| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 15.87 | 11.07 | 8.54 | 6.63 | 4.10 | 2.72 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 5.0/13 | 3.0/8 | 2.9/8 | 1.9/5 | 1.5/4 | 1.4/4 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 3.9/11 | 1.9/6 | 2.7/8 | 1.5/4 | 1.6/4 | 1.7/5 |
ABC dominated the night with the 42nd annual CMA Awards. ABC had the most viewers and the best age demographic performance in both the 18-49 and 18-34 demos. Update: see data below in the comments for past year's CMA viewership, while like all other award shows, it's down from its heyday, but the award for "most stabilized award show ratings" may go to the CMAs.
CBS was second, and while the 8pm-9pm comedy block has not caught fire yet it fared at least a bit better than last week. Criminal Minds actually performed better this week than last, so there was no CMA effect there, though CSI: NY was down a few viewers and a couple of tenths among 18-49 year olds.
Meanwhile Fox's Bones picked up steam at 8pm, bettering last week's numbers across the board, particularly among 18-34 year olds.
Bad news for NBC. It's not having much fun wallowing in fourth place. And though I like the show Life and have seen every episode, the numbers stink! It didn't even get a 2.0 among 18-49 year olds, and worse still is that Law & Order barely did (ok, I exaggerate, it got a 2.2 rating among 18-49 year olds). Knight Rider slightly bettered itself versus last week. Slightly. Life had nearly the identical amount of viewers but was down an important two-tenths among 18-49 year olds.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | ABC | 42nd Annual CMA Awards | 15.40 | 4.5/12 | 3.3/10 |
| FOX | Bones | 10.87 | 3.5/10 | 3.1/9 | |
| CBS | The New Adventures of Old Christine | 6.88 | 2.0/6 | 1.2/4 | |
| NBC | Knight Rider | 5.34 | 1.5/4 | 1.4/4 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Angel | 4.25 | 1.5/4 | 1.5/5 | |
| CW | America's Next Top Model | 3.71 | 1.9/5 | 2.4/7 | |
| 8:30 | CBS | Gary Unmarried | 6.71 | 2.1/5 | 1.3/4 |
| 9:00 | ABC | 42nd Annual CMA Awards | 16.69 | 5.4/13 | 4.2/11 |
| CBS | Criminal Minds | 14.80 | 3.8/10 | 2.5/7 | |
| FOX | House (R) | 6.22 | 2.4/6 | 2.2/6 | |
| NBC | Life | 5.83 | 1.8/5 | 1.5/4 | |
| UNI | Fuego en la Sangre | 4.95 | 1.9/5 | 2.1/6 | |
| CW | Stylista | 1.73 | 0.9/2 | 1.0/3 | |
| 10:00 | ABC | 42nd Annual CMA Awards | 15.53 | 5.2/13 | 4.3/12 |
| CBS | CSI: NY | 11.62 | 3.1/8 | 2.1/6 | |
| NBC | Law & Order | 7.91 | 2.2/6 | 1.5/4 | |
| UNI | Don Francisco Presenta | 3.11 | 1.2/3 | 1.2/3 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2008 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.
Bye bye, Knight Rider. Man, what is NBC down to at this point?
wow, do the CMA’s always do this well?
JT, To answer your question, yes. And they used to do a *lot* better. I decided not to do a CMA chart, but here is the viewership history for the show (excuse the formatting):
Year Viewers
2007 15,950,000
2006 15,962,000
2005 17,733,000
2004 18,456,000
2003 20,748,000
2002 17,610,000
2001 17,795,000
2000 16,633,000
1999 18,813,000
1998 18,367,000
1997 20,699,000
1996 22,237,000
1995 19,613,000
1994 23,197,000
1993 27,244,000
1992 31,241,000
1991 30,925,000
1990 27,200,000
1989 26,647,840
1988 25,400,780
1987 25,610,000
1986 27,921,920
1985 27,460,000
1984 18,380,000
1983 31,950,000
1982 35,490,000
1981 29,400,000
1980 29,740,000
1979 31,889,940
1978 36,010,000
1977 28,476,800
1976 34,389,360
1975 27,994,680
1974 33,222,400
1973 28,623,000
1972 29,880,900
1971 25,841,900
1970 N/A
1969 23,380,000
What happened in 1984?
Julia, I have no idea. It was about the same date (mid-Oct) and network (CBS) and time (9:30pm) as surrounding years, but the information I have ends there.
I can’t wait to see NBC’s midseason schedule and whether Ben Silverman will still be around to watch it unfold
Sundays: Stable with football.
Mondays: Heroes in free fall, rest of night is a disaster.
Tuesdays: Stable with The Biggest Loser and L&O:SVU.
Wednesdays: Complete disaster. What happened to L&O?
Thursdays: Half and half. The Office holding the fort for the rest of the comedies and ER (maybe NBC should rethink this being ER’s last season).
Fridays: Complete and utter disaster.
I don’t know how NBC can even fix this. Veterans L&O: SVU and ER are the only dramas working–The Office is really the only comdedy. The Biggest Loser is stable and Deal or No Deal is in free fall.
Well ABC’s lineup is only a little better. They have also been losing viewers this year. They are so nervous they can’t even rollout their Winter schedule on time. The press has been reporting the changes but ABC won’t confirm.
Lynne,
At least ABC can point to Desperate Houswives, Gray’s Anatomy and DWTS. What can NBC point to?
Once again LIFE did better than KNIGHT RIDER. I think fans gave KR a chance and it just didn’t deliver. What have we learned lately from NBC?
That reviving programs like BIONIC WOMAN & KNIGHT RIDER is a brilliant idea. Old fans tune in and the pilots are hugely watched. What else have we learned from NBC? It is one thing to revive an old program and it’s another to piss all over their graves. Both were supposed to be “improvements,” on much simpler programs. There is a saying about catching lightning in a bottle, but what I think this just really proves is that Network Executives are complete idiots. They have NO idea what works or why. They get lucky when a show is a hit.
Andrea, NBC has Sunday Night Football.
They don’t really have anything good in the wings either except for MERLIN, and who knows how they’ll treat that program.
i agree with Nick C reviving Knight rider and bionic woman were good ideas. i think bionic woman shouldve been given another 13 eps this yr. it wasnt as bad as knight rider is.
Sunday Night Football ends at the end of December. After that only the Super Bowl remains to keep NBC out of the ratings abyss.
Nick C:
Well, if KR is canceled, The Partridge Family (as a single cam) is already in the works.
There is a saying about catching lightning in a bottle, but what I think this just really proves is that Network Executives are complete idiots. They have NO idea what works or why. They get lucky when a show is a hit.
–But does anyone know what will be a hit and what won’t?
I don’t know if reviving Knight Rider as a series was brilliant, but when they revived it as a made for TV movie and it pulled good numbers…on a Saturday, it seemed a foregone conclusion that they’d give it a try. For a while this season it had some mojo with the male demos, and even last night it fared better with 18-34 and 18-49 men than the CBS comedy block, but for a while it was beating Bones in the male demos but last night Bones did 75%+ better in those demos.
“That reviving programs like BIONIC WOMAN & KNIGHT RIDER is a brilliant idea.”
I thought Nick C. was being sarcastic.
Bones is doing amazing and everything else is on average with previous numbers.
CSI NY is really weak
It seems NBC is going the route CBS did with their two Wednesday comedies: be patient and hope the numbers improve. And for once, it may pay off.
To be fair, last week was this new “Crime Night”s premiere. This week, the CMA’s had huge numbers, even the CBS dramas had noticable dips from their season averages.
If NBC is patient, they *may* be able to build an audience with this lineup. And it may also actually be fairly good counterprogramming once the Idol spaceship lands.
I wish they would revive the A Team… Except Mr. T is too old now, and nobody can replace Mr. T.