Nielsen Ratings: Weds, Jan 30: Idol Reigns

January 31st, 2008 by Robert Seidman

Scoreboard for Weds Jan. 30, 2008
Total Viewers (million)	21.60	9.95	7.62	6.99	1.17
Rating/Share: Adults 18-49	8.9/22	2.6/7	3.0/8	1.9/5	0.5/1

The beatdown that FOX continues to put on all other broadcast networks on Tuesdays and Wednesdays these days is impressive. FOX is almost averaging more viewers than all of the other broadcast networks combined.

American Idol gained strength in the second half, picking up almost an additional 3 million (23.94m at 8pm, and 26.72m at 8:30pm). While some of the bloom is off the rose for Moment of Truth, it peformed extremely well and massively better than anything else other than American Idol.

Since Idol ran until about 9:10pm, the first half hour of results for Moment of Truth will likely be revised by at least several million and it may be the 9:30pm numbers for Moment are more indicative of actual performance. Can FOX live with Moment of Truth averaging only 16 million to 17 million? All you need to do is look at how everything else besides American Idol performed. If Moment of Truth can more or less continue with numbers like last night’s or even a bit less, FOX will be most pleased.

CBS ran with nothing but repeats and had one of its more lackluster nights coming in fourth place with both overall viewers and the demo. People don’t love repeats of The New Adventures of Old Christine in the same way they like repeats of Two and a Half Men.

NBC aired Deal or No Deal (which the data is listing as repeat, though I am not sure that is the case) a repeat of Law & Order: CI and a new Law & Order at 10pm that could muster no more than just over 11 million viewers.

ABC ran with Wife Swap — a weak performer and the two hour finale of last season’s Lost. While I understand ABC’s desire to milk the Lost franchise for all it’s worth, last years finale was all the catch up I need. No matter, ABC is airing an hour of catch-up fluff tonight at 8pm before the season 4 premiere. One cool thing ABC did with last night’s repeat of last year’s finale was put text captions at the bottom 1/8th or so of the screen to explain what was going on for anyone who didn’t know the history. I thought it a nice touch for both existing and new Lost fans.

Last night’s full half-hourly details:

Time	Network	Show	Viewers (Millons)	18-49 Rating/Share	HH Rating
8:00	ABC	Wife Swap	7.62	3.0/8	5.0
	CBS	The New Adventures of Old Christine (R )	6.99	1.9/5	4.7
	NBC	Deal or No Deal (R )	9.95	2.6/7	6.7
	FOX	American Idol	21.60	8.9/22	12.4
	CW	Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants	1.17	0.5/1	0.9

8:30	ABC	Wife Swap	5.85	2.3/6	3.9
	CBS	The New Adventures of Old Christine (R )	4.84	1.4/4	3.3
	NBC	Deal or No Deal (R )	10.85	2.7/7	7.0
	FOX	American Idol	26.72	10.5/26	15.1
	CW	Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants	1.26	0.5/1	0.9

9:00	ABC	Lost (R )	8.66	3.3/8	5.6
	CBS	Criminal Minds ( R)	8.58	2.2/5	5.7
	NBC	Law & Order: CI (R )	8.80	2.2/5	5.8
	FOX	Moment of Truth	18.80	8.1/20	10.9
	CW	One Tree Hill (R )	.96	0.4/1	0.8

9:30	ABC	Lost (R )	8.49	3.3/8	5.5
	CBS	Criminal Minds ( R)	8.95	2.3/6	6.0
	NBC	Law & Order: CI (R )	9.00	2.4/6	6.1
	FOX	Moment of Truth	16.94	7.6/19	9.9
	CW	One Tree Hill (R )	0.91	0.3/1	0.7

10:00	ABC	Lost (R )	8.47	3.4/9	5.5
	CBS	CSI: NY (R )	7.10	1.9/5	4.9
	NBC	Law & Order	11.19	3.2/8	7.7

10:30	ABC	Lost (R )	8.53	3.4/9	5.5
	CBS	CSI: NY (R )	7.44	2.0/6	5.1
	NBC	Law & Order	11.10	3.1/9	7.6

Nielsen Ratings Source: Nielsen Media Research. Full night’s results available via Marc Berman/Mediaweek.

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