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| Total Viewers (million) | 13.75 | 11.16 | 7.64 | 4.55 | 4.39 | 4.27 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 4.1/10 | 3.9/10 | 3.3/8 | 2.1/5 | 1.8/4 | 1.8/4 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 2.5/7 | 3.6/10 | 3.4/9 | 2.0/5 | 1.9/5 | 1.8/5 |
First to any who experienced a brief site outage, we apologize.
CBS took the night in total viewers and in the 18-49 demographic, with ABC and NBC leading among 18-34 year olds. For any who want to compare these numbers with the previous week’s overnight, last week’s report is here.
The biggest surprise of the night to me may be the improvement week over week for the CW with Smallville and Supernatural. I think we may actually see a second consecutive week with a press release about these shows. Update: there were some changes to the numbers due mostly, we’re guessing to the football game airing in the local Denver market, but even still Smallville drew 4.5 million in the final numbers. From the CW:
Smallville hit season highs in adults 18-34 (1.9/6), adults 18-49 (1.9/5) and total viewers (4.5mil). IN FACT, it was the highest rated and most watched episode of the show in nearly a year (since 11/15/07).
Oprah appeared on 30 Rock and while it was a bit lower among 18-49 year olds, it actually increased among 18-34 year olds last night. Last week the show set series records. What’s notable is that The Office lost about a million viewers week over week at 9pm, so given that 30 Rock’s results seem even more impressive. But Bill Gorman is right to think next week tells the tale. Is it after glow of Fey as Palin? Is it Oprah? No Oprah next week, so we’ll find out more.
The 10pm hour was also a bit interesting with Eleventh Hour and ER both losing viewers versus last week while Life on Mars picked some up. LOM wound up with more viewers than ER, though ER won the demo. The bad news for both Eleventh Hour and Life on Mars is that they lose the lead in (and a minute or two of Grey’s is surely in the first half hour of LOM and will be stripped out). Life on Mars had 9.51 million viewers the first half hour and 8.324 the second. Eleventh Hour had 11.8 million in the first half hour and then dropped to 10.14 million.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Survivor: Gabon | 12.18 | 3.9/10 | 2.3/7 |
| ABC | Ugly Betty | 8.95 | 2.7/7 | 2.4/7 | |
| NBC | My Name is Earl | 6.62 | 2.6/7 | 2.3/7 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Angel | 4.86 | 1.9/5 | 2.1/6 | |
| CW | Smallville | 4.81 | 2.0/5 | 2.1/6 | |
| FOX | Kitchen Nightmares | 4.41 | 2.0/5 | 1.9/5 | |
| 8:30 | NBC | Kath & Kim | 5.57 | 2.4/6 | 2.2/6 |
| 9:00 | CBS | CSI | 18.11 | 5.1/12 | 3.1/8 |
| ABC | Grey’s Anatomy | 15.63 | 6.0/14 | 6.1/15 | |
| NBC | The Office | 8.35 | 4.2/10 | 5.2/13 | |
| UNI | Fuego en la Sangre | 5.08 | 2.0/5 | 2.3/6 | |
| FOX | Kitchen Nightmares | 4.69 | 2.3/5 | 2.0/5 | |
| CW | Supernatural | 3.73 | 1.6/4 | 1.5/4 | |
| 9:30 | NBC | 30 Rock | 8.00 | 3.9/9 | 4.6/12 |
| 10:00 | CBS | Eleventh Hour | 10.97 | 3.1/8 | 2.0/6 |
| ABC | Life on Mars | 8.92 | 3.0/8 | 2.2/6 | |
| NBC | ER | 8.64 | 3.3/9 | 2.9/8 | |
| UNI | Rosa de Guadalupe | 3.22 | 1.3/4 | 1.4/4 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Ratings: These first national ratings, including demographics, are available at approximately 11 AM (ET) the day after telecast, and are released to subscribing customers daily. These data, from the National People Meter sample, are strictly time-period information, based on the normal broadcast network feed, and include all programming on the affiliated stations, sometimes including network programming, sometimes not. The figures may include stations that did not air the entire network feed, as well as local news breaks or cutaways for local coverage or other programming. Fast Affiliate ratings are not as useful for live programs and are likely to differ significantly from the final results, because the data reflect normal broadcast feed patterns. For example, with a World Series game, Fast Affiliate Ratings would include whatever aired from 8-11PM on affiliates in the Pacific Time Zone, following the live football game, but not game coverage that begins at 5PM PT. The same would be true of Presidential debates as well as live award shows and breaking news reports.
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.)
Time Shifted Viewing – Program ratings for national sources are produced in three streams of data – Live, Live+Same Day (Live+SD) and Live+7 Day. Time shifted figures account for incremental viewing that takes place with DVRs which are currently in approximately 24.4% of all U.S. TV households. Live+Same Day (Live+SD) include viewing during the same broadcast day as the original telecast, with a cut-off of 3:00AM local time when meters transmit daily viewing to Nielsen for processing. Live+7 Day ratings include incremental viewing that takes place during the 7 days following a telecast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Those are fantastic numbers for Smallville, but will they be adjusted down due to the loss of the Denver market?
If the Football game ran on the CW affliate in Denver, and for that matter, Cleveland, the final numbers will be adjusted down to account for that (meaning these numbers would’ve included the football viewing in Denver).
Yay!! smallville!!!
I’m going to be honest here… I teared up a bit during Smallville in the scene where he was talking and reaching for Kara’s hand.
30 Rock will drop back to 6.0 million next week. I don’t understand how The Office fluctuates so much from week to week.
Nice to see Life on Mars settling down, hope it sticks around. Ice Ice Baby too cold too cold.
Smallville did fantastic, Holy crap. That’s amazing, go Smallville!
quick question, if the numbers get adjusted because of Denver, which is the worst case scenario? how much Smallville will drop?
Its a real NIGHTMARE for Kitchen Nightmares when it gets beat by “Cuidado con el Angel” and “Fuego en la Sangre” – whatever the devil they are.
Ramsey is doing more to destroy the restaurant biz than any man alive. After watching an episode like the one I caught in the previews (while channel surfing before ER came on) where there is a restaurant infested with roaches, it will be awhile before I eat out again! Ewwwwwwwwww!!!
Shouldn’t Kitchen Nightmares be under Smallville?
The numbers don’t include the football ratings, because Nielsen automatically filters them out.
I think it is a good move by FOX to move Bones to Thursday, so that the network can compete.
11th Hour actually increased in demo by .2 from last week. I wonder if its numbers are enough to get it a full pick up. (According to Corman’s Index it is.)
Gabriela: Denver is the #18 local market with around 1.5 million television homes, so it’s impossible for me to estimate because we can’t convert that to “viewers”. If a third of the homes were watching the football game, it could be 750,000 or so viewers. Unfortunately we don’t have easy access to what airs when on what local affiliates, and even if we did it would probably be too much work for us to consider keeping up with. We will however see the final adjusted numbers for these shows and post them next tuesday (see the “CW” link in the site navigation).
Way to go Supernatural & Smallville! Nice to see them doing well during sweeps.
Dillan, You are wrong. The overnight numbers here DO include football. The final numbers (usually) released in the afternoon would not include football. The overnight numbers are “how many were watching channel X between 8 and 8:30″. The final numbers are “how many people were watching show Y”, so they are adjusted for overrun and preemptions.
Ladiesman217 — indeed, fixed. Dillan, that doesn’t track with our understanding of the way the fast affiliate numbers are reported. you can see what Nielsen itself says on the subject in the “definitions” section under the table of shows.
“30 Rock will drop back to 6.0 million next week. I don’t understand how The Office fluctuates so much from week to week.”
6 million, definitely not. 7 million, probably. Oprah definitely helped this week, so there will be a fall, but I think it’ll still be good for maybe 80% retention from The Office. Considering the current state of NBC, Network Comedy and award-winning network television, that should be good enough for a fourth season.
Listen, I’m as shocked as everyone else that 30 Rock is doing this well, but are we going to get dire predictions of what it will do next week every week? Why don’t we just wait and see.
I hope ABC sticks with “Life on Mars”. While not spectacular, its ratings have stayed consistent after the premiere week dropoff, even growing a little bit in the last three weeks. Here is what it’s done so far:
Date TV 18-49
9-Oct 11.33 3.80
16-Oct 8.47 2.70
23-Oct 8.06 2.50
30-Oct 8.41 2.70
6-Nov 8.92 3.00
Anyone have a prognosis for this show? I really like it so I’m probably biased, but strictly based on the numbers, what does everyone think?
Hi Adam,
The reason The Office fluctuates so much is because is one of those shows that has a huge increase in DVR viewing. The latest numbers from Nielsen show that it had more than 40% increase. I guess you can’t keep those A18-34 house-bound every Thursday:)
JT, 99% chance Life on Mars survives until at least May. As for after May, there’s a lot of television between now and then but if I had to guess today, I think it will be one of the “bubble” shows that fans are biting their fingernails over in May.
i want smallville to break 5 million next week! I think its very possible!
I am enjoying Supernatural’s trumping of 90210 and Gossip Girl IMMENSELY. I know, I know, their 18-34 numbers aren’t as high, but still . . . this show provides a much larger revenue stream in terms of merchandise, events and DVD sales. With good ratings, that counts for something!
Expect both Smallville and Supernatural to drop in finals. As they were preempted for Football Game in Denver.
Btw, EH had a overrun too so will drop in the finals.
Supernatural has been doing amazing. I honestly think it would be doing over 4 mill each week easily if it had the same spot as Smallville. The competition at 9pm is insane compared to 8pm. I’m not trying to take anything from Smallville which is amazing.
“i want smallville to break 5 million next week! I think its very possible!”
Probably not remotely possible as the show (and Supernatural) are preempted in the NY market for another football game, Jets vs Patriots. The NY market will be showing it on saturday night where its not likely to get good numbers at all. I expect SV and SPN to take a huge hit next week due to this preemption.
Valerie, good point. Although at least from the fast nationals perspective, it seems like the numbers we see for Smallville next week should easily clear 5 million then.
Harry, you are correct about the Office having significant DVR viewing, but I don’t think that *explains* the variability in the Live+Same Day viewing that we see in these overnight reports.
I don’t watch the show, so if its anything plot/subject related it would escape me, but I’d guess that the Office audience has varied because of both the other NBC shows on those nights or the competitions shows on those nights.
What are the odds that this is Smallville’s last season? Or has that been decided? And what are the chances they can take some of the existing characters and spin the show off into Justice League.
Isn’t 18.11 millions the weakest ratings ever for a new CSI on thursday ?
Christy, no, not based on viewers anyway. Last year several post-strike airings fared worse:
http://tvbythenumbers.com/2007/11/18/csi-ratings-2007-2008/1818
I’m highly amused at the fact that Ugly Betty’s ratings are MUCH better now that Lindsay Lohan is off the show, haha. It even beat Survivor in the 18-34 Demo!
And Grey’s went up slightly as well, while CSI went down a bit. Will Grey’s eventually beat CSI again? I’m thinking no still… And Life on Mars went up and 11th Hour went down. Strange improvement for ABC?
And I hope 30 Rock’s ratings stay this way.
Yes Tyler once Grissom leaves Grey’s will top CSI again
so happy for Supernatural. It’s been doing very good this season, with high numbers every week…^_^
That’s sorta odd that Eleventh Hour lost viewers from last week, with this being Sweeps and all. Shame too, it was a really good episode last night.
Now, if I could just get through the withdrawls from some of my other shows that I have been waiting 2 weeks for Sweeps eps of. *twitch*
Things aren’t looking good,their best show for the night among viewers was ER, which will disappear for ever in February. I watched seasons 10-12 and have only just got back in to the series which is getting good again.
Rob or Bill: What do you guys think are the chances of it getting renewed for season 16?
Paul, we don’t have any inside information on ER about a surprise “one more” season. There have been published reports that NBC is considering buying more shows to extend this season (which as you note was to end in Feb), which seems reasonable, but I haven’t seen anything final on that either.
Boy is the CW stupid.
Supernatural and Smallville are (in terms of viewers) they’re biggest shows, but they don’t get hardly any promotion. If they pumped ‘em up a bit more I bet they could top the five million mark, which for a CW show would be very good.
Odd how UNI beat FOX and CW. Seriously.
The Office is really unpredictable lately, and 30 Rock is looking strong, which could hold better than people think. I think many people who turned in because of Fey’s SNL buzz and Oprah, will continue to tune in.
The CW must do what FOX did to garner respect: BUY NFL RIGHTS.
Lost will go Wednesdays at 9 versus Criminal Minds and Lie to Me.
http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2008/11/losts-fifth-sea.html
Judging from the 18-49 and other young demo, NBC if it plays its cards right and replaces ER with a youthful-skewing drama could make life very interesting on Thursday nights for both ABC and CBS, who are rapidly losing steam from seven to ten.
Thank you Robert Seidman.
Do we know when Grissom will leave the show ?
In February Sweeps.
Thanks Cool, for that Lost update. I bet ABC is planning to move Private Practice to 10pm Thursdays after Greys, then put Life on Mars on after Lost on Wednesdays. That would make more sense.
How many viewers do you think “Lost” will get this season. I’m betting somewhere between 12 and 13 million, but want to know what you all think…
I’m thinking 12-13 million, it’s a difficult time (Criminal Minds, Idol fueled ‘Lie to Me’) but last season was excellent, the Season Finale had great buzz, is back in the Emmy race in the ‘Best Drama’ category and it’s a good show. It can be third in viewers but fighting with Lie to me in the demo. if Lie to Me is a failure, it can be #1 in the demo.
I’m supposed to watch some of LIE TO ME next week. I’ll let people know my opinion of it after.
Final national for “Smallville” and “Supernatural”.
- “Smallville” (CW) : 4.46 million viewers (A18-49: 1.9/5; A18-34: 1.9/6)
- “Supernatural” (CW) : 3.24 million viewers (A18-49: 1.4/3; A18-34: 1.3/3)
Source: Pifeedback.
So for those ratings geeks (like me!) wondering how much difference the factoring out of the regional (Denver/Cleveland) football broadcasts from the CW show viewership:
Smallville:
Fast overnight: 4.807 million
Final: 4.5 million (-6%)
Supernatural
Fast overnight: 3.730 million
Final: 3.24 million (-13%)
it’s in line with my expectations especially given how the game went. also Denver is mountain time and the Smallville/Supernatural block is from 7pm-9pm local time (so would’ve picked up the 9pm-11pm ET portion of the game — which started at 8:15 so probably typically end at ~11:30p ET or 9:30p mountain).
The game included a dramatic three touchdown fourth quarter comeback by the Broncos so i’m not surprised by the bigger drop for Supernatural.
JT > I guess between 10 / 11 million
For any Lost fans..
January 21 is whole night of Lost with a three hour Season Premiere
http://darkufo.blogspot.com/2008/11/season-5-premiere-abc-to-show-2.html
NBC orders full season of ‘Life’
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/11/nbc-orders-full.html
DANG, 3 hour premiere of Lost in one night? That’s insane…
NBC orders full season of ‘Life’
http://www.thrfeed.com/2008/11/nbc-orders-full.html
LIFE did well on the C3 ratings. Better than the SD+L ratings.
and by well I mean comparatively to other NBC programs.
comparing Live+SD to C+3 isn’t the valid comparison. You’d need to show the Live commercial viewing and the C+3 viewing. I’ll bet you $100 that if it did relatively better via C+3, it did almost identically relatively better with the live commercial viewing.
Robert, all I have to go on here are C3 ratings and compare them to the overall Nielsen ratings. If I could do what you’re suggesting I would. I’m still shocked to find out that some who DVR don’t skip commercials. That somehow offends me.
Still the show is sticking around. How well did the show do this season when it was after Heroes compared to the other time slots? I hear that factored into the equation. Plus it had MORE viewers than Knight Rider this week, which for NBC was for some reason important.
Wait, they are going to move LOST back to Wednesday, is that confirmed….I would move LOST to Thursday, and move LIFE ON MARS to an easier night such as Wednesday.
Rich, ABC announced the move for LOST, so it’s confirmed. I think LOM will be moved to Wednesdays as well.
Rich, I think none of it is confirmed at this point. It’s an “our inside sources tell us” story from E Online, Hibberd, etc at this point. (edit: I trust the info is correct though, but there hasn’t been a formal announcement from ABC that I’ve seen).
I think Life on Mars will move to Wednesdays after Lost and Private Practice will be paired with Grey’s on Thursdays. but we’ll see.
Robert, I’m pretty sure ABC announced the premiere of LOST with the night and time.
Nick, I’m pretty sure they didn’t officially announce it because there is no official announcement from ABC on it yet.
Both Hibberd and E Online frame it as “our sources tell us”. I think it probably might as well be official, and I certainly trust the reports.
and funnier still, according to the Futon Critic, the rumor leaked via Twitter (twitter.com):
LOS ANGELES (thefutoncritic.com) — “Lost” is returning to its original home – Wednesday nights – for its fifth season.
Rumblings of the move began this morning after a Twitter account credited to ABC Inner Circle posted: “HOT HOT HOT! This JUST in….LOST will return Wednesday, January 21st at 8/7c!!!!!”
Said claims were subsequently confirmed to the site by network sources this afternoon. It’s understood the new season will open with a one-hour recap special at 8:00/7:00c followed by its two-hour season opener at 9:00/8:00c.
“Lost” aired on Thursday nights last season, where it averaged 12.7 million viewers and a 5.4 rating among adults 18-49.
Still to be determined: where current Wednesday entries “Pushing Daisies,” “Private Practice” and “Dirty Sexy Money” will go come the new year.
Robert, I didn’t know that ABC didn’t have a PR out about it yet. I heard about it today and confirmed it with some people so I assumed it was public knowledge if media sites were starting to report it. I just clicked to read it, and you’re correct it’s “sources report.” I’m hearing the same exact thing so I assume it’s legit as well.
Robert, head to the LOST website on abc.com and you will see it’s there too. There’s also an ABC promo with the date as well, it’s pretty much been confirmed by ABC.
It’s definitely been confirmed by ABC (I trust the Futon Critic), and the Lost web site is official enough for me!
Life on Mars is building an audience behind Grey’s Anatomy. I hope ABC doesn’t move it. Surely, they will just push back Private Practice to 10pm Wednesday. Currently, it’s their strongest Wednesday night show. Why not give it the LOST boost.
If Lost is moving to Wednsdays then that is good news for Supernatural.
For the most part, this is a very positive blog/comment site, with little malice or high temper/negativity….except when Nick C posts, bringing both criticism towards others, as well as dubious, if not entirely false information.
Why?
And, given that he clearly has his own connections and high powered sources and is privy to a wealth of knowledge we are not, could he not simply start his own site as opposed to creating trouble on someone elses?
Jordan, what dubious or false information have I posted? None. That is something a child would do. I believe most people who have problems with my statement are generally fans of a TV series I provided bad news on. Not much I can do there. The only other “argument,” I was a part of was with some Whedonites who want to believe that FOX is screwing with Joss. I guess some people have to believe the worst before ever even seeing a show.
I believe in Joss, I know he can make it on a Friday night!! Just like BSG. VIVA LA DOLLHOUSE! LONG LIVE SCI FRIDAY!
I like the idea of pairing Grey’s and Private Practice on Thurs., also Lost with Life on Mars on Wed. I think it would benefit both younger shows.
I think CBS are starting to show that with the right show, Friday can still be a successful night. I actually think that Dollhouse has a very Friday night sound to it; escapist fun; which generally isn’t found elsewhere. It looks similar in tone to Las Vegas, which always seemed an easy fit for Fridays.
I do however wonder why Fox don’t use American Idol to springboard EVERY show on their network.
Bring it back first week of January with one of their new shows following it on the performance night and one after the results show, for two weeks, with constant reminders after each ad break of both AI and the show, that after the two weeks it moves to it’s permenant new slot.
Then, bring two new shows in, and repeat. At least then, each new show gets around 18 million eyeballs for its lead-in and more from advertising.
It worked for House, and Sarah Connor; why not for Lie to Me, Dollhouse, etc..
Tony S, I think FOX is going to use American Idol to springboard both LIE TO ME and DOLLHOUSE. It’s just smart. It would give that new Friday a kick start as well.
WOW ABC is on fire – their 3 shows boosted up the viewers