| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 18.65 | 15.65 | 9.70 | 5.67 | 4.36 | .95 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 7.3/17 | 3.2/8 | 3.5/9 | 2.1/5 | 1.7/4 | 0.4/1 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 6.4/17 | 2.1/6 | 2.8/8 | 1.9/5 | 1.8/5 | 0.4/1 |
I'm not one who thinks that because Fringe is losing 50% of its American Idol lead in that it's a disappointment. This week's performance was almost identical to last week's for Fringe, but the difference this week is that Idol did a bit better because it didn't have the inauguration as competition.
Keeping in mind that the numbers will change because there's a minute or two of American Idol rolling over into Fringe, Fringe averaged 12.091 million and a 4.8/11 (rating/share) among 18-49 year olds, second in the hour to NBC's The Biggest Loser (12.92, 5.0/12). Again, the half hourly drops were noticeable for Fringe going from 13.206 million and a 5.2/12 the first half hour to 10.975 million and a 4.3/10. Minus the small portion of American Idol included in the first half hour the gap wouldn't be as wide and based on last year, I'd have to guess FOX feels pretty good about Fringe, even the second half hour.
A new episode of NCIS impressively still pulled 19.04 million and a 3.9/10 up against American Idol at 8pm. Over 1/3rd of the 18-49 year old watching TV from 9pm-10pm were watching either American Idol or NCIS.
The Mentalist's performance in a rerun at 9pm was impressive, first overall in viewers with 15.13 million though third among 18-49 year olds (2.9/7), but still better than a new episode of Without a Trace at 10pm (12.76 million 2.7/7)
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | American Idol | 25.20 | 9.6/24 | 8.6/23 |
| CBS | NCIS | 19.04 | 3.9/10 | 2.8/7 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser: Couples | 9.07 | 3.2/8 | 2.7/7 | |
| ABC | Homeland Security USA | 5.60 | 1.7/4 | 1.2/3 | |
| UNI | Cuidado con el Angel | 4.70 | 1.9/5 | 2.1/6 | |
| CW | 90210 (R) | 1.06 | 0.4/1 | 0.4/1 | |
| 9:00 | CBS | The Mentalist (R) | 15.13 | 2.9/7 | 2.0/5 |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser: Couples | 12.92 | 4.9/12 | 4.0/10 | |
| FOX | Fringe | 12.09 | 4.8/11 | 4.2/11 | |
| UNI | Fuego en la Sangre | 5.15 | 2.0/5 | 2.1/5 | |
| ABC | Scrubs | 5.12 | 2.2/5 | 2.4/6 | |
| CW | Privileged (R) | 0.84 | 0.3/1 | 0.4/1 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Scrubs | 5.05 | 2.3/5 | 2.5/7 |
| 10:00 | CBS | Without a Trace | 12.76 | 2.7/7 | 1.7/5 |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU (R) | 7.12 | 2.5/6 | 1.8/5 | |
| ABC | Primetime: What Would You Do? | 6.31 | 2.3/6 | 1.8/5 | |
| UNI | Aqui y Ahora | 3.24 | 1.3/3 | 1.3/4 |
Shows are sorted by viewers in each time slot.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2009 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.
wasn’t fringe up against the mentalist? in that case, id say it did okay, considering it didnt lose much from last weeks ratings. in fact, the 18-49 numbers are 0.1 better..
it was up against The Mentalist, but Mentalist was a repeat (with impressive numbers though)
Fringe has gotten better, this weeks melting brain computer virus was a real Killer App!
I can see how some American Idol viewers would be interested in this episode as they personally experience this brain melting phenomenon after viewing an episode of Idol.
Well NBC must be in dreamland as the second hour of The Biggest Loser beat Fringe in both viewers and demos. Granted
Another positive view for NBC, was the performance of a repeat L&0:SVU in the demos against a new Without a Trace.
It would be very interesting to see what NBC does next year on Tuesdays, stick with a 2 hour edition of The Biggest Loser and shift SVU or just have one hour of the reality skin.
I think they would probably keep the 2 hour format since it works fairly well for them and move SVU to Wednesdays or Fridays.
Wow, 5.0 in the demo for The Biggest Loser? Was this a special? I know it always does well, but for NBC to have a show get a 5.0 is a huge deal.
Fringe would probably be pulling in Prison Break numbers if it wasn’t piggybacking off of American Idol and House.
Poor SCRUBS. This is the first year i’m watching it, instead of in reruns. It seems to be better this year than in previous seasons. The numbers are not even decent. I liked Eli Stone too, it’s sad that Primetime is pulling better numbers than Eli.
With Idol & NCIS, 44 milion, where have these viewers been hiding all season? (besides not watching network tv…lol)
FYI, Biggest Loser’s 9pm hour updated from a 5.0 to a 4.9. The report I used has some rounding issues when rolling up half hourly data to the hour level. Unfortunately, the error is not consistent which makes it kind of a pain, but anyway, I’ve updated the numbers. No 5.0 for NBC, sorry Ben.
(besides not watching network tv…lol)
I don’t think there is any besides. They’ve just been watching cable.
@Andrea: Agree.
I don’t see the audience for Fringe growing much more than what it is right now. The enjoyment factor of the show is completely centered around each week’s plotline, and not on the characters. If the pattern of the week is boring, than the ratings will follow. If they want to get House numbers, the writers have to make us care more about characters. So, regardless of the pattern that is occuring, we’ll tune in to watch faithfully.
I think Prison Break would be more New Amsterdam-esque in that slot. Fringe gives the appearance (based on second half hour retention) that it could do a 3.0 or better among 18-49 year olds standing on its own.
But appearances can be deceiving. Either way, New Amsterdam is cancelled, and Prison Break’s end has been announced.
Fox should be very happy with the numbers that Fringe is pulling in. A pop singing competition and a show featuring exploding brain matter doesn’t exactly attract the same audiences.
Without Idol, Fringe had been getting 8-9 million in the Fall before the break while PB was alot lower than that at 5 million or so before the break (along with a much worse 18-49 demo about half that of Fringe). Fact is Prison Break is tired and worn out and hasnt really been good since Season 1.
The importance of lead in’s is highly overrated in any case. Same goes for people who blame going up against Idol (Jericho fans loved this theory) kills a show – NCIS blows that premise out of the water.
My Gosh…NCIS & IDOL seemed to have found enough people out there to share…but I still don’t know ANYONE who watches or has watched NCIS??!!??
Robert,
It all comes down to what a network favors. Fringe will seemingly never be allowed to fail. If it starts to go down in ratings, I’m sure Kevin Reilly will be on the phone with his buddy at DirectTV to try to save it, like he did with Friday Night Lights, when he was at NBC.
At least with Lie To Me, we’ll get the chance to see what it does as the lead-in to AI in a week. Making the switch gives me the impression that FOX has the belief that this show can be a true hit.
Regarding not giving Dollhouse a AI or House lead-in and sticking it on Fridays where FOX has not had a breakout hit success in a decade…well…no comment.
Dont know which one is the Biggest Loser of the night… Fringe that couldnt beat Biggest Loser or Without a Trace for droping from a Mentalist repeat.
Um…I watch NCIS…Now you know one R.G…Nice to meet you…
I also watch NCIS – now you know two people RG!
Without a Trace did right around what it always does. It couldn’t have been expected to go up with a weaker lead in than usual. While Without a Trace is on its last legs and I don’t expect to see it back next season, this particular week is no greater loser than usual.