episodes.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Sunday 10/9/11 – Football Dominates on NBC, CBS and ABC Suffer

2011-10-11T12:26:00.001-04:00

As expected, Sunday night was led by NBC’s Sunday Night Football, featuring the Green Bay Packers at Atlanta Falcons, which averaged an 8.62 A18-49 Live rating, up 16% from last week’s game (NY Jets vs. Baltimore Ravens).

Fueled by football overrun, CBS placed second among A18-49, even though its non-sports line-up of 60 Minutes (3.00), Amazing Race (2.28), The Good Wife (1.75) and CSI: Miami (2.04) all experienced declines in the demo from last year's programming. Compared to last week however, only The Good Wife was able to stay on track, remaining relatively steady among A18-49.

ABC’s all original line-up also trended downward from its year ago performance. Week 2 of America’s Funniest Home Videos (1.35) was able to hold on to its A18-49 premiere audience, as did Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (1.85) versus last week. However, week to week, Desperate Housewives (2.02) and freshman series, Pan Am (1.67), suffered declines of 14% and 23% among A18-49, respectively.

With MLB playoff coverage rained out, FOX fell to last place for the night, airing encores of The Cleveland Show and X Factor.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 10/7/11 – CBS Leads the Pack

2011-10-11T10:59:00.009-04:00

Even with back-to-back elimination games of the NLDS on TBS, CBS' full night of originals of A Gifted Man (1.02 A18-49 Live Rtg), CSI:NY (1.48) and Blue Bloods (1.78) all experienced week to week gains throughout the night, delivering the largest A18-49 audience across the five broadcast networks.

On FOX, Kitchen Nightmares was slightly off from last week, though earned the highest-rated A18-49 rating (1.27) in the 8pm hour, while Fringe (0.99) boosted its week ago performance by 24%.

Following encores of comedies, Up All Night and Whitney, a two-hour Dateline (1.26) deteriorated by double-digit percentages versus year ago and week ago benchmarks. Although flat from last week, ABC’s 20/20 (1.07) experienced similar results, down a hefty 37% from last year after leading out a block of repeats airing on the network.

Closing out broadcast, The CW’s Nikita (0.47) continued to fall from year ago and week ago comparisons at 8pm. Sustaining A18-49 viewership from last week, Supernatural (0.61) was still unable to improve upon last fall’s rating levels, declining 30%.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 10/06/11 - Big Bang Theory Continues to Deliver for CBS, But FOX #1 Again

2011-10-07T17:41:00.002-04:00

With stiff competition from TBS' ALDS Game 5 coverage of the New York Yankees & Detroit Tigers (3.14 A18-49 Live Rating), FOX's X Factor still pulled in the largest A18-49 viewership (3.18) for the second consecutive night, with last night's 2-hour boot-camp edition retaining 96% of last week's episode.

The second week of CBS' 8:30pm freshman comedy, How to Be a Gentleman (2.30), dipped slightly from its series debut last week with A18-49, though continued to lose a significant portion of its 8pm lead-in and highest rated program of the night, The Big Bang Theory (3.25). Holding nearly all of its weaker lead-in audience, the network's 9pm airing of Person of Interest (2.17) remained relatively steady from last week, while subsequent program, The Mentalist (2.40) improved 10% from week ago viewing levels.

ABC's 8pm freshman drama, Charlie's Angels (1.13), continues to struggle for the network, as the program is now drawing ratings on par with the network's repeat filler programming from last year, which replaced My Generation following its early cancellation. Doing its best with the weak lead-in, Grey's Anatomy (2.28) remained lower than week ago and year ago benchmarks, with the network's 10pm airing of Private Practice (1.78) experiencing similar results.

Though NBC landed in fourth place again last night, all of its programming appears to be settling in with A18-49 viewers. Its 8pm hour, consisting of returning comedies Community (1.14) and Parks & Recreation (1.47) declined 8% and 6%, respectively, from last week's episodes, while its 9pm airings of The Office (2.25) and the recently picked-up Whitney (1.96) held even more audience. At 10pm, NBC's freshman drama, Prime Suspect (1.36), was nearly on par with last week's levels, though still landed the network in last place for the hour.

In its fourth week of Thursday programming, The CW continued to experience double-digit percentage drops with both its 8pm airing of Vampire Diaries (0.78) and 9pm episode of Secret Circle (0.65), though with a smaller audience base, those declines are not as severe as its broadcast competitors.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 10/6/11 – X Factor Fuels Fox Win Again, CBS and ABC Hold Steady

2011-10-06T17:44:00.002-04:00

Up against another night of MLB playoffs and the highly-promoted American Horror Story premiere on FX, sister network FOX easily came away with a first place win among A18-49 Wednesday night, driven by a 90-minute boot camp edition of X Factor (3.27 A18-49 Live Rtg), followed by a special original airing Raising Hope at 9:30pm (1.97). The reality series has leveled off week-to-week, while continuing to post significant growth in the time period from year ago.

CBS barely edged out ABC among A18-49 with its line-up of Survivor (2.12), Criminal Minds (3.13) and CSI (2.59). Viewership remained relatively flat from last week with the exception of CSI, which experienced some erosion, declining 10%.

ABC’s comedies, The Middle (2.19) and Modern Family (3.89) were on par from last week’s A18-49 performance, though both Suburgatory (2.67) and Happy Endings (2.40) were both off 7% from week ago benchmarks. At 10pm, week 3 of Revenge (2.08) fell 9% from its second week, though still greatly improved over last fall’s audience for The Whole Truth (+73%).

Over on NBC, the one positive note came from freshman series, Up All Night at 8pm. The recently picked up comedy (1.49) held steady from last week and was the only NBC program to post any increase over year ago A18-49 ratings. The rest of the line-up, including just cancelled Free Agents (0.90), Harry’s Law (0.98) and Law & Order: SVU (1.80), all under-delivered from year ago by double-digit percentages.

Wednesday nights continued to be difficult for The CW as both H8R (0.34) and American’s Next Top Model (0.60) suffered heavy declines among A18-49.

Not to be ignored, FX premiered its latest original series, American Horror Story, at 10pm, attracting a solid 1.29 A18-49 rating, fueling the network to a cable win across primetime, while also beating out NBC.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 10/04/11 - CBS Edges FOX for #1

2011-10-05T17:23:00.000-04:00

With its programming relatively on par with week ago and year ago viewership levels, CBS averaged the largest A18-49 Live audience for the third consecutive Tuesday night of the new Fall season. While the network's 8pm airing of NCIS (3.29 A18-49 Live Rating) reported a slight uptick from last year's airing, subsequent program NCIS: LA (2.95) declined 7% after losing 10% of its lead-in viewership. The network's freshman series, Unforgettable (2.29), looks to be settling in as well, holding viewing levels from both week ago and last year's airing of The Good Wife, while easily besting its 10pm broadcast competition.

FOX appears to have a winner in New Girl (3.37), as the show continues to improve upon its 8pm Glee lead-in (2.54) and rank as the highest rated A18-49 Tuesday night program. Though the network's 9:30pm airing of Raising Hope (2.53) lost 25% of the audience from New Girl, both programs reported improvement from both week ago and year ago benchmarks, giving FOX a second place finish with A18-49.

ABC's Dancing with the Stars continues to struggle a bit compared to last season, as its 8pm special (1.63) was the lowest rated A18-49 program of the Big Four broadcast networks, providing a soft launching pad for the network's 9pm Results Show (2.44), which continued to slide from past episodes. The network did score some positive results in the 10pm hour however, as Body of Proof (1.78) reported an 11% improvement with A18-49 from its previous episode, taking second place in the hour.

The news was not as good for NBC, as both its 2-hour airing of The Biggest Loser (1.71) and Parenthood (1.74) kept the network in fourth place throughout the evening, with both programs experiencing 9% declines with A18-49 viewers from their respective episodes last week.

NBC fared better than The CW however, as its Tuesday night lineup of 90210 (0.43) and Ringer (0.46) dropped to their lowest A18-49 audience levels so far this season, with both programs experiencing double-digit percent viewing declines from both their previous airings last week and year ago benchmarks.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Monday 10/03/11 - ESPN's MNF Wins, CBS Comedies Solid & House Premiere Boosts FOX

2011-10-04T17:24:00.001-04:00

Last night kicked off Week 3 of the new Fall season, as ESPN's Monday Night Football (4.24 A18-49 Live Rating) matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts took top billing, providing the cable network with the largest A18-49 audience of the evening, despite the game declining 38% from last week's NFC East matchup between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys.

Pushing CBS to a #1 broadcast finish with A18-49, the 9pm episode of Two and a Half Men (4.99) was the highest rated broadcast program among A18-49 last night, as the comedy remains above last year's viewership levels and continues to help the network's 9:30pm program, Mike & Molly (3.61). The 8pm hour for CBS also fared relatively well, with both How I Met Your Mother (3.10) at 8pm and Two Broke Girls (3.55) at 8:30pm holding relatively steady from last week, while also improving from last year. At 10pm, Hawaii Five-O (2.86) was the top rated program in the hour with A18-49, holding 79% of its lead-in and remaining steady from last week's performance.

Over on FOX, the 8pm airing of Terra Nova (2.30) dipped only 5% from last week's two-hour series debut, though remained 24% lower than a year ago. Improving 26% with A18-49 from its lead-in, the eighth season premiere of House (2.89) at 9pm remained relatively steady to its previous season premiere on 09/20/10.

ABC's third week of Monday night programming saw ratings slip with A18-49 viewers, as the network's two-hour airing of Dancing with the Stars (2.61) declined 6% from the previous week and a significant 30% drop from last year. The network's 10pm airing of Castle (2.09) experienced similar results, decreasing moderately among A18-49 from both last week (-15%) and last year (-10%).

Continuing its struggle this season, NBC's lineup of The Sing-Off (1.57) and The Playboy Club (1.04) placed it higher than only The CW with A18-49 last night. Though the two-hour episode of The Sing-Off improved 5% from a week ago, the network's 10pm airing of The Playboy Club dropped 34% of its lead-in, while also declining 16% from a week ago. Consistent low ratings for the program have resulted in NBC making it the first cancelled program of the new Fall season.

Retaining 98% of its premiere A18-49 audience from last week, The CW's Gossip Girl (0.52) still remained the lowest rated program of the evening, with its viewership 28% lower than last year's airing of 90210. Growing 16% from its lead-in however, the network's 9pm episode of Hart of Dixie (0.62) dropped only 10% from its series debut a week ago.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Friday 9/30/11 – All Original CBS #1, Encores Assist

2011-10-03T17:52:00.001-04:00

Despite experiencing mostly declines among A18-49, an all original line-up of A Gifted Man, CSI: NY and Blue Bloods pushed CBS to a first place finish Friday night, ahead of its English-language broadcast competition and TBS' coverage of the ALDS. Holding steady from last season's Medium, freshman series A Gifted Man fell 22% among A18-49 from its opener last week, while both CSI: NY and Blue Bloods posted some erosion from year ago and week ago benchmarks.

Following encores of Up All Night and Whitney, a new two-hour Dateline on NBC grew over last week’s premiere among A18-49 (+25%), though was unable to improve upon last year’s performance.

Remaining relatively steady from last week, FOX’s Kitchen Nightmares led the competition in the 8pm hour and boosted the year ago time period by 63% (House encore). Fringe at 9pm still garnered a stronger A18-49 audience than last year’s Good Guys, however, suffered heavy declines week to week (-27%).

To gain extra sampling, ABC paired a new episode of 20/20 with two hours of repeats, including Modern Family, Suburgatory and Pan Am. Assisted by a better than average encore performance, 10pm's 20/20 helped the network grow its A18-49 audience over year ago and week ago telecasts.

Rounding out the night, The CW’s Nikita and Supernatural failed to lift the network out of its Friday slump, with both programs declining by double-digit percentages from last year and last week.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Thursday 09/29/11 - X Factor Wins Again, Big Bang & Grey's Lift CBS & ABC, While NBC Drops

2011-09-30T16:44:00.005-04:00

The 2011-2012 television season continued last night with Thursday's second week of all-original programming. FOX's X Factor provided the network with the largest viewership (3.30 A18-49 Live Rating) for the second consecutive day, with last night's 2-hour edition declining only 9% from last week's Thursday premiere.

Anchored by the highest rated program of the evening at 8pm, The Big Bang Theory (3.53), CBS' series premiere of How to Be a Gentleman (2.39) at 8:30pm debuted to less than stellar results, losing 32% of its A18-49 lead-in audience, while reporting a decrease of 26% from the network's series opener of $#*! My Dad Says on 09/23/10. Hurt by a weaker lead-in this week, CBS' 9pm airing of Person of Interest (2.21) dipped 13% from its debut last week, with the network's 10pm airing of The Mentalist (2.18) declining by similar levels (-7%).

Declining 26% among A18-49 from last week's premiere, ABC's 8pm episode of Charlie's Angels (1.31) continued to struggle, but still provided the network an improvement over last year's failed My Generation. Week 2 of Grey's Anatomy (2.61) drew the largest audience of the evening for ABC, despite dropping 17% from last week's 2-hour premiere, leading into the season opener of Private Practice (2.18) at 10pm, which dropped 19% from last season's opener, but still tied with CBS for the 10pm hour.

Though NBC continued to sit in fourth place last night, its 8pm comedies of Community (1.24) and Parks & Recreation (1.57) either retained or improved their viewership from their respective premieres last week. While averaging a larger A18-49 audience than the previous hour, the network's 9pm combination of The Office (2.37) and Whitney (2.05) were off from last week and year ago benchmarks, with NBC's second week of Prime Suspect (1.40) experiencing similar drops in viewing.

In its third week of programming, The CW's Thursday night schedule appears to be settling in with viewers as both the network's 8pm airing of The Vampire Diaries (0.93) and 9pm episode of Secret Circle (0.76) improved slightly from last week's respective airings.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Wednesday 09/28/11 - FOX Wins, CBS & ABC Solid, NBC & The CW Struggle

2011-09-29T17:46:00.002-04:00

The second Wednesday of the new season offered even more original programming on the broadcast networks, in addition to Major League Baseball's Wild Card battle, captured last night by ESPN. Week 2 of FOX's X Factor was more of the same, as the program's 3.34 A18-49 Live rating held relatively steady from last Wednesday, providing the network with the largest A18-49 audience of the evening.

ABC's Modern Family was the highest rated program (3.89) for the second week in a row, as the comedy retained 96% of its audience from last week's one-hour premiere. The network also debuted two additional sitcoms last night, with Suburgatory (2.88) at 8:30pm and Happy Endings (2.57) at 9:30pm. While Suburgatory grew 33% from its lead-in The Middle (2.17), the program's series premiere also improved 28% from the network's series opener of Better With You on 09/22/10. Happy Endings didn't fare as well, however, as the season premiere lost 34% of its Modern Family lead-in, though still reported slight growth from its series debut on 04/13/11. Rounding out the evening for ABC, the second week of freshman Revenge declined 21% from its premiere last week, a result of a weaker lead-in and lower sampling.

Already settling down in its second week of new episodes, CBS' Wednesday night lineup of Survivor (2.15), Criminal Minds (3.02) and CSI (2.87) tied ABC for second place among A18-49, as the programs experienced viewership changes of -1%, -8% and +4%, respectively, from last week's airings.

NBC continued to struggle last night, with the network's 8pm comedy hour of Up All Night (1.46) and Free Agents (0.88) giving the network a fourth place start out of the gate with A18-49, reporting declines of -13% and -22%, respectively, from their time period premieres last week. The network's 9pm airing of relocated Harry's Law (0.93) showed minimal growth from its weak lead-in, declining 5% from its premiere and playing a part in the 10% drop that Law & Order: SVU (1.75) experienced at 10pm.

Though still drawing a minimal A18-49 audience, new episodes of The CW's reality programs H8R (0.49) and America's Next Top Model (0.62) reported improvement of 26% and 17%, respectively, from last Wednesday's episodes.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data

Tuesday 9/27/11 – CBS #1 Network, New Girl #1 Program

2011-09-28T17:22:00.003-04:00

In week 2, FOX’s recently picked-up New Girl again out-delivered its Glee lead-in, ranking just ahead of CBS’ NCIS for the lead among A18-49. Averaging a 3.34 A18-49 Live Rtg, the freshman series declined 9% from its premiere, though improved the year ago week 2 performance of Raising Hope by a healthy 29%. With a lower benchmark set last week, Glee remained relatively steady week to week, though was off a significant 35% from a year ago. Losing roughly one quarter of the New Girl lead-in audience, Raising Hope still delivered substantial ratings in time period versus last year’s Running Wilde (+44%).

Fueling another win for the night across A18-49, CBS' NCIS and NCIS: LA remained reliable and were practically on par from last week, followed by the network's newest drama, Unforgettable (2.32 A18-49 Rtg), which was down a conservative 8% from premiere week among A18-49, while up slightly from year ago’s Good Wife time period premiere performance.

Following another recap special, the second week of Dancing with the Stars Results show on ABC remained flat versus the first week, while Body of Proof lost some steam from its first episode among A18-49 (-17%).

Holding on to most of its premiere week audience, a two-hour Biggest Loser on NBC still tracked below last fall’s ratings by double-digit percentages, while Parenthood improved over year ago and week ago benchmarks, beating ABC's Body of Proof in the 10pm hour.

As viewership began to settle during The CW’s week 3 airings, 90210 actually improved over last week as Ringer, up 24% over its lead-in, retained its A18-49 week to week audience.

Source: Nielsen, based on Live data