Season To Date Ratings
After 4 weeks of the broadcast primetime season (through October 18, 2009) CBS still holds the season to date lead in the important primetime adults 18-49 ratings as well as adults 25-54 and average viewership. CBS has had the good fortune to get 3 NFL football overruns out of 4 Sundays this season. That has helped their average tremendously (although don’t look for their PR to reflect that). Fox’s youth targeting this fall continues to pay off as they continue to lead the adults 18-34 ratings.
You can see past week’s broadcast network primetime season to date average TV ratings results here.
Ratings Increase / Decrease: 2009-10 Season vs. 2008-9 Season
And while the entertainment press continues harping on NBC’s ratings drop from last season (with good reason!), there’s still nary a whisper about ABC’s declines which are nearly identical across the broad demo groups. Who’s got the better PR?
Fox continues to be the only English broadcaster ahead of their ratings from last season in all demo groups. Initially it was because of their new fall scheduling moves, now the ALCS baseball ratings improvement over the NLCS ratings last fall is starting to contribute as well. The CW is now up vs. adults 18-34.
Each rating point is a percentage of the US TV population in that demographic group and equals: 2.90 million viewers, 1.32 million adults 18-49, 0.68 million adults 18-34 and 1.24 million adults 25-54.
Sadly, we will no longer be having a Tiny Network Showdown! since MyNetworkTV ratings averages are no longer being reported by Nielsen, since they are no longer classed as a network but are now a “programming service”. And we are no longer seeing Univision season to date averages for last season, so I cannot do a comparison.
Note that the chart includes RATINGS not VIEWERSHIP as was typical in our weekly network ratings posts prior to July, 2009.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
NBC is tied for #2 with ABC in 18-49 year olds, although when SNF ends that will change. ABC is down a lot. I expect that to continue.
Fox definitely improving, that’s good. Nice to see someone giving CBS a bit of a competition!
John- I’m right there with you about ABC. Their ever-changing lineup, along with the second time (in three years) with an all-new Wednesday, and their weak (minus Sun & Thurs) 10P shows, things are rough for them.
FOX should be excited! They are used to being kings 1Q-3Q, and failing in the fall. This year is showing them to be pretty darn strong.
I don’t see anything changing for years: CBS/FOX strong, ABC/NBC weak.
I really hope CBS starts to go down eventually. It’s so unfair that they can clone the same show over and over again and get such high ratings.
It’s unfair that they figure out what people want and give it to them?
I agree with RS; the only thing unfair here is that we don’t have many good options to choose from. CBS is doing it the right way.
Looks like CBS is up in all viewers but down/flat in the demos. They can’t be happy about their aging audience and failure to attract younger viewers. Fox is blowing them away.
Take Sunday Night Football out of the NBC mix and they’d be hurting much worse. It’s the only thing that is keeping them in the game.
Advertisers are whack shooting for 18-49 and thinking that’s the “money demo.” All the modern surveys peg the baby boomer generation as the group with the bucks and willing to spend. CBS rules baby boomers, so I don’t think they’re sweating Fox. Us younger viewers are so broke we can’t pay attention.
Bruce, advertisers who target young people pay a premium for access to a young audience. They are harder to reach.
Bruce- I can kind of see what would lead you to think that stuff, but it isn’t accurate. If networks were in the healthcare industry, they absolutely would focus on baby-boomers (who are turning a billion dollar healthcare industry into a trillion dollar one). However, just because the elders WATCH TV doesn’t mean they’ll see something on ads and go buy it.
CBS is ABSOLUTELY wishing they reached FOX’s audience. Don’t think for a second they wouldn’t switch ALL of their numbers with FOX in a heartbeat.
And I kinda get your joke about NBC’s ratings, but there are a LOT of things with worse ratings. How about CNBC, C-Span, H&G, CW, Telemundo (sometimes). But really you can’t compare broadcast to cable.
Plus older people are set in there ways and harder to persuade through commercials.
vsaint- 100% correct. Older people have brand loyalty, so it’s more effective to target those who have not cemented their brand loyalty yet.
I have a feeling that in about 5-10 years CBS demos will improve greatly. I know a lot of teens who love NCIS, and the CBS comedies and once they get in the hallowed 18-49 range they’ll be alright.
Brand loyalty was the 1955 mantra. People bought ivory soap and colgate toothpaste and never changed. But in today’s marketplace the multitude of new products and variations on old (there must be 6 or 7 varieties of crest toothpaste today) coupled with the accumulation of disposable wealth of the over 49 set changes the game. The self absorbed 30 somethings running the ad biz don’t get it. Static age brackets and static thinking and a lemming mentality drive the ad money. The ad guys should follow the way of Fox and change with the times.
Correct, but once again FOX is hitting the 18-49, 18-34, 25-54 demos. Brand loyalty is real. Yes, people will try different Crest, but the fact is they stick with CREST.
Take a mass media class or two, and you’ll realize brand loyalty is alive and kicking.
i think it would be cool if this chart had 2 point decimal form for each section of the ratinbg like the weekly broadcast ratings that way there’s higher accuracy on the viewers using the conversion
Actually the success of store brands over the old standard brands and the exponential rise in the number of products and variants on existing products in the last 30 -50 years has significantly eroded the effect of brand loyalty. And only the most naive consumer is unaware that the GE brand is only a sticker on a generic product made by the lowest bidder. Add to that the hit the AIGs, GMs, Merril Lynchs … names have taken and even the most loyal customers are questioning their stalwart choices.
As for the textbook take on marketing and media; that would be the last place I would go for relevant marketing information. Universities are fine places for teaching the sciences but the MBA level marketing courses I took some years back were based more on historic practices than tactics relevant to the times. The only thing worse than a 30yo whiz kid is a lifelong academician or a washed up ad exec that made the transition to teaching.
The sources of the 18-34 and 25-54 ratings provide one digit past the decimal point only to us.
kpk- I’m not ripping on you (I actually see a little bit where you are coming from), but your last post made me chuckle because it sounds like Steve Colbert’s speech at the White House dinner with Bush. I’m paraphrasing:
“Like you, I go with my gut. There are more nerves in your gut than your brain. If you disagree and say that there are in fact more in your brain, that’s because you read that in a book.”
nkinsey – If you ever saw the size of my gut the differential alone would dictate that Colbert is indeed correct. ;<}
That’s awesome!