| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 9.32 | 5.88 | 5.69 | 4.97 | 2.16 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.6/7 | 2.0/6 | 1.6/5 | 1.6/5 | 0.8/2 |
NBC’s notched another post-Olympic win Tuesday as America’s Got Talent combined with a winning share of late Democratic Convention viewers to average 9.32 million viewers and a demo adults rating/share of 2.6/7. Fox’s second place formula was two House repeats plus no convention coverage to coast into second with 5.88 million viewers and demo 2.0/6.
ABC’s one bright spot this summer, Wipeout, slipped noticeably from its pre-Olympic levels on July 29 falling to only 6.45 million viewers and a 2.3/7 demo. That’s got to hurt. By comparison, CBS’s Big Brother did slightly better than its July 29 results. Wanna Bet did badly, but that’s not news, it’s always done badly.
I’m sure the folks at NBC News are happy about increasing their margin over their broadcast rivals for the second night of the Democratic Convention. We’ll see the cable news results later today and make some comparisons.
Let’s be honest though folks, to borrow a phrase from the NBA, this week is just garbage time. Nothing really matters. Next week a few more series will return and then things will get a bit more interesting.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers Live+SD (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | NBC | America’s Got Talent (8-10p) | 10.96 | 3.1/9 |
| CBS | NCIS (repeat) | 7.25 | 1.5/5 | |
| ABC | Wipeout | 6.45 | 2.3/7 | |
| FOX | House (repeat) | 4.83 | 1.7/5 | |
| CW | Smallville (repeat) | 1.91 | 0.7/2 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | House (repeat) | 6.93 | 2.4/6 |
| CBS | Big Brother 10 | 6.44 | 2.3/6 | |
| ABC | Wanna Bet | 4.20 | 1.6/5 | |
| CW | Reaper (repeat) | 2.42 | 1.0/3 | |
| 10:00 | NBC | Democratic Convention | 6.04 | 1.7/5 |
| ABC | Democratic Convention | 4.27 | 1.0/3 | |
| CBS | Democratic Convention | 3.39 | 1.0/3 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
Definitions:
Overnights: Local metered-market ratings service of Nielsen Station Index (NSI) in which household ratings and shares are provided to clients the morning following the day or evening of telecast.
Rating: Estimated percentage of the universe of TV households (or other specified group) tuned to a program in the average minute. Ratings are expressed as a percent.
Share (of Audience): The percent of households (or persons) using television who are tuned to a specific program, station or network in a specific area at a specific time. (See also, Rating, which represents tuning or viewing as a percent of the entire population being measured.)
LIVE+SD: The number that watched a program either while it was broadcast OR watched via DVR on the same day [through 3AM the next day] the program was broadcast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
I knew I should've DVR'd Wipeout — just to see if it was an original episode or a “best-of” style (though not designated as repeat). If it was a completely original episode it says something about just how quickly you can lose a new audience by not airing new episodes for a few weeks. The last original episode was 3 weeks ago, and there was a “best-of” episode in the Interim that performed better than last night's airing.
How can you smacktalk Wanna Bet like that when it had its highest viewership EVER!
also…CBS' already diminished news capabilities diminish even more coming out of Big Brother, which isn't exactly a surprise. but if CBS isn't thinking “Our convention ratings underperformed “Wanna Bet”, this is busted and we either need to fix it or get out of the news business…”
I didn't know Wipeout was new.
Any Mad Men numbers yet? I think AMC needs to fire its marketing department for the utter lack of marketing sense when it comes to this show. One can blame the Olympics for the loss of potential viewers, but the numbers for this great show are puzzling.
The “Twitter” debacle just shows how out of touch AMC is. Unless these people were going to benefit financially from their behaviour, AMC should have been thrilled that people were even talking about the show online.
The methodolgy for building an audience has changed; having a great show doesn't matter if you can't get people to watch it.
I feel badly for Matt Weiner and Co. The quality of the writing and the effort being put into the show (although the soap opera sexcapade is getting boring) make it really worth watching. AMC looks petrified at the moment. I think they should focus less on Facebook banners and spend more time getting Jon Hamm/ John Slattery/Jan Jones/Rich Sommer on Oprah/Rachel Ray/Regis/and the View.
Ian, no #'s yet, sorry. I actually have people calling me on the phone asking for these numbers, which for a show with so few viewers is kind of surprising.
Assuming it's true, give AMC credit for at least listening to their marketing consultants re: Twitter, and realizing that “free marketing= GOOD!”. From what I've heard, they've OK'd restoring the accounts, but since I don't follow the Twitter theatrics on a minute-by-minute basis, I could have that wrong. I just checked @peggyolsen and it didn't work, but I may have had the ID wrong.
I really love Mad Men, but think it's problem is NOT a marketing problem. While almost every aspect of the show is handled beautifully, I think the bigger problem is that the story unfolds more slowly than trying to watch a snail traverse 10 city blocks. Once I got through the first 5 episodes, I was “all-in”, but most people will not go to such lengths. I suspect that many tuned in for the S2 premiere, and decided the pace wasn't for them. Some turned away completely, others more likely decided they'd prefer to just wait for the DVDs/on Demand. I do not think this can be addressed via “marketing”.
wopa, it was indicated in all our sources as being new, but I didn't watch the show myself.
“Let’s be honest though folks, to borrow a phrase from the NBA, this week is just garbage time. Nothing really matters”…. ha… except for the future of the united states, Iraq war, the un/poorly insured, the national debt (10 trillion), the global environment, having more money in your pocket, abortions, gay rights, oil drilling and the chance of having the first black dude or the cryptkeeper in the white house… lol
Robert,
I agree that the pacing has been slow, but I don't think that applies to every episode. Two of the episodes this season have been very fast-paced. I think one of the problems with Mad Men is that you can't figure out what the hell is going on unless you've seen a previous episode. The characters are not engrossing enough that five minutes with them has you hooked. John Slattery has brought a lot of depth to “Roger” but I don't think you can watch two scenes of “Don Draper” (at least this season) and really know that he is a complex character.
I also think that Matt Weiner and Co. have swerved too far away from the nostalgia of the period and the advertising campaigns that made the first season so interesting. Where is the interesting artwork and clever banter between Cosgrove/Kinsey/Grace/Campbell/Romano?
Don't even get me started on Bobbie Barrett.
Mad Men will never be a hit, and it's okay. AMC is happy with the performance and is using the show to brand itself. Personally, MM is not to my taste. I've watched several episodes and it just doesn't grab me.