| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 12.48 | 11.08 | 8.53 | 8.21 | 4.26 | 1.52 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 3.8/9 | 3.7/9 | 3.1/8 | 2.8/7 | 1.7/4 | 0.7/2 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 2.7/7 | 3.5/9 | 2.6/7 | 2.3/6 | 1.7/5 | 0.9/2 |
President Obama’s press conference averaged 36.94 million across the four major broadcast networks, with ABC grabbing the most overall viewers with 11.49 million. But CBS won the night in terms of overall viewers and viewers 18-49 years old, with ABC capturing the 18-34 year old demo.
Other than Obama, CBS” Two and a Half Men was the night’s most-watched program with 14.88 million. Meanwhile the success of The Big Bang Theory in the 9:30p spot can’t spell good news for Worst Week. Unlike Worst Week, TBBT not only retained a good chunk of the overall viewers, it retained almost all of the 18-49 year old viewers and had more 18-34 viewers than Two and a Half Men. Update: The 9:30 airing of TBBT delivered series high viewer numbers.
We could talk about Heroes and 24, but, really we should probably talk about The Bachelor since it is outperforming both of those shows across the board.
Please keep in mind that all the numbers are preliminary and especially with the Obama press conference it’s very likely to change since the numbers have not been time zone adjusted.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | ABC | President Obama Press Conference | 11.49 | 3.1/8 | 2.4/7 |
| CBS | President Obama Press Conference | 9.78 | 3.0/8 | 2.4/7 | |
| NBC | President Obama Press Conference | 9.75 | 3.1/8 | 2.5/7 | |
| FOX | President Obama Press Conference | 5.92 | 2.2/6 | 1.7/5 | |
| CW | Gossip Girl (R) | 1.67 | 0.8/2 | 1.0/3 | |
| 9:00 | CBS | Two and a Half Men | 14.88 | 4.7/11 | 3.1/8 |
| ABC | The Bachelor | 11.68 | 4.2/10 | 4.3/11 | |
| FOX | 24 | 10.50 | 3.4/8 | 3.0/8 | |
| NBC | Heroes | 7.90 | 3.6/8 | 3.3/9 | |
| CW | One Tree Hill (R) | 1.37 | 0.7/2 | .9/2 | |
| 9:30 | CBS | The Big Bang Theory | 13.11 | 4.6/10 | 3.2/8 |
| 10:00 | CBS | CSI: Miami | 13.67 | 3.9/10 | 2.6/7 |
| ABC | The Bachelor | 10.08 | 3.8/10 | 4.0/11 | |
| NBC | Medium | 7.93 | 2.7/7 | 1.9/5 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 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.
yay big bang theory yay
amazing ratings for TBBT, 24 lost a litle and heroes hasn’t improved much.
I’m so glad Heroes is back! I mean REALLY back. I didn’t like the second volume very much and I hated the third, but this new volume it’s really starting to feel like the first. I just hope they don’t screw it up again. It deserves better ratings.
And how the hell is The Bachelor doing so well?
Heroes needs to begin planning its exit. Though demos are still good, its overall viewer numbers going under 8 million is bad for expensive show like that, they need to wrap it up next season.
“24″? Still ok, though ratings are eroding. Once again they peaked too early. And now? Just more of the same – hostages, bad guys running amok. Send Jack back to rub out John Wilkes Booth in 1865! Do it! Do it! Maybe Jack can go sailing after Day 7 and end up on the LOST Island and get sent back there by Jacob? Ok, the shows are on 2 different networks, but hey, Im sure they could work that out.
How about moving BBT inbetween Men and CSI: Miami???
Lead off with HIMYM and insert Gary Unmarried, Christine, or Rules of Engagement.
More likey with Gary or Rules, CBS will have a Powerhouse lineup of sitcoms that can hold their own, and don’t rely on another show for ratings.
No surprises from The Big Bang Theory. Now i would like to saw How I Met Your Mother in this slot!
CBS put Rule os Engagement at 8 pm, The BIg Bang Theory at 8:30 pm and HIMYM at 9:30 pm.
Heroes lost half million viewers and Medium was more viewers.
amazing performance from the bachelor at 10 pm in 18-34 4.0!
I’ve enjoyed the last two episodes of Heroes. I like where they’re going with Nathan and HRG, and it’s good to see Sylar return to form. The show is good when it doesn’t have a hundred different subpar storylines rolled into one episode.
What in the world…? The following takes place between 9pm & 10pm (8central): Bachelor…lame, lame, lame…do people really want to meet someone in this manner???…
…24 was A-W-E-S-O-M-E last night…an excellent action hour…and the chase is on!!!!
P.S. LESS THAN 4 DAYS TILL TERMINATOR/DOLLHOUSE…
WOW! didn’t expect such huge ratings for TBBT, CBS should think of moving 2.5 men to 8, HIMYM to 8:30 and TBBT to 9 & worst week to 9:30
oh yea…I guess FOX is sticking with that “GRINDHOUSE” type promo for SARAH & DOLLHOUSE (actually Cameron & Echo)they ran near the end of “24″ last night…we’ll see if it works…!!!
…there was a time when HEROES was edging out 24 – now look where 24 is…”still”
I have to agree that Heroes is getting slightly better, even after only 2 episodes into the new Volme, but I think too many viewers have given up. Unless they come up with an outstanding episode i.e Company Man there is no way this show will see another 4.0 in the 18-49 demo which is very sad. Even L&0:SVU does better ratings than Heroes.
I have been saying what Average Joe said regarding Heroes and 24.
Heroes needs to plan its exit strategy. Thanks to the Writers Strike, Heroes needs three full seasons to make it past 100 episodes. It needs to plan the exit NOW!!!!
From what I have heard 24 will have ONE MORE season on TV before attempting a movie.
The current Bachelor is getting ratings due to the current person holding the title. Jason Mesnick is divorsed with a three year old son.
Avarage Joe – I disagree…24 has not peaked and yes there are always hostages…but at the end of the hour -the hostage crisis ended – the big name villians have yet to come into play – I think Jack’s just getting warmed up…
…but then again–I’m a freak (lol)…so ignore everything I posted.
CBS might move Two and Half Men as a two or three week trial.
8/9 is still the peak hour of Prime Time Viewing so I don’t really see that happening.
Howevering placing HIMYM or BBT inbetween CSI: Miami will still be a payoff.
I wonder whether 24 will continue losing/stay around that demo or whether it can regroup next week. I would not make this argument for any other show/network, but I could maybe see FOX viewers decide to completely forgo this night of TV and DVDR 24.
On a personal note, they deserve a ratings slide for no Tony. I was Tony baited into this season, I want my fix.
the problem of heroes is the back and forward on time. for what? this don’t improve the storyline… straight and simple storylines makes best shows…
The ratings for Big Bang Theory don’t surprise me. Last night’s episode was absolutely hilarious. I haven’t laughed as hard as I do with BBT for a looong time. This show totally deserves all the good ratings it’s getting.
What does surprise me is Bachelor ratings. There I just go WTF??
L&O SVU may do better than Heroes in ad demo but Heroes still does slightly better than Medium in the younger demos.
idizzle…rest assure Tony will be back in a bigger way…count on it!
…I ALSO think the President’s speech clicking into PAST the top of the hour might have turned that “handful” of viewers away…I almost thought 24 was going to be pre-empted myself…
“What does surprise me is Bachelor ratings. There I just go WTF??”
Again its because of the current Bachelor. I have talked about this in a earlier post.
Hey – that’s wierd both the real President and 24’s President made speeches last night to the public…okay not related but both serous themes!!!
Ignore the man behind the curtain…Like I said – I’m a freak
…and I can’t spell…
“…I ALSO think the President’s speech clicking into PAST the top of the hour might have turned that “handful” of viewers away…I almost thought 24 was going to be pre-empted myself…”
Obama took the WHOLE HOUR people.
Good point DON M…the little boy is making the ratings…I think they call it the “cute factor”…but still…come—ON!?
So is it safe to assume that CBS is going to keep The Big Bang Theory at 9:30 now? Surely with numbers like its at least worth keeping it there for another week to see if it was a fluke or not. Although I’ll agree with the poster that said they’d like to see How I Met Your Mother in the slot instead.
Um yest the President took the whole hour then went to nearly 2 minutes into the NEXT hour
…and i still can’t spell…Argh!
I think the Obama speech could have affected 24 ratings. Since Fox had less viewers than other network, maybe it did something. We’ll se next week I guess
No! really hoped Heroes would remain above 8.mil and get better demos
At least it beat 24… personally i don’t think Heroes should plan an exist this season or the next
I don’t think 24 piqued to early…it piqued last night. The season is resetting itself quickly and often that’s true, but I’m kind of glad of that because the story-lines presented so far while having their moments have been less than extraordinary. The writing so far has been REALLY solid unlike the erratic crap-fest in season 6 but hasn’t had the wrenching drama 24 is known for, or even all that much action. I thought 24 would have been back full-swing if the red head tortured the baby but I suppose there’s some things even the 24 writers aren’t comfortable with doing.
At any rate, 24 was down slightly because it didn’t have House. So as far as I can tell 24 is at a series average ratings-wise. It’s too bad when it was at it’s very very best, in terms of ratings and emmys back during the Logan administration, we got the Palmer 2 administration and he took us down, down, down, til the flames grew higher, and it burns, burns, burns, the ring of fire…the ring of fire.
Several reasons not to read too much into to Monday’s numbers.
First of all, the numbers above will be adjusted, perhaps significantly because of the live address, which was on 4 networks.
Second, once the numbers are final, the audiences at 8-9 PM for the speech were not the typical audiences for those networks (for example, House would have drawn far more viewers and 18-49s for Fox) so the 9pm show numbers are likely a unique situation.
Heroes is watched by too many around the world for NBC to not let it reach 100 episodes.
NBC needs to find the right situation for Chuck and Heroes.
Although it had 2.5 million less overall viewers than 24, Heroes still won in the key demos. Given the state of NBC, I don’t think they have anything to worry about yet. Maybe if Kings and Southland become major hits, but how likely is that?
Bill, The Bachelor outperforming 24 and Heroes seems in no way unique to last night, and will not change with the final numbers. While I wouldn’t read too much into 24 and Heroes absolute numbers, relatively speaking it’s not a lot different than last week and likely not much different than next week.
24 is now down almost 20% in both rating and demos from the premiere, and over 25% from it’s high water mark during Hour 3-4. I’m revising my prediction from the premiere. I now think a prediction of a 30% drop by the end of the season was too cautious. I’m betting it drops down to 8.0 and 2.0 or less by season’s end.
Also it’s down 80% in brain cells from any other season of the show, even though most of the past seasons had very few cells to being with.
I like how last night Larry managed to hang up his phone, run down a hallway, pull all the classified phone logs on two secret service agents AND their personnel files, download everything to his PDA, and then get to the reflecting pool—all in under 120 seconds. And here I thought the shortcuts they took with geography were ludicrous.
Of course, when it comes to crazy things that render the show’s real time gimmick meaningless, the cake must be taken by the last episode ending with Jack and Company telling the president they were coming in at 2:58, and then this episode opened with them being led into the OVAL FRICKING OFFICE at 3:04.
Yeah, I know, why the hell am I still watching? Why am I not one of the 20%?
I can’t say, but it obviously speaks to a deep flaw in my character. Some part of me must just love car crashes. At least I can say that I truly am ashamed by it. Thank God I admit all of this here under a pseudonym.
Hopefully next week is the week where I do not watch. I need some self respect back.
By the way, for a show that was supposed to be touching on the idea of torture in the world today, the show seems to be spending an inordinate amount of time creating completely ridiculous scenarios that allow them to not only justify torture but also to speak to its virtues. Even Captain Kangaroo would approve Jack’s methods under the asinine situations these writers manage to invent.
And how stupid do torture critics look when they are represented by characters who get in a huff over Jack’s plan to PRETEND to torture someone when they only have 45 minutes until the First Dude is executed? This show is fair and balanced like Fox News is an arm of the DNC.
Still loving me some President Exposition, I must say. Still waiting for the first White House scene that isn’t pure exposition. I’m hoping there never is one. That would be a new record.
It’s amazing to me that 24, where maybe two new things happen each hour, needs more exposition in one episode than Lost needs in an entire season.
Rather than try to launch a new sitcom inbetween Men and CSI:M either put BBT or HIMYM in that slot. Also the odd one out should lead off the night.
Poor NBC couldn’t even win the Obama press conference timeslot.
NBC obviously could not win the Obama hour, because ABC wasn’t airing Pushing Daisies.
Those numbers for TBBT is the nail in the coffin for Worst Week. I wonder how Rules would perform outside the 9:30 slot. My guess is worse than TBBT. TBBT, Mother, Rules, and 2.5 men are all hit shows now; CBS has quite the tough task scheduling them to maximize ratings/profits; a task I’m sure the other networks are jealous of.
Yay i am happy for Big bang theory it deserves it
that show is hilarious and much better than the Hyped HIMYM
Where can I see the final numbers?
Sam, I will keep an eye out for the final numbers later today and post them either in the main body of the post or in the comments.
Thanks!
Screw Jay Leno, NBC needs to give Obama more screen time.
Are you sure that heroes got 3.3 on R18-34? Usually Heroes got 0.3 or 0.4 more than R8-49
and to Bill’s point (that was in bold so you wouldn’t miss it), usually there is not a presidential press conference on at 8pm as a lead-in, so paying close attention to the absolute numbers for the night isn’t worth much. But, yes, I’m sure.
Schmokey, 24 has gone more and more ludicrous in their handling of “real time,” as they’ve added Executive Producers. They have what 30 Executive Producers now?
The show has gone from slight Real Time issues to the absurd. Last night’s episode had to be the all time leader in absurdity of what Bauer could do in not just an hour but in 42 minutes. Yes, he had 42 minutes to find the kidnappers of the First Dude. 42 minutes. In that time he had to go meet an FBI agent, figure out which SS agent was the bad one and track them down, get the info, then get to where they were holding the First Dude. In 42 minutes.
Lets not even get into the fact that the bad guy gave the President 50 minutes to have her forces “withdraw.” Do you have any idea how long that would take for it to look like they were withdrawing? A lot longer than 50 minutes.
The Jack Bauer Power Hour is about absurdity. You have to embrace the absurdity. Cuddle up to it. Otherwise you’ll just make yourself feel bad. I enjoy it because of the absurdity it just fits with it all.
24 is only losing viewers because of HEROES. HEROES wasn’t on during the first episodes.
I got so lost in carping (sorry, I’ll try and keep that to a minimum) that I forgot to ask: Robert, are those series low numbers for 24? The demos especially seem like they are sinking like a stone.
Next week’s numbers will be interesting. I’m not certain that Obama’s first press conference really did much to anyone’s numbers. It only ran 115 seconds over, I believe, and it generated ratings nearly as good, or better, than every show it replaced except House. Maybe 24 lost a handful of people that would have watched House and then just sat their like zombies and watched 24, but that seems pretty unrealistic.
If there is one thing this season and last have taught me, lead-ins are now compltely overrated and used like as crutch by every underperforming show on television. The numbers for BB vs. WW last night should show you that. Or take a look at the way Lie To Me is barely a hit even with the massive AI lead in.
Or take a look at how moving Life on Mars from a horrible lead in to a great one has made absolutely zero difference (well, some difference actually, LOM went down in the ratings).
In the Age of The Clicker, The Internet, and The Minisucle Attention Span (too short to even be called short), lead ins frequently are meaningless.
Again, look at Wed. Lost has no lead in. Lie to Me has the biggest lead in in television. Yet the ratings for both are nearly identical. You could say that Lost is just that much better of a show, or you could say that people simply watch what they want to watch regardless of what airs before or after it.
Anyone? Anyone? Anyone at all?
Agh! Heroes is back to it’s november numbers! At least its beating 24. I’m disappointed that people like “The Bachelor” better than Heroes. I mean seriously!
I live in vancouver canada and I watched a rerun of chuck at 8pm on nbc. I don’t think the networks ran the presser at 8pm in the west.
Brent, they did not. That’s why these numbers will change once they are time zone adjusted.
Why didn’t the CW air President Obama Press Conference? Actually why do they never air anything like that?
I’m surprised so many people’s enjoyment of 24 hinges on the reality of the real-time. It’s a gimmick? Of course it’s a gimmick. It’s still an exciting show though. And I still love the character(s), that would be enough for ANY other show but because the real-time isn’t real people won’t watch it. Of course it’s not real! how boring would that be? At least the move to Washington D.C. made the unreasonable haste in transportation a bit more reasonable, I think anyway.
And I have a hard time saying that Heroes beat 24, when it beats it in the demo and yet no one is watching it. The viewership is what speaks to the quality of the show, not the age demographic of its viewers.
I really think Heroes needs to go away. It’s NBC’s only big hit, and it gets fewer viewers than Medium which is really in need of promotion because it actually has the capacity to be a big hit considering its NBCs only good show … in my opinion of course. If it wasn’t for Medium, I would refuse to watch NBC. Especially after they cancelled Las Vegas — I hope they’re regretting that now. Considering that on its lowest ratings day, it had better ratings than Heroes.
I’m sorry this turned into a directionless rant by the way.
It’s not NBC that is to blame for HEROES stalled numbers. It falls completely on the shoulders of the creators. They try to sell Volume Two as good and then came out and told their audience that they didn’t know how to watch TV and that they were in the process of “reteaching them” instead of admiting it was crap. THEN they come back out with the beginning of this season with some fourteen year old fangirl crack thinking THAT is what would sell. Even if they figured out what works this semi-season go-around it’s a day late and a dollar short for many fas who have found better to waste thier time on Monday night. Like balance their check books. Just sayin’
scott, the CW doesn’t do news.
AHHH HEROES WAS AMAZING LAST NIGHT!!!!!!! wish the ratings were like they were in season one
Schmokey, just look at Fringe’s ratings. Fairly mediocre premiere ratings but Fringe jumped significantly the following week when House had its own season premiere. And Fringe’s ratings were boosted even more when it got American Idol as a lead-in.
So basically the west coast numbers aren’t in yet? Does Nielsen always count west coast numbers every week or only east coast?
Hudson, read the information below on the methods for Fast Affiliate ratings. Nielsen’s methods are the same every night, but for live events those methods can produce inaccurate results in these fast affiliate ratings.
the finals are out and The Bachelor (4.3) beat CSI Miami (4.0) in the demo. BBT had 4.5 of a 4.8 of Two and a Half Men.
half hourly final #s between 9p-11pm (the Obama news conference was “sustained” which means we won’t see those numbers in the weekly #s either) via Marc Berman’s forums:
http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/244102981/p/5
how did chuck do with “chuck vs. the cougars” on the west coast?
sarah, Chuck aired a repeat on the west coast, not a new episode.
I was going to say, if Chuck Lorre couldn’t hold his own lead-in, there’s really something disturbingly wrong with the people who watch “Two and a Half Men.”
Kudos to “Big Bang” — the first genuinely funny multi-cam sitcom to come down the pike in years. And kudos to the writers for managing to have the laughs come from other things besides poop and farts (as on “Two and a Half Men”).
Speaking of farts, now maybe the old ones who vote on the joke that has become the Emmys can start giving it the recognition it deserves, instead of wasting numerous slots on dross like “Entourage” or “Pushing Daisies” that have no business being called comedies.
so they don’t do ratings with repeats? darn i wanted to see how the 3d episode affected ratings.
sarah, It still wouldn’t give you an accurate picture of the Superbowl/3D effect because it wouldn’t include half the country.
24 was awesome. One of the best episodes in the series history!
Any rating over 10 million viwers nowadays is very good!
Chuck
All the FOX shows in recent years are horrid and boring.
24 loses in demos with heroes, that really bad for fox, but this bad result is probably because house wasnt airing
sarah, to be clear, we do see ratings for repeat episodes. What we don’t see are overnight ratings for shows that don’t air in the entire country.
Hey Schmokey, thanks for carping. I needed the laugh after a busy day of work. I tend to agree with your point about lead-ins. A show with high viewer interest such as The Bachelor can pull in double digit ratings whether following after Dancing With The Stars or before it. Samantha Who, without DWTS, can’t even reach an 8.0. When it returns, it will have to be in a timeslot immediately following a strong lead-in unless the “funny” has improved. Sometimes Samantha Who, like most sitcoms today, is all situation and little comedy.
I believe L O S T is as you put it; so strong in quality that the lack of a lead in doesn’t hurt it. But a strong lead in, even a mediocre lead in , would at least give it an advantage against its competition.
Life On Mars following L O S T had many chances to become a good show, but it was boring and bad-weird as opposed to cool/intriguing-weird like L O S T. Thus many people, myself included, gave up on the series. Having nothing to watch Saturday night however, I watched my dvr’ed programs. I was stunned by the excellence of LOM. It may be too late to salvage the show now unfortunately, but I’m telling you the quality of last week’s writing was impeccable. It played out like a really, really good episode of CSI.
I enjoyed Fringe as well. It’s another show I dvr’ed last week that I had given up on after seeing so many boring ones. The story of the sick man on a plane that transforms into some kind of werewolf monster, killing and causing the plane to crash was well done. It had my attention all the way to the end.
Has anybody seen the recent comments from Josh Schwartz talking about Chuck’s bad luck in getting pre-empted for the Presidential speeches? He made a joke that Obama’s first act in office was apparently to destroy Chuck. It’s a testament to his frustration probably, because he is actively talking now about how they’re trying to cram as much stuff into the second half of this season as they can because they really have no idea of a third season.
Frank, I saw them, it was from a panel at NYC’s ComicCon here’s the full context:
A fan asked about the show’s future. Josh and Chris noted how much they were promoted during the Super Bowl, and Josh said, “It’s feeling as positive as it can without saying it’s actually coming back.” Then we got into the unfortunate timing of the Obama press conference tomorrow, and the rumors that Obama may do yet another primetime address a week from Monday. “Clearly, Obama’s first plan as president was to destroy ‘Chuck,’” Josh said, before noting that he hears the President may only speak for five minutes, which would allow “Chuck” to air more or less on time.
You can read more on Alan Sepinwall’s blog:
http://sepinwall.blogspot.com/2009/02/chuck-vs-comic-con.html
Thanks Robert! So do you think there’s any merit to his fear? My concern is that with all these missed weeks Chuck will get zero traction to hang on to the Super Bowl bump. NBC may see it as wasted money and judge the show more harshly now when it comes time to look at renewal.
What kind of numbers do you expect Chuck to get if they can keep it on the schedule next Monday? Or, maybe a better question, what would make NBC happy?