Nielsen Network TV Ratings Season To Season

Broadcast Networks Lose 7% of Viewers, 8% of Adults 18-49 This Season

Posted on 08 October 2008 by Bill Gorman

(click image for full sized chart)

The top 5 English Broadcast Networks have lost 6.6% of their total viewers, 7.9% of their adults 18-49 viewers, 9.0% of their adults 18-34 viewers and 7.2% of their adults 25-54 viewers compared to last season through week two of the 2008-9 season.

The news is not universally bad, however. Both Fox and the CW show some gains compared to the first two weeks of last season. CW is up 3.3% for adults 18-49, up 12.9% for adults 18-34, and up 0.8% for adults 25-54. Although we’re well known CW skeptics, I’ve got to say so far, so good. Fox’s results were also mostly positive. Fox’s viewership is effectively flat, but it’s up 2.8% in adults 18-49, and up 5.4% in adults 25-54, while being down 2.2% for adults 18-34. On balance, they can be relatively happy.

On the downside, NBC is in free fall, losing 15.7% of its viewers, 16.7% of its adults 18-49, 15.8% of its adults 18-34, and 16.5% of its adults 25-54. Let the Ben Silverman pink slip watch intensify!

ABC and CBS had losses nearly as severe as NBC’s dropping 4-6% of their viewers and even higher percentages of their desirable adult demo audiences.

Univision stands in sharp contrast to the overall trend, up in every category, sharply up in both viewers (14.1%) and adults 18-34 (13.1%).

Our chart shows broadcast network prime-time season to date average prime-time viewership for the 2008-9 season compared to the 2007-8 season.

Broadcast, Featured, Nielsen Network TV Ratings Season to Season Comments (23)

2008-9 Broadcast Season Off to A Slow Start

Posted on 30 September 2008 by Bill Gorman

Univision, Fox, CW, Gain vs. Last Season; NBC, CBS Fall; ABC Mixed

(click image for full sized chart)

Univision, Fox, and CW all showed gains in the first week of the 2008-9 season compared to the 2007-8 season, particularly in the age demos where Fox was up and CW was up sharply vs. last season. CW was up 19% for adults 18-34 compared to last season, 12.2% for adults 18-49 and 10.9% for adults 25-54. Fox was up 13.0% for adults 25-54.

On the downside, CBS and NBC both were down sharply from their first week compared to last year. Note that CBS has yet to start CSI or its entire Friday line up and NBC still has Deal or No Deal and 30 Rock yet to premiere. NBC was down a sobering 16.3% in average audience, 12.9% in adults 18-49, 7.4% in adults 18-34 and 15.4% in adults 25-54. Ben Silverman call your agent.

CBS fell 5.0% in average audience, 9.6% in adults 18-49, a stunning 22.1% in adults 18-34 (their old audience just got a lot older), and 6.8% in adults 25-54.

ABC was mixed and very close to last season’s starting week results, up 2.9% for average audience, down 1.2% for adults 18-49, unchanged for adults 18-34 and down 1.8% for adults 25-54.

Overall it was a slow start for the top 6 broadcast networks this season. All 6 networks together were down 1.6% for average audience, 2.3% for adults 18-49, 1.7% for adults 18-34 and 2.9% for adults 25-54.

10/1 Update: Even though I averaged in the Univision ratings with the rest of the broadcast ups and downs, no one else in the TV media does, and I wanted to have an apples to apples comparison, so I have added another bar named “English 5″ which excludes Univision. On that basis, the first week of the season was down in total about 3% across the board for the English networks.

Our chart shows broadcast network prime-time season to date average prime-time viewership for the 2008-9 season compared to the 2007-8 season.

Broadcast, Featured, Nielsen Network TV Ratings Season to Season Comments (3)