| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 10.57 | 5.39 | 5.20 | 5.10 | 1.28 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 2.4/7 | 1.6/5 | 1.2/4 | 1.7/5 | 0.6/2 |
CBS continues to dominate Friday nights, having the three most-watched programs on broadcast network television. Friday Night Lights made its broadcast network debut and unsurprisingly (at least to me) the numbers weren’t any more impressive than Lipstick Jungle’s were. Flashpoint won the hour resoundingly. I know, I know, people with DirecTV had already seen FNL, not to mention all the Internet downloading. But if you added up DTV and Internet downloading into last night’s broadcast numbers, Flashpoint still crushed it.
Flashpoint doesn’t have the critical praise (at least not yet) and Internet loving that FNL gets, but it succeeds where it’s important. A lot of people actually watch it.
Numb3rs ran up against the premiere of the last ten episodes of Battlestar Galactica and was still the most-watched program on broadcast television for the evening. BTW, for those interested we won’t see the BSG numbers until Monday or Tuesday. It will be interesting to see if BSG cracked 2 million viewers.
Of course Ghost Whisperer won the 8pm hour, but Howie Do It is performing better than I thought it would.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | Ghost Whisperer | 10.52 | 2.5/8 |
| NBC | Howie Do It | 6.06 | 1.8/6 | |
| FOX | Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader | 5.64 | 1.1/4 | |
| ABC | Wife Swap | 4.78 | 1.7/5 | |
| CW | Everybody Hates Chris | 1.55 | 0.6/2 | |
| 8:30 | CW | The Game | 1.70 | 0.8/2 |
| 9:00 | CBS | Flashpoint | 10.38 | 2.3/7 |
| FOX | Don’t Forget the Lyrics | 4.84 | 1.3/4 | |
| NBC | Friday Night Lights | 4.54 | 1.6/5 | |
| ABC | Supernanny | 4.36 | 1.6/5 | |
| CW | 13: Fear is Real (R) | 0.93 | 0.4/1 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Numb3rs | 10.83 | 2.5/7 |
| ABC | 20/20 | 6.17 | 1.8/5 | |
| NBC | Dateline | 5.71 | 1.5/4 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved. Source Marc Berman/Mediaweek.
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.
Supernanny was a repeat too.
Nice performance by Flashpoint, it actually went up slightly in the demo from last week. If it can keep up these demos, CBS will leave Friday alone next fall.
Unless Direct TV is paying nearly all the costs for Friday Night Lights and giving it to NBC for free, this is undoubtedly it’s last gasp.
Friday’s are now one of the reasons that CBS is doing relatively better this year vs. its broadcast competition. Not having a boat anchor like Ex-List (or Moonlight, or take your pick) on at 9pm now allows them to average double the competition’s viewership and significantly better in the demo for the whole night. Losing those 3 hours so badly digs the other guys a hole that’s hard to climb out of on a weekly average basis.
Too bad for Friday Night Lights, it’s such an amazing show.
FNL seems very much like a DVR-show. The problem is it won’t be noticed in the immediate Live+DVR ratings because those who DVR it on a Friday night won’t be watching it till a few days later.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see a ratings increase once the people who watch on DVR within 7 days are factored in, but we’ll see.
wow i did not even know friday night lights came back i really wnated to watch it this season way to go NBC
NBC needs a critically acclaimed drama to match 30 Rock as their award-worthy comedy. Frankly, I’m surprised they didn’t push Friday Night Lights more at The Globes…maybe they will make some attempts at this year’s Emmy’s.
Wendell, I agree FNL will get some DVR viewing ultimately probably a bit more than a million. though figure at least 25% of that is baked into the numbers above. The live+7 numbers are not likely to increase the live+SD numbers by a million viewers
CW deserves the ratings it gets in frieday.
Why dump a show who brings in 4 million viewers and 1.5 18-49 rating? Because CW wants to become the destination for women 18-34. Too bad it’s a broadcast network, not a cable channel.
Here’s a link to a article in Forbs which buys the BS Ostroff is selling and where she claims: “We’ve had a fantastic year”. What a joke.
Link: http://www.forbes.com/media/2009/01/13/television-cw-ostroff-biz-media-cx_lr_0113thecw.html
its pathetic what the CW is trying to do if (smallville or supernatural) (dont know what one is which) gets 4-5 million vierwes shouldnt they make those shows there main demo?? or promote the crap out of them?? what idiots
NBC needs RATINGS, RATINGS and more RATINGS!
since when you can pay bills with Golden Globes?
I agree with Robert on likely FNL DVR viewing, and here’s some numbers.
FNL data from from Nov 9, 2007 for perspective on historical DVR viewing of the show:
Live: 5.13 million
Live+SD: 5.565 million
Live+7: 6.15 million (+10.5% over Live+SD, +20% over Live)
And while last night could very easily be different for a variety of factors, a 500k boost in Live+7 over Live+SD for last night seems in the historical range.
It’s quite a shame that FNL has not been able to generate a larger audience. Even if it had held 6MM viewers (“Howie Do It” numbers), it might have a ghost of a chance given the low bars set by NBC and Friday night ratings in general.
As a DirecTV viewer of FNL, I can say that I’ve seen the end of Season 3 and I won’t spoil it for anyone. One general comment about the series: it’s been a refreshing change of pace to see a story whose central characters include a still-in-love, longtime married couple. The Taylors have navigated very real marital issues, and it’s clear they are solidly devoted to each other for better or worse. Kudos to Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton for giving such life to the Taylors!
Looks like CBS has finally found a block of shows that holds the 10-million figure solidly throughout the night. Plan on a block of GW, Flashpoint, and Numb3rs for as long as humanly possible!
Ouch FNL. Unless the actors all take a pay cut and this moves to cable somewhere I think it’s done. When you’re loosing Don’t Forget the Lyrics, it’s over.
I wonder if NBC will air out the rest of the season. Might as well, they really have no replacements anyways.
Friday Night Lights is great TV. I loved last nights episode.
Chuck
While we have no knowledge of the terms of the NBC/DirectTV deal over FNL, my guess is that NBC’s costs have been reduced enough to make the removal of FNL before it finishes its run this spring very unlikely.
People talk about NBC crashing and burning, but really it’s still a long time from going off air or any crap like that. Look at the CW. I think NBC can turn around…ABC did! However, this isn’t their year.
oh and FNL, final season…I don’t think they’ll pull the DTV thing again.
johnthemon, NBC may be crashing and burning, but has anyone discussed any real likelihood of them going off the air? Because NBC seems to cover its bottom line. No possibility of it dying. (CBS on the other hand, I actually have seen real discussion of it being one of the major victims of the current economy.)
taking a $12 *billion* dollar loss will generate those kind of discussions!
Unfortunately there is no way for us to break out the economics of CBS broadcast primetime versus the vast CBS media empire (including radio, billboards, etc). There can be zero doubt that CBS’ top line for its primetime programming is larger than NBC’s top line for primetime, that’s hardly speculative. But any analysis beyond that is, sadly, purely speculative.
I used to watch Stargate Atlantis, till it got the axe, but was thrilled that Flashpoint came back for a second season on U.S. Hopefully CBS will keep picking it up each season as the networks are so full of reality dreck, well, there’s not much left to watch on TV.
It’s too bad to see FNL do as well as last year. It’s such a fantastic show. I’ve seen all the episodes on DTV already and they are unbelievably amazing. There were so many high points in this season that were very touching to watch. I hope NBC makes a deal with DTV again. DTV said they were happy with the numbers FNL was bringing in on their network. If you factor in all the viewers from the broadcast premiere and the DTV premiere, it’s equal to last season so that’s a plus.
Here’s for season 4! And BTW. The Season 3 finale was the best episode I have ever seen on television for any series ever. If it comes down to that being the series finale, I’ll be happy that it left on a high note, but sad it won’t return.
Thank you NBC for three amazing years. Shame on ABC to not do what NBC did with FNL for Pushing Daisies. SHAME ON ABC. SHAME!
Robert, yeah, I doubt the primetime lineup is what’s causing financial woes for CBS. But if the whole corporation were to actually collapse, I wonder what would happen to the TV network. Would they be able to separate it and save it?
I admit I’ve never watched an episode of FNL. Teen angst and football are not my cuppa. I’m sure it’s a wonderful program. At least most of the critics seem to think so. has been treading water since it’s premiere. But it’s been treading water since it premiered. I’m happy (for the fans) that NBC gave it a second season and DirectTV gave it a third. They need to be thankful they got this much and not be surprised if it’s pulled with numbers like it gets.
Julia, despite economic conditions which I have little doubt will further deteriorate, I doubt it will come to that. I think it more likely that CBS would just begin the process of shedding things it can’t make money with. But in the event that it did come to that, I can’t imagine any scenario outside of nuclear holocaust where there wouldn’t be a buyer for the TV-related assets.
Wow, the CW’s The Game actually did better than its lead in from Everybody Hates Chris. still pretty crappy ratings. and by the way if there is any newtork that needs ratings , its CW. If they are going to target at women 18-34 only, and the male target shows are doing betterwith semi-decent ratings, even with no promotion, then something needs to change big time. Starting with Dawn Ostroff, she doesnt know what the hell shes doing, this whole thing is horrible.The only shows that have improvement are GG, OTH, & 90210, yet even those are beginning to slip again. This won’s go on forever, eventually it will all blow over and the network will be gone forever, but they can’t afford to fail on the network again like WB and UPN. These shows are kinda good, but maybe they should just turn it into a cable network so that it better fits it demos and ratings.At least then the rating wouldn’t look so pathetic.
I watched every episode of FNL on DirecTV and thought this is the best show on TV. It’s funny, it’s sad, it’s exciting and the most real show around. I figured they were going to have to shorten the shows for network and tho I remember one scene that was cut out, it played even better than it did on DirecTV! NBC needs a show as great as FNL. As a network they are imploding. Leno at 10:00!?! This is the network that gave us Cheers and Hill Street Blues. Whatever Friday Night Lights costs NBC can’t afford NOT to keep it. Maybe if they finally got behind it like they did the others they might win an Emmy or two.
Has the CBS programming department started their tutorials on powerhouse primetime programming yet, because they are simply schooling the other networks on effective scheduling? Really, the other chiefs of programming are so inept, they make CBS’ head honcho look like a programming whiz kid and he very well may be for all I know. The other networks certainly can’t make the argument that nobody watches tv on Friday nights anymore because CBS now has a higher viewer average on Friday nights than NBC has on any night, with Tuesdays as the occassional lone exception to that rule, and higher than the other two major networks on several nights.
The most shocking aspect of all of this to me is that the other networks seem at this point to be clueless as to how to turn around their fortunes in the ratings. We already know NBC has given over five hours of primetime tv to Jay Leno for a 10pm talk show next fall. That’s fine, if you’re programming to stay near the bottom of the barrel. If you’re programming to beat CSI Miami, Without A Trace, CSI NY, Eleventh Hour, and Numbers, that schedule makes it apparent you’ve already settled for defeat. FOX and ABC are like two peas in a pod. They want fast and cheap reality programming that produces big numbers. Those hits are hard to fine. Fox has the biggest reality hit, but ABC has been able to make an easy living off of more of them with DWTS’, EHM, AFHV, and a slew of reality hits that enabled them to coast through the writer’s strike season.
FOX and ABC seem to have opposing problems headed into the fall of 2009. FOX can’t seem to latch onto solid 9pm programming and ABC can’t find starter programs for their primetime schedule to save their lives. It’s one of two things. Either there’s a lack of effort or a lack of knowledge. It appears FOX tries harder to compete but at ABC, where you cancel hit shows like, Boston Legal, George Lopez, and Friday night hit, Women’s Murder Club, to replace them with Eli Stone, According To Jim and Supernanny, the thought processes going on there are asinine at the least.
FNL is one of the best shows on TV. Thanks for putting it back on NBC. I am a great grandmother but I can relate to all aspects of the situations as I worked in a high school and my family is a football family from coaching and playing from little league to college. I love the realism. Please do not cancel.
no reply
I don’t think NBC is in any danger of collapsing entirely, but if they don’t change course, they are in danger of being the highest rated net-let instead of the lowest rated net. Silverman/Zucker have already referred to The CW and MyNetworkTV like they are regular competition. There is speculation (fueled by Silverman’s statements) that when the Leno experiment fails, NBC could end up giving the 10:00 hour back to the affiliates.
They can absolutely turn it around. All the nets have had down periods and had to work their way back. It would only take one or two hits to make them competitive again. The problem is, they don’t seem to be trying. They’re chasing profit margins at the cost of ratings and scripted programing.
They tried to copy Dancing with the Stars with Superstars of Dance and they failed. NBC needs a major shakeup like ABC did in 2003 with Lost, DH and Grey’s on the same year. They nade to take risks.
NBC will not give the 10:00 hour to the affiliates because they know once it’s done it will never be back. They will cut Saturdays and scale back Sundays before it will happen.
@Holly: “They’re chasing profit margins at the cost of ratings and scripted programing.”
Chasing profit isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Television is a business. If NBCU continues to meet their profit targets, largely on the strength on cable outlets and the profit margins of non-scripted programming, then why bother appeasing the Nielsen monster? NBC won’t worry about ratings until advertisers stop paying enough to meet the bottom line. As of now, that’s not happening.
Sam – you are an idiot. You really wanted to watch but did not know it was on? And blame NBC? But you are active enough to post multiple times in this thread? Way to go Sam.
@clutz “Chasing profit isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Television is a business. If NBCU continues to meet their profit targets, largely on the strength on cable outlets and the profit margins of non-scripted programming, then why bother appeasing the Nielsen monster? NBC won’t worry about ratings until advertisers stop paying enough to meet the bottom line. As of now, that’s not happening.”
clutz, I’d agree with you if there was real proof that NBC’s broadcast business (which is what we mainly focus on) was actually *catching* and not just *chasing* those profits. With NBC buried within the GE financials, there is no way to know what the actual results are short of a renegade NBC accountant dropping me an email.
it’s worse than that, we have even no idea what the NBC broadcast network contributes to NBC Universal. For all we know, USA, SciFi, Oxygen, etc are more profitable, both in relative and absolute terms.
Sadly, I believe the only way you’ll get that e-mail from an accountant is if we take the route the media has taken with Steve Jobs and just basically say whatever the hell we want to say, whether it has any basis in truth or not, like: “Television industry expert Bill Gorman notes that NBC Universal’s USA Network is more profitable than the NBC network.”
You still have to give FNL credit for what it accomplished….the only thing I don’t like about this site is not enough optimism for anything. I know “tvbythenumbers” but numbers doesn’t make quality television.
But unfortunately Kevin, numbers are what keep those quality shows on the air… or off.
Why is Wife Swap still on the air? Can’t believe those numbers LOL.. Personally I found this show to be kind of disturbing when it came out.. and it’s still here, a whole 5 years later.
Because its cheap and bring decent numbers for ABC. It must be the cheapest show on TV, it doesnt even has a host!
More on the DirecTV side of FNL is noted in the print edition of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today, as part of the “TV Q&A” by TV editor Rob Owen. The Sunday Q&A does not appear to be online, or I would link it. Anyway, in answering a question regarding FNL’s future, Mr. Owen denotes the following items:
1) Average of 650,000 viewers per episode over the first six episodes on The 101.
2) Series high, so far, on The 101: 887,000 viewers for the sixth episode.
3) DirecTV quoted by Mr. Owen as being “very pleased” with FNL
4) It is noted that FNL is the top-rated program on The 101.
Will these factors be enough to try a DirecTV/NBC commitment to Season 4? It’s hard to say, IMO. NBC may be the partner who backs out, citing Nielsen ratings that just don’t hold up in the traditional broadcast decision-making model.
At first, I assume these viewership figures are Nielsen info, as all published ratings information is typically Nielsen. However, they are not explicitly cited as the source of the data. Theoretically, the numbers could be taken from DirecTV’s own DirecTView STB data?
Oh, and Robert and Bill,
.
We may not know the profitability, or lack thereof, of NBC broadcast network. I’d pay close attention to the advertising upfronts this year though. If advertisers are causing a fuss, and upfront sales drop significantly vs. last year and vs. other networks…then it won’t be long until loose lips start whispering along an “NBC is in trouble” theme. Those whispers may well come from within NBCU itself, as the cable, production, film, and other branches will want to cover their own behinds when the bottom line isn’t being met
Clutz, typically I pay no attention to dollar quotes about the upfronts. They can pretty much say whatever they want, without any auditing or accountability. While I love speculation as much as the next person, I don’t see the value of it here. If upfronts are down across the board, it will be blamed on the economy, if NBC is down a touch versus itself or the field, they will merely say “of course, we took off at least four hours of scripted programming a week and replaced it with Jay Leno, duh!”
it’s more likely the only way we hear anything relevant is when GE reports its earnings. I haven’t followed it quarter-by-quarter, but I know over the summer, GE said NBCU (the whole thing) was one of the better performing units of the company. It will take some negative comments along those lines for the whispers to mean anything.
3) DirecTV quoted by Mr. Owen as being “very pleased” with FNL
Like he would ever say anything else.
Clutz, the whole point that NBC is chasing profits rather than hits is that they don’t need to make as much money if they aren’t spending as much. So even if Robert is wrong and you can completely trust the figures put out after the upfronts, the ad sales being down from last year won’t matter much if the cost of shows is down as well. With the Leno deal, it is very probably that their costs are down.
Who even tunes in to watch that horrid FOX show are you smarter than 5th grader the dumbest show around!
flashpoint may be the best thing since sliced bread. i will never know. i continue to boycott the time slot. this is moonlight’s time slot and i will never watch anything in this spot. nothing to do with the show(s) placed there, as i said, the show may be great. if jesus christ gets his own tv show where he explains the meaning of life, if it’s on in moonlight’s time slot, i wouldn’t watch it. i stick to my guns.
As to FNL’s survival alot depends on what kind of numbers the advertisers are expecting vs. what they are paying. It will take a few more episodes before a clear trend is established. If it gains viewers, there will likely be more episodes, if it stays the same its a toss up, if it loses viewers its gone for good.
And Robert, never use “CBS” and “nuclear holocaust” in the same posting – Jericho fans are very sensitive and may be watching. After one of the producers recently said a Jericho movie was in “development” as part of an article promoting Harpers Island, fans went crazy thinking this meant the movie was going into actual production. Then again they think 8pm ratings on Sunday night apply to Jericho (which airs 7-8pm). Of course the movie hasnt even been written yet, there is no financing (just one of the producers (Turteltaub) hoping for someone to pony up $40 million – similar the Firefly movie budget) and no studio to produce it. Not to mention CBS still own the rights to it.
Name Required, the thing is, if advertisers are paying for numbers in this range, the only way FNL is able to be here is because of the DirecTV deal. A one hour drama cannot be profitable if it’s getting a 1.6 in the demo. So if these are the numbers advertisers are expecting, it’s only going to hang around if DirecTV really wants it back.
Friday Night Lights is such a great show. I am disappointed to see the ratings so low. NBC should have done a better job promoting it.