| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 14.884 | 14.341 | 10.897 | 7.964 | 3.946 | 2.413 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 3.3/9 | 3.8/10 | 4.6/12 | 3.2/8 | 1.6/4 | 1.2/3 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 1.8/5 | 2.6/8 | 4.4/13 | 2.7/8 | 1.9/5 | 1.6/5 |
The second night of the new television year spread around the good news again. CBS had the largest average audience with 14.884 million viewers (just ahead of ABC with 14.341 million). ABC had the most viewed show of the night in Dancing with the Stars which averaged 18.195 million viewers (NCIS was second with 17.718 million viewers). Fox ruled the age demos averaging a 4.6 rating for adults 18-49 (ABC was second with a 3.9) and a 4.4 rating for adults 18-34 (NBC was second with a 2.7).
While NCIS was the most viewed show from 8-9, House, with about 70% of its viewers crushed it in the age demos for the hour. House had the highest overall age demo ratings for the night with a 5.0 for 18-49 and a 4.7 for 18-34. In the battle of unscripted shows, NBC's Biggest Loser: Families fell about 10% from last week, but managed to beat the premiere of ABC's Opportunity Knocks particularly in the demos. Quite disappointing for ABC. CW's 90210 audience fell 11% from last week, and it was down 17% for the 18-49s and almost 21% for the 18-34s. Look for a CW press release spinning the gender data later.
Dancing with the Stars had the biggest audience and the biggest 18-49 demo from 9-10, but the premiere of The Mentalist did CBS proud, holding all of the 18-49 demo from NCIS and even building on its 18-34 demo. With real competition, Fringe shed 28% of its audience from last week. It also lost 19% of its 18-49 demo and 11% of its 18-34 demo. Still, it won the 18-34 demo for the hour by a wide margin, and was competitive in the 18-49 demo. Less consolation for the CW as Privileged lost 23% of its audience, 18% of its 18-49s and 7% of its 18-34s. It finished a distant sixth in all categories for the hour.
Dancing the the Stars also swept the 10-11 hour, but the premiere of Law & Order:SVU was just a tick behind in the 18-34 demo. We don't have historical 18-34 data, so I can't compare that with last year. The premiere of Without a Trace was second in audience for the hour but a distant third in the demos.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers Live+SD (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/ Share | 18-34 Rating/ Share |
| 8:00 | CBS | NCIS (premiere) | 17.718 | 3.5/10 | 1.8/5 |
| FOX | House | 12.134 | 5.0/14 | 4.7/15 | |
| NBC | Biggest Loser: Families | 6.644 | 2.6/7 | 2.2/7 | |
| ABC | Opportunity Knocks (premiere) | 6.634 | 1.9/5 | 1.5/5 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Angel | 3.954 | 1.6/4 | 1.9/6 | |
| CW | 90210 | 2.963 | 1.5/4 | 1.9/6 | |
| 9:00 | ABC | Dancing with the Stars | 17.870 | 4.5/11 | 3.1/8 |
| CBS | The Mentalist (premiere) | 15.549 | 3.5/9 | 1.9/5 | |
| FOX | Fringe | 9.651 | 4.2/10 | 4.0/11 | |
| NBC | Biggest Loser: Families | 7.725 | 3.4/8 | 2.8/8 | |
| UNI | Fuego en la Sangre | 4.452 | 1.8/4 | 2.1/6 | |
| CW | Privileged | 1.862 | 0.9/2 | 1.3/4 | |
| 10:00 | ABC | Dancing with the Stars | 18.520 | 5.0/13 | 3.3/9 |
| CBS | Without a Trace (premiere) | 11.385 | 2.8/7 | 1.6/5 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (premiere) | 9.524 | 3.8/10 | 3.2/9 | |
| UNI | Aqui y Ahora | 3.433 | 1.4/4 | 1.5/5 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot. Demo winners for each timeslot are in bold.
Here are some interesting half hour results. Obviously, gaining viewers is better than losing viewers. Those looking strong here: House, Opportunity Knocks, and Law & Order:SVU.
Privileged, Fringe and Without A Trace look weak. While The Mentalist was essentially steady, that's a big positive for a premiere.
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers Live+SD (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/ Share | 18-34 Rating/ Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | House | 11.504 | 4.7/14 | 4.4/15 |
| 8:30 | FOX | House | 12.781 | 5.2/14 | 4.9/15 |
| 9:00 | FOX | Fringe | 10.130 | 4.3/11 | 4.1/12 |
| 9:30 | FOX | Fringe | 9.172 | 4.0/10 | 3.7/10 |
| 8:00 | ABC | Opportunity Knocks (premiere) | 5.976 | 1.6/5 | 1.3/4 |
| 8:30 | ABC | Opportunity Knocks (premiere) | 7.291 | 2.1/6 | 1.7/5 |
| 9:00 | CW | Privileged | 1.979 | 0.9/2 | 1.3/4 |
| 9:30 | CW | Privileged | 1.745 | 0.8/2 | 1.2/3 |
| 9:00 | CBS | The Mentalist (premiere) | 15.713 | 3.4/9 | 1.9/6 |
| 9:30 | CBS | The Mentalist (premiere) | 15.384 | 3.6/9 | 1.9/6 |
| 10:00 | CBS | Without a Trace (premiere) | 11.845 | 2.9/7 | 1.6/5 |
| 10:30 | CBS | Without a Trace (premiere) | 10.925 | 2.7/7 | 1.5/5 |
| 10:00 | NBC | Law & Order: SVU (premiere) | 8.978 | 3.5/9 | 2.9/8 |
| 10:30 | NBC | Law & Order: SVU (premiere) | 10.069 | 4.0/11 | 3.4/10 |
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
Definitions:
Fast Affiliate Overnight Ratings: Local metered-market ratings service of Nielsen Station Index (NSI) in which household ratings and shares are provided to clients the morning following the day or evening of telecast. While routinely used for "next day" immediate analysis, these fast affiliate ratings are by process inaccurate for programs that air live across a network since they represent affiliate time period performance. For example, last night's 10-11pm affiliate #'s would reflect 10pm on the East Coast but also 10pm on the West Coast which for a live event would not represent the same broadcast or portion of the broadcast.
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.)
LIVE+SD: The number that watched a program either while it was broadcast OR watched via DVR on the same day [through 3AM the next day] the program was broadcast.
For more information see Numbers 101.
Simon Baker should still be on Smith, a show that was too quickly cancelled IMO.
But now he’s got a great vehicle. I liked how he went “Aussie” for the next week’s preview voice over.
I was a Prison Break viewer until Robin Tunney was killed off.
Good to see her on a quality show.
Amanda Righetti, quite a change from the O.C. and North Shore
characterizations. I guess there’s only space for one forceful
female in the room
The picture on the home page has me wanting to go check out the videos of Sapp on DWTS. Damn you…
Amazing numbers for Fox in the demo. Fringe held up pretty well against DWTS. (All those 18-34 yr olds are probably too young to see the similarities with the X-Files.) Actually last nights episode was the first one that made me want to watch again next week, so good job. Now if it could just make me want to watch it live!
DEIB, I wonder why the Simon Baker legion didn’t gravitate over to Smith? I’m guessing they didn’t like him playing a psychopathic killer.
“amazing numbers for FOX”? Disastrous in my opinion. House is crushing down like a sand castle
BTW, on a total viewing basis, I agree The Mentalist did CBS proud. However (and I don’t blame this on the Mentalist) despite the total viewers victory, this was not a great night for CBS. On Monday night, in *every* half hour, they had above a 2.0 rating (and sometimes above a 3.0) among 18-34. On Tuesday night, every half hour was *under* 2.0 among 18-34 year olds.
Maybe I’m not getting the “amazing numbers” for Fringe. It did just a bit better than the pilot, and the 28% decline from last week is a bit alarming.
Also those 18-34 year olds know it’s ripping off X-Files. They watch because Abrams’ name is attached.
I do see FOX probably giving it a full season order, however. FOX has to stop the bleeding on the other nights.
Come on. 32 million people watched NCIS and Mentalist and it wasn’t a great night? I know how important are the demos but still 32 million for two shows is great even if the are 100 years old
Robert and Bill – So glad you are back and just in time too!!!
I agree with Bob. CBS is never going to be FOX in the 18-34 demos. Those 20-somethings just don’t get CBS. The 18-49 demo (or those 30-50 who watch CBS) is very good.
FOX’s numbers are amazing, but not in a good way. It’s amazing how much House has dropped and that Fringe lost more than 3 million viewers week-to-week.
Bob, total viewers is not what pays Fox’s bills so the results were hardly “disastrous” and actually excellent relative to the other networks (they won both demos!). But relative to Fox’s expectations, they may well be a bit disappointed, but are hardly running around declaring the sky is falling.
Is this SVU’s lowest rated premiere ever?
What’s interesting to me is that Fringe lost 1 million viewers from 9:00 to 9:30. While a few other shows lost maybe 150k or 100k viewers during their episode, none lost as many as Fringe.
CBS wasn’t Fox among 18-49 year olds either. Or ABC, and was just barely better than NBC (but better is better).
Holly,
I think House fans are rejecting the new residents. 1 season of them was okay, 2 seasons, with the focus on bland but pretty No. 13, has made people angry. They want the old “ducklings” back.
I’m nor saying FOX is going bankrupt but every show with the exception of Bones is failing them badly. People are saying FOX should pull PB and SCC, but then what? Those who expect 24 to bring good numbers might be in for a shocker.
Outlander, House did run over into 9pm slightly (accordingt to my DVR). It could be that when that’s factored out of the final numbers the drop for Fringe won’t be as steep — but still will likely be steeper than it was for other shows.
Bob, you used the word “disastrous”. House is certainly still printing cash for Fox. I’m not sure about Fringe only because of the limited commerials, but I will not be surprised if Fringe’s numbers drop off even from where they are. But for the Fall, Fox seems to make its money on NFL, House and the Sunday animations. If Family guy doesn’t do well in the demos, I think they’ll worry. Otherwise, American Idol cures all that ails them…
“CBS wasn’t Fox among 18-49 year olds either. Or ABC, and was just barely better than NBC (but better is better).’
Robert,
You’re right, but at least it wasn’t a 2:1 drop in that demo. Also, you have to look at drop in the demo for House and Fringe. The total audience loss is affecting the demo. (Of course I’m not saying anything you don’t already know.)
If ABC actually had a hit in the 8pm hour, it might actually compete with FOX in the demo.