It's no surprise that American Idol dominates the 18-49 demo. Pick a demographic and American Idol won it, without question. What's a bit of surprise to me is just how much Dancing with the Stars is starting to wane in the 18-49 demographic. Only one of the two airing appeared in the top ten, at # 4 behind Two and a Half Men and AI. The other airing was 14th and bested by several shows, including the Britney Spears appearance on How I Met Your Mother (#7) and the two hour finale of the Apprentice (#9).
The DWTS results show came behind ABC's own Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (#8) and Oprah's Big Give (#13).
Only twelve shows last week could pull a 18-49 rating of 4.0 or better, and only four shows could muster better than a 5.0 (DWTS, 2.5 Men and Idol, which was much closer to a 10.0 rating in the demo than a 5.0 with both airings).
Also strong for CBS were a new episode of CSI: Miami (#5) and NCAA coverage.
More good news for CBS, it's entire Monday night lineup made the top twenty with the aforementioned 2.5 Men, How I Met Your Mother and CSI Miami joined by The New Adventures of Old Christine (#15) and geek fanboy favorite, The Big Bang Theory (#19).
Also notable, a repeat of Family Guy beat out a new installment of The Simpsons. A repeat squeaks by a new episode, Stewie is definitely putting a beatdown on Bart.
While it's true that DWTS is waning in the demo and in the weekly numbers will continue to pale especially as CSI, Grey's Anatomy, Desperate Housewives and House come back, including the fall 2007 season of DWTS, it does occupy the #3 and #4 spots on a season-to-date basis. We had a little OOPS with that table and its sorting, and DWTS isn't the #3 and 4 show in the demo, though it is on an overall household basis. Sorry about that.
Full 18-49 demographic top 20 for the week ending March 30, 2008:
| Rank | Show | Net | 18-49 RATING (LIVE+SD) | # OF PERSONS 18-49 (LIVE+SD) (000) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | American Idol-WEDNESDAY | FOX | 9.8 | 12,871 |
| 2 | American Idol-TUESDAY | FOX | 9.7 | 12,701 |
| 3 | Two and a Half Men | CBS | 5.2 | 6,759 |
| 4 | Dancing with the Stars | ABC | 5.1 | 6,639 |
| 5 | CSI: MIAMI | CBS | 4.9 | 6,388 |
| 6 | CBS NCAA POST GUN SU 2(S) | CBS | 4.8 | 6,242 |
| 7 | How I Met Your Mother | CBS | 4.5 | 5,953 |
| 8 | Extreme Makeover:HOME ED. | ABC | 4.5 | 5,940 |
| 9 | APPRENTICE 7 | NBC | 4.5 | 5,930 |
| 10 | TIL DEATH SP-3/25 9:30P(S) | FOX | 4.3 | 5,623 |
| 11 | CBS NCAA BSKBL CHMP SA-2(S) | CBS | 4.0 | 5,183 |
| 12 | MOMENT OF TRUTH | FOX | 4.0 | 5,178 |
| 13 | OPRAHS BIG GIVE | ABC | 3.9 | 5,100 |
| 14 | DANCING W/STARS RESULTS | ABC | 3.9 | 5,076 |
| 15 | OLD CHRISTINE | CBS | 3.8 | 4,957 |
| 16 | CBS NCAA BSKBL CHMP TH 2(S) | CBS | 3.7 | 4,838 |
| 17 | Family Guy (R ) | FOX | 3.6 | 4,733 |
| 18 | Simpsons | FOX | 3.5 | 4,547 |
| 19 | Big Bang Theory, THE | CBS | 3.4 | 4,452 |
| 20 | CBS NCAA BSKBL CHMP TH 1(S) | CBS | 3.2 | 4,205 |
Nielsen Ratings Data: ©2008 Nielsen Media Research, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
