| Scoreboard |  |
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 |
 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 25.239 | 12.588 | 9.889 | 4.369 | 3.899 | 1.609 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 9.3/24 | 2.6/7 | 3.7/10 | 1.5/4 | 1.6/4 | 0.6/2 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 7.5/22 | 1.6/5 | 2.9/9 | 1.2/3 | 1.8/5 | 0.7/2 |
Even though it’s “February” sweeps, the competition seems bent on avoiding direct battle with American Idol. With the only meaningful competition from Biggest Loser, Idol and Fox had better demo ratings than all its English broadcast competition combined. NBC feasted on the demo leftovers for a second place finish, while ABC was beaten in the demos by Univision. CBS repeats, as is typical, were able to put the older viewers in the seats.
Dominating the night, American Idol was up 0.3 ratings points in the 18-49 demo and just a fraction in 18-34 from last Tuesday. I wrote that Reaper could be back if it held onto its premiere ratings, and considering that Daylight Savings Time kicked in since last week (which can depress early show ratings), it didn’t do too badly, losing just a tick in its 18-49 rating and holding steady in its 18-34 rating. Future weeks will determine whether it stays or goes at the end of the season. Biggest Loser was also up a few ticks in the demos from last week as well.
With no new scripted competition, and with seemingly the last drop of blood wrung from the Bachelor stone, NBC’s Law and Order: SVU was an easy demo winner at 10.
You can see past Tuesday overnight TV ratings reports here. Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers Live+SD (000) | 18-49 Rating | 18-49 Share | 18-34 Rating | 18-34 Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | American Idol | 23.625 | 8.6 | 24 | 7.0 | 22 |
| CBS | NCIS (repeat) | 13.332 | 2.7 | 7 | 1.7 | 6 | |
| NBC | Biggest Loser: Couples | 8.501 | 3.4 | 9 | 2.6 | 8 | |
| ABC | Homeland Security USA | 5.147 | 1.4 | 4 | 0.9 | 3 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Ángel | 4.485 | 1.8 | 5 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| CW | Reaper | 2.173 | 0.8 | 2 | 0.9 | 3 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | American Idol | 26.853 | 10.1 | 25 | 8.0 | 23 |
| CBS | The Mentalist (repeat) | 14.246 | 2.8 | 7 | 1.8 | 5 | |
| NBC | Biggest Loser: Couples | 10.129 | 4.2 | 10 | 3.2 | 9 | |
| UNI | Mañana Es para Siempre | 4.200 | 1.8 | 4 | 2.0 | 6 | |
| ABC | Scrubs (repeat) | 2.944 | 1.1 | 3 | 1.0 | 3 | |
| CW | 90210 (repeat) | 1.046 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.5 | 2 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Scrubs (repeat) | 2.765 | 1.1 | 3 | 1.2 | 3 |
| 10:00 | NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 11.039 | 3.7 | 10 | 3.0 | 9 |
| CBS | Without a Trace (repeat) | 10.186 | 2.1 | 6 | 1.3 | 4 | |
| ABC | Primetime: What Would You Do? | 5.104 | 1.9 | 5 | 1.4 | 4 | |
| UNI | Aqui y Ahora | 3.011 | 1.2 | 3 | 1.3 | 4 |
- 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.
Bill, I think it’s more aptly described as “February” sweeps.
Good point! I adjusted the quotes and fixed the weird formatting that happened initially.
I think the scheduling of NCIS is more concerned with when to air the backdoor spin off pilot episodes than avoiding Idol or winning sweeps.
And The Mentalist might go along, because with less original episodes in the season than NCIS anyway, why waste new stuff on a repeat night.
Thats two weeks now of Mentalist repeats..when are new eps being shown?
Good Reaper rating considering the time delay
Wow, ABC really sucks on this night.
Reaper losed only 200 000 viewers and 0.8 in the demos, not bad.
AI is having ratings than DWTS
i really hope Idol continues to be nr 1 the whole season since I honestly believe they deserve it, its the best and most entertaining show out there imo. DWTS is quite ridicolous
Well things will be a little different next week with the return of NCIS and The Mentalist…At least they will make it respectable against Idol…
Both AI and DWTS are ridiculous. Nothing good has come out of AI in the last couple of years. Nothing good comes out of DWTS either. I miss good scrpited shows with great actors and good performances.
“…and with seemingly the last drop of blood wrung from the Bachelor stone, NBC’s Law and Order: SVU was an easy demo winner at 10.”
I don’t understand what The Bachelor has to do with Law & Order: SVU’s ratings. Am I missing something?
When was the last time abc aired new eps of scrubs? They have been in repeats forever.
JS, last Tuesday, ABC ran “Part 2″ of the After the Rose Bachelor special (wringing the last bit of blood out of the stone) at 10pm and it did quite well. No more Bachelor this week left a wide open field for SVU.
@hmm
Are you kidding? Idol is continuously hammered as the worst non-scripted show. Its appeal is strictly to moms and fangirls. Not many straight guys have interest in it. Of course this is just an guess, but I think DWTS attracts more men than Idol does.
Carl, You would guess wrong. DWTS skews more female.
Of course Idol attracts more of both sexes, and the largest gender group we have numbers for is 18-49 (not all men, or all women), but the one night of comparison of Idol from Tuesday and DWTS from Monday is likely typical.
DWTS:
W18-49: 8.3 rating
M18-49: 3.5 rating
Women/Men ratio: 2.37
Idol:
W18-49: 11.4 rating
M18-49: 7.0 rating
Women/Men ratio: 1.63
Bill do you have half hour breakdowns fo r Reaper?
Ant, Reaper was nearly flat.
2.188, 0.8/2, 0.8/3
2.157, 0.8/2, 0.9/3
uffffffffff when does american idol ends?
bill where did u get those rating?? what’s the name of the site??
Jenna, Monday thru Friday we don’t get them from any site. So far as I know the full overnight reporting (demos outside 18-49, etc) are not posted on any site and we’re the only site that regularly posts the 18-34 overnight info. On the weekends, we use Marc Berman’s Programming Insider forum. The link is in our links list on the right —————>
Wow Reaper actually went up in the demos last half hour. Not too bad
Do you guys know what demo Reaper is particularly strong in? I keep seeing that it does well with young guys like myself, but it would appear to skew older, so I’m just wondering which one it is.
In any event it held up well(especially in the 18-34 demo), hopefully with mostly everything being new next week on the CW, it’ll show increases.
Shock about Reaper. Except not.
Charles, Reaper is remarkably even across all the age/gender groups we see data for, and that is pretty unusual.
For the 8pm half hour last night it’s best was a 1.0 rating for females 12-17, and its worst was a 0.7 for men 18-34, but all the other breakdowns were either a 0.8 or a 0.9. Given rounding error, I’d say Reaper was evenly liked (although not extremely liked) by all.
Ooh, really? That is fascinating! Thank you Bill!
Its strange, Supernatural also does well with females 12-17. Neat.
NBC having a good night? There’s something you don’t see very often…
UNI over ABC – who would have thought that would ever be possible?
Do you have the break downs for the half hours of ‘What Would You do?’
Sorry if it’s off topic, but Entertainment Weekly is reporting that there’s a good chance that Without a Trace and Cold Case could both be cancelled.
I’m so glad! There’s way too many crime procedurals on the air right now. The lesser the better!
Hmm – so ABC’s worse night looks like Tuesdays
FOX’s worst is Fridays
NBC is well most nights
CW well – nevermind
CBS…hmmm…overall do they have a worst night?
and UNI – is becoming the REAL 5th contender
Alex, nbc usually has a pretty solid night on tuesdays, especially if svu is new. Thanks in large part to the idol-proof Biggest Loser
NCIS and The Mentalist rerun numbers are super scary. These are huge replay players and I wouldn’t be surprised if The Mentalist gets picked up by USA for reruns in a year.
I think procedurals especially CBS crime dramas have strength against Idol more than any other genre.
NBC benefited from SVU facing WAT in repeats.
Yes, but The Mentalist will air up against Dancing With The Stars results show. So, that will bring it down a peg or two. Who knows, wiith the Idol lead-in, Dancing With the Stars might actually help Fringe, at least in the demos.
Well, I am one of the few American Idol (DWTS) fans to post! LOL! So it’s good to see AI (and DWTS) continue getting stellar ratings this season!
Y, Didn’t The Mentalist go up against the DWTS results show in the fall? Why would it take the show down a peg or two in the spring if it didn’t in the fall?
I never watched Without a Trace, but I never will either. I swear the network only airs one promo for that show, and it got so incredibly old.
If cop/detective, lawyer, and reality shows all end tomorrow, I’ll be a very happy man.
I’m in need of more Mentalist myself….
So most of America watches fat people lose weight and people who are getting their 15 minutes of fame by singing karaoke. Ah, the Short Attention Span crowd, you’ve got to love it.
Alan, even if WAT and Cold Case both get canned, what are the chances CBC will replace them with anything but new crime dramas. I say this as a huge fan of the genre (although not WAT), so no mockery here, but including the Friday line up, there is no crime show on CBS that cannot beat Life and old NCIS repeats can do just as well as a highly promoted Castle series premiere. CBS doesn’t even need to bet on anything else right now.
Holly says:
Y, Didn’t The Mentalist go up against the DWTS results show in the fall? Why would it take the show down a peg or two in the spring if it didn’t in the fall?
For example, on Tuesday November 18, Dancing With the Stars received 117.50 million viewers. Whereas The Mentalist received 15.83 million viewers. When, Dancing With the Stars ended, The Mentalist ratings grew to 19 million viewers. So, I’m right on that!
JMO, AI and DWTS present a certain amount of escapism. Folks are getting pink slips and homes foreclosed, why not watch fame hounds trying to get celebrity from singing or has-beens (and never-was’) salsa? Ha!
Mike, 34.5 mil people are not most of America. That’s a bit more than 10%.
Well, I’d say it’s more than 34… I mean, if you had, dvd’s, DVR internet… And if you count that there must be more than juste one person behind most of the open tv’s… I’d say you have more than 10% ^^
Sam, I’m not positive, but I’m pretty sure Neilson takes into account multiple people watching a show.
I only watched the pilot of Reaper last year and gave up on it. Then I started DVR’ing this season, and I’m glad I did. This show is AWESOME! I hope The CW renews it!
@Stacy
Oh, I thougt they were just monitoring the channel you’re tv is on, but not if there is 1-2-3 or 10 000 people in front of it.
Sam, Stacy is correct. People Meters have you punch in a code for everyone in the room.
Nice numbers for SVU
It’s slightly depressing (to me) to see that a boring show as the Mentalist gets more viewers in repeat than the new (and AWESOME imho) House episode had yesterday.
You know what’s more depressing is that The Mentalist beats Fringe.
It’s because Old people flock to CBS.
Here’s how it plays out in my opinion…
NBC – Teenagers
FOX – High teens/20’s
ABC – 30’s/40’s
CBS – 50+
to mike,
the reason why American Idol is huge in my opinion is because the show really DOES matter. We’re ultimately listening to the next couple hits coming out next fall as we speak.
More & more people are realizing that AMERICAN IDOL is TRASH! Correction: Worse than TRASH!
NCIS & THE MENTALIST never fail to amaze me, although I dislike both series. WAT held its ground. There is NO way CBS cancels WITHOUT A TRACE this year.
ABC should have aired SCRUBS at 8 (4 mil?), 9 (3.6 mil?) & 10 (4.5 mil?), with SAMANTHA, WHO? at 8:30 (4.2 mil?), 9:30 (3.8 mil?) & 10:30 (4.8 mil?). I’m not really a fan of back to back ANYTHING!
CBS TUESDAY Preliminary Sked (2009-2010)
8 NCIS (highest rated scripted series in this slot)
9 The Good Wife (very interesting premise: The Practice meets The West Wing)
10 CSI: NY (solely to make CBS stronger; I LOATHE this show)
Well, Fringe is beating, heroes (yeah yeah i know, everything does that) lost, 24, bones, medium, and other shows…
But yeah, the mentalist is terrible, this show is gonna have like… 20 spin offs 30 seasons etc.
And well, like it or hate it, AI is not stupid people, hell, I watch it sometimes, and I watch a lot of other scripted show… AI is still a HUGE freaking hit for a 8 season show…
A, the reason that half hours often air back to back (and why cable nets often do marathons) is audience continuity. If I like samantha who, but don’t like scrubs, I am much more likely to watch 3 eps in a row from 9:30-1100 than stopping in and out from 8:30 to 9:00, 9:30 to 10:00, and 10:30 to 11:00. The nets figure if they can get me to watch one I may stick around for another. Your strategy would alienate people who only. Like one show or the other.
Fringe is a time slot hit. Period. I would be very interested to see what would happen if fox put fringe on at 8 like they did with Lie To Me tonight. Everyone should remember that the lowest rated episode of {ringe was the highly buzzed about and highly promoted premiere, which, not coincidentally, was the only episode ever to NOT air behind either House or American Idol.
Shea: They’re only the next couple of “hits” because they’re completely manufactured to BE hits on a musical conveyor belt, with all the personality scrubbed out of them, start to finish, like a Big Mac. Of course, the Big Mac is very popular. But it’s not good for you, as anybody who’s ever watched the movie “Super Size Me” knows. Similarly, this bland music will cause your musical taste to become lazy, greasy, and obese. The Big Mac is also very bad for the environment, what with all those cows farting and rainforest being cut down to make more room for cows. Similarly, there’s Ruben Studdard. KIDDING!
Of course this doesn’t apply to the rare bit of top-40 music that I actually like, just the stuff I hate.
Uh oh, I just had an attack of musical elitism. OK, well, I’m outta here. I gotta go listen to some indie rock recorded in a bathroom and issued on a collectible 7″ clear vinyl record of which only 1000 copies were made.
Yee-ha, WFMU forever! Ha ha ha.
the128boy says:
March 11th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Fringe is a time slot hit. Period. I would be very interested to see what would happen if fox put fringe on at 8 like they did with Lie To Me tonight. Everyone should remember that the lowest rated episode of {ringe was the highly buzzed about and highly promoted premiere, which, not coincidentally, was the only episode ever to NOT air behind either House or American Idol.
Except that House was in the exact same position 5 years ago. When it had no lead-in, House was getting around 6 million viewers. So, every time you mention Fringe’s lead-in ratings, remember that House was in the eact same position 5 years ago. In fact, it had a lot less viewers than the Fringe premiere did!
Tuesday is boring!
I don’t even watch every episode of American Idol. Its not the show I can watch every season/
Robert, you write some of the most well thought out, powerful entertainment articles that I see. Fandering is neither impressive nor persuasive. It defies rationale. How someone loses their mental faculties to the point where they think swearing, hurling insults, internet histrionics, or other cowardly acts of intimidation will somehow inspire millions of people to watch their show or stop watching the competing shows makes no sense. Unless you have a vested interest in a certain network or tv show, going postal over a low rating or cancellation notice is asinine.
One of great shows that ABC has is Life On Mars. I understand that the show is being canceled. Great plots, great actor etc. The program director should change his job.
luke, AI will only end if people would stop watching it.
Y, true you are correct in saying that House a) started out with bad ratings, b) became a time slot hit, and afterwards c) was able to be a hit on its own. Here’s my point though, just because House was able to do it does not guarantee that Fringe is the same. Until Fringe can prove its mettle on it’s own, how will anyone ever know if its not just riding coattails? Right now Fringe has only been two things a) week on its own, and b) strong behind huge shows. I’m not saying that it couldn’t make it on its own, but it hasn’t proved that it can… yet.
Well, we will take about that in 5 seasons, to see witch one had the closer answer ^^
We don’t have to wait until season five. Just until fox puts it on its own. And again, I’m noy saying that it COULDN’T be a hit on its own… but up through this point, its only a time period hit.
Base on reaper numbers, what are the chance of it getting renewed for a 3rd season.
Knowles2, I think it has a chance at those levels, but I am in the minority around here