| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 25.10 | 16.18 | 9.09 | 4.45 | 4.62 | .937 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 9.5/23 | 3.4/9 | 3.6/9 | 1.8/4 | 1.8/5 | .4/1 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 7.9/22 | 2.0/6 | 2.9/8 | 1.4/4 | 1.9/5 | 0.5/1 |
FOX unsurprisingly won the night with two hours of American Idol that averaged 25.1 million between 8pm-10pm and a 9.5/23 (rating/share) among 18-49 year olds. CBS was in a distant second place, but it's lineup, particularly NCIS and The Mentalist continue to be very strong.
NBC also continues to get great age demographics with The Biggest Loser and Law & Order: SVU easily won the demos at 10pm.
ABC? Well, let's just say Dancing with the Stars can't start soon enough!
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | American Idol | 23.02 | 8.4/23 | 7.0/22 |
| CBS | NCIS | 17.68 | 3.6/10 | 2.2/7 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser | 8.08 | 3.1/8 | 2.5/8 | |
| ABC | Homeland Security USA | 5.03 | 1.4/4 | 1.2/4 | |
| CW | 90210 (R) | 1.22 | 0.5/1 | 0.6/2 | |
| 8:30 | FOX | American Idol | 25.64 | 9.6/24 | 7.8/22 |
| CBS | NCIS | 18.46 | 3.8/10 | 2.4/7 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser | 8.33 | 3.3/8 | 2.7/8 | |
| ABC | Homeland Security USA | 4.41 | 1.4/4 | 1.2/3 | |
| CW | 90210 (R) | 0.98 | 0.4/1 | 0.5/1 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | American Idol | 25.96 | 9.9/24 | 8.3/22 |
| CBS | The Mentalist | 18.33 | 3.7/9 | 2.3/6 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser | 9.34 | 3.9/9 | 3.1/8 | |
| ABC | Scrubs (R) | 3.06 | 1.2/3 | 1.3/4 | |
| CW | Privileged (R) | 0.82 | 0.4/1 | 0.5/1 | |
| 9:30 | FOX | American Idol | 25.80 | 9.9/23 | 8.5/22 |
| CBS | The Mentalist | 18.20 | 3.8/9 | 2.3/6 | |
| NBC | The Biggest Loser | 9.91 | 4.1/10 | 3.2/8 | |
| ABC | Scrubs (R) | 2.84 | 1.2/3 | 1.4/4 | |
| CW | Privileged (R) | 0.74 | 0.3/1 | 0.4/1 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Without a Trace | 12.53 | 2.7/7 | 1.6/5 |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 9.18 | 3.3/9 | 2.7/8 | |
| ABC | Primetime: What Would You Do? | 5.53 | 1.9/5 | 1.7/5 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | Without a Trace | 11.90 | 2.6/7 | 1.4/4 |
| NBC | Law & Order: SVU | 9.72 | 3.6/10 | 3.1/9 | |
| ABC | Primetime: What Would You Do? | 5.84 | 2.0/6 | 1.8/5 |
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.
I’m still amazed at how well NCIS and Mentalist hold up against Idol, happy, but amazed.
hopefully scrubs will do better on wednesdays
AI – JAGGERNAUT CONTINUES…HOWEVER…There were only 2 good vocalists last night and AI has a LOT of “bugs” in the production room…the sound was horrible including the music, the talking of the host, judges and contestants…and even the clapping of the audience sounded like it was “sucked” right out of existance – it felt like my ears were trying to “pop”…and stop interviewing the families – keep them on tape only so you don’t make them look like a deer in headlights – come on Seacrest…what a crappy show…even one of the tapes were messed up—hello you have 25 million – 30 million viewers…the number one show on TV…get it right!!!
Yeah seriously JON i agree with you 100%. I would think that there ratings would drop 5 million viewers when up againts American Idol but they keep on getting 18 and 19 million viewers. Tuesdays and Thursdays are big night with Televisiion.. Even CSI put up around 18 million with some good compettition with Greys Anatomy.
Wow. Those numbers for American Idol are still amazing. Nothing can touch it. Sure, maybe it is down from prior years but so is all of television. As long as Simon Cowell is on the show, AI may stay No. 1 for even more years to come.
I think FOX / AI should “be ashamed”: of their sound production last night…have my ears popped yet…???
Oh yey lets have Idol chat here!!!
Homeland Security is not bad, not sure why the rip on them?
RG, I don’t watch Idol, so I can’t comment, but are you sure it was FOX and not your local station or your cable service that was the problem?
I don’t know why people like AI. I’m more impressed by the numbers of The Mentalist. I have watched a few episodes and it’s doesn’t have any appeal to me. But well, it’s just me.
Poor ABC, but thinking about surviving with DWTS, a reality show, it’s lame I guess.
I don’t really expect the older skewing shows on NBC to lose 5 million viewers to Idol, but judging by how Criminal dropped in the demo last week, the fact that NCIS and The Mentalist are virtually unaffected by Idol in any way is amazing. I think the best number NCIS put forward in the demo was a 4.1 or 4.2 this season, so I doubt a 3.8 is even visibly beyond the average.
And by NBC I mean CBS. DUH! I am obviously already gearing up for the Life discussion tomorrow.
Julia…commercials were loud and clear and I have the digital hooked up and a 5.1 system…I think it was the production of the show.
Go Mentalist! Love the show, Simon Baker and the rest of the cast have great chemistry, and there are interesting plotlines every week. I am impressed with how well it’s holding up against Idol…guess the older skew of the show helps
Are NCIS and Mentalist the oldest skewing shows on TV?
…also when the booming “AI theme” music came on – it sounded nice – it was for sure the mics and sound on the show…
nothing good on tuesdays.
RG, the feed for the show could have gotten screwed up by someone other than FOX. Have there been any other complaints?
Amazing so many skulls of mush are glued to Murkin I-dull.
And so sad.
it’s not actually amazing ncis and mentalist getting these ratings it’s good but not amazing because if u don’t watch idol there’s only 1 other decent show on in the timeslot(ncis,mentalist being the decent show)
On a typical week, are Tuesdays the only night of the week that NBC doesn’t place 3rd or 4th in the demo? I think that it is.