Oh how the mighty have fallen. Yeah, these are just very preliminary metered market ratings and won’t necessarily equate to viewers, and certainly don’t have much bearing on the demos, but… While I’m sure House will win all the demos at 8pm, NCIS is dominant in terms of viewers.
The Mentalist, not Fringe appears to be the new season’s hit. On a household basis The Mentalist outperformed Fringe by around 37%. We’ll have to see how Fringe held up in the demos before weighing in further.
Berman is crying about the percentage of the DWTS lead-in that the season premiere of Eli Stone lost, but I scratch my head and wonder if he is looking at the same numbers. If those numbers hold up, Eli out-rated Law & Order: SVU! SVU usually does well in the demos, so we’ll have to see what they looked like. While both shows trailed the hour’s winner Without a Trace, lead-in retention notwithstanding, I’m guessing ABC will be pleased with those numbers.
For easier reading, here is the early household rating/share data in table form:
| Time | Net | Show | Early HH Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | NCIS | 10.4/17 |
| FOX | House | 8.3/14 | |
| NBC | Biggest Loser | 4.3/7 | |
| ABC | Opportunity Knocks | 3.6/6 | |
| CW | 90210 (R) | 1.6/3 | |
| 9:00 | ABC | Dancing With the Stars Results | 9.9/15 |
| CBS | The Mentalist | 9.4/14 | |
| FOX | Fringe | 5.9/9 | |
| NBC | Biggest Loser | 4.7/7 | |
| CW | Privileged (R) | 1.1/2 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Without a Trace | 7.6/12 |
| ABC | Eli Stone | 6.5/11 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 6.4/11 |
Definitions:
Metered Market Overnight Ratings: This is normally the first available ratings information, and is based on the electronic measurement service that Nielsen provides in 56 of the nation’s largest markets. In each market a sample of homes is selected to represent that individual market. Often, networks or syndicators provide metered market information as an early indicator of a program’s performance. In aggregate, the 56 metered markets represent 79,890,610 homes, or 70% of all U.S. TV households. Preliminary metered market data are available as early as 8:00AM (ET). Final metered market information, reflecting line-up changes, pre-emptions and runovers, are normally available by 3:30PM (ET).
I think the debate last week hurt Fringe’s numbers. A week between new episodes doesn’t help a freshman show trying to build its numbers in the fall season.
Marc does seem to put a lot of emphasis on retention, which I don’t think is always as relevant as he does (sometimes it is, sometimes not so much).
Is this the first time Fringe has gone up against The Mentalist?
Melissa, you may be right. I enjoyed last night’s episode and thought it was one of the better ones so far. I’m happy JJ Abrahams has another vehicle to get all his Dharma Institute stuff out of his system
Holly, i’m sure the lead-in does matter in terms of promotion, but especially out of big shows, and especially when retention is greater than 50% — I don’t see how it is as important as how a show did relative to its competition. I can’t think of a single case where the absolute numbers and performance versus competition wouldn’t matter more.
Julia, no:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2008/10/01/overnight-ratings-cbs-wins-most-viewers-fox-dominates-youth-demos/5416
And at least in that instance, Fringe more than held its own in the demos.
Incredible day, Madonna’s spokeswomen confirms she’s divorcing Guy Richie and NCIS is spanking House in the ratings.
Robert, I think retention (or lack there-of) can make a difference even if a show beats its competition. For example, Worst Week beat Samatha Who? in the demo, but the fact it’s loosing a huge chunk of the lead-in is bad because there are at least two shows that we know would do significantly better. On the other hand, NO show is going to have great retention out of DWTS, so the point is more how it does overall and against its competition.
Holly, I agree with you, I just don’t look at it through that lens. I obviously think Worst Week is CBS’ weakest link on Mondays, but I can do that with the absolute numbers and with the knowledge that Old Christine/Rules of Engagement performed better in that slot. That certainly does also equate to better retention for Christine/Rules, but I don’t find that more valuable than the absolute data.
I absolutely love “Fringe”. I find “The Mentalist” a little on the dull unimaginative side. I watch some of the shows when they reair on Saturdays. I’m tired of “House”, I tried to watch but I find it lacking, whereas I’m loving NCIS. I think they really should change the ratings because so many download episodes or watch them online, I mean there are so many ways of viewing that I think the ratings (or lower count) displays that. They have to start making allowances for downloads, example Sarah Connor Chronicles is one of the highest downloaded shows, that of course does not reflect in its poor ratings.
I think Berman’s frequent references to retention might be due to a few things:
1. It’s easy. You don’t have to refer to any past day’s data, everything you need is in the same day’s data. I plead guilty to the same on countless occasions.
2. In a past era when less data was collected, and less channel skipping occurred, it really *was* the important metric. And due to inertia, it’s still referred to.
April, it’s nice to say “so many download or watch them online”, but based on all the *data* we’ve actually ever seen, relative to the numbers who watch the shows via normal television, hardly anyone at all downloads them and watches online. This may be changing and online will no doubt continue to grow, but right now that doesn’t increase advertising revenue for the shows much and won’t likely be considered in renew or cancel decisions. The primary reason you don’t see more data on these numbers, at least through the sanctioned/legal channels is because when you factor in total minutes of viewing (which is how the Nielsen averages are derived) the numbers are still fairly insignificant.
Bill, I’m sure you’re right and from the industry perspective it’s largely the second factor. In 1978 when most people didn’t have remote controls, it was a HUGE deal. If someone went through the effort to actually get up and change the channels..OMG!
But that was 30 years ago. Realistically remotes have been ubiquitous for at least 10 years now.
I am so sick of The Mentalist. Freaking show is ruining everything! STUPID show!
Ummm… If you don’t like the show, don’t watch it. No reason to get so upset.
wow, you are right. ABC must be overjoyed with those Eli Stone numbers …. much better than their other returns like pushing daisies …
yeah, how can a TV show “ruin everything”? Puh-leeze.
Here I am, sadly with the fast affiliate data (which is now up, click on “overnight” link at the top left)things didn’t look as pretty for Eli and ABC.
Waited a long time to see Simon Baker back on the screen & very happy that “The Mentalist” is doing so well for him…..but….feel that Simon is carrying the whole series on his own indvidual talent & handsome good looks.
Just my opinion, but not too thrilled with his co-stars or dull storylines as of now.
If it wasn’t for Simon Baker, I’d be outta there.