| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Viewers (million) | 25.60 | 11.59 | 6.50 | 4.72 | 4.27 | 1.82 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-49 | 9.2/23 | 2.9/8 | 2.7/7 | 1.5/4 | 1.7/5 | 0.9/2 |
| Rating/Share: Adults 18-34 | 7.3/21 | 1.9/5 | 2.3/7 | 1.1/3 | 1.9/5 | 1.1/3 |
The Tuesday two hour block of American Idol was bumped to Wednesday due to the presidential address on Tuesday night and FOX easily scored victory for the night, averaging 25.6 million viewers and 9.1/24 (rating/share) with adults 18-49 between 8pm-10pm. With Idol, Fox again outperformed ABC, CBS, NBC and the CW combined in both the 18-34 and 18-49 demographics.
The consensus opinion seems to be that CBS will stick with its Wednesday 8pm comedy block, but last night, up against Idol a Survivor: Tocantins clip show outperformed last week's Old Christine/Gary Unmarried hour that ran against Lie To Me rather than Idol.
The 9pm hour had a lot of viewing between Idol, Criminal Minds (14 million and a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating) and Lost. Lost dipped below 9 million (4.0 adults 18-49 rating) and posted another series low, but it's nothing to worry about since it will have no impact on its renewal prospects for next year. There's not much else left to say about Life on Mars (sadly, already canceled), and Life (sadly, will certainly be canceled)
Better Off Ted now seemingly is certainly dead, but I fear making such proclamations since its a 30 minute sitcom on ABC (the According to Jim network). American Idol took some of the fierceness out of America's Next Top Model's numbers (ANTM was second with women 18-34 and females 12-34 for the hour, trailing only Idol) and ANTM still bested NBC's Chopping Block. Can NBC go another week without putting it on the chopping block? Sure, NBC doesn't think it will ever be #1 again, but how well can it sit with them to be #5 for the hour (#6, if you count Univision)?
Previous Wednesday overnight reports are available for comparison.
Full details:
| Time | Net | Show | Viewers (Millons) | 18-49 Rating/Share | 18-34 Rating/Share |
| 8:00 | FOX | American Idol | 24.33 | 8.5/24 | 6.7/21 |
| CBS | Survivor: Tocantins (Clip Show) | 8.15 | 2.3/6 | 1.2/4 | |
| ABC | Scrubs | 5.33 | 2.0/6 | 1.9/6 | |
| CW | America's Next Top Model | 2.85 | 1.4/4 | 1.6/5 | |
| NBC | The Chopping Block | 2.60 | 0.9/2 | 0.7/2 | |
| 8:30 | ABC | Better Off Ted | 4.69 | 1.8/5 | 1.7/5 |
| 9:00 | FOX | American Idol | 26.87 | 9.8/23 | 7.8/21 |
| CBS | Criminal Minds | 14.02 | 3.4/8 | 2.3/6 | |
| ABC | LOST | 8.82 | 4.0/10 | 3.8/10 | |
| NBC | Life | 4.32 | 1.4/3 | 1.2/3 | |
| CW | 90210 (R) | .797 | 0.4/1 | 0.5/1 | |
| 10:00 | CBS | CSI: NY | 12.60 | 3.0/8 | 2.1/6 |
| NBC | Law & Order | 7.25 | 2.2/6 | 1.4/4 | |
| ABC | Life on Mars | 5.67 | 2.1/6 | 1.4/4 |
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.
No! I love better off ted!
sad to see Lost get below 9 mil just becuase of that american idol crap
cw’s season average is so low because all of the reruns, they only had one midseason show (reaper) so where is all the money for original programming gone? The network is seriously running on fumes:O
Law and Order will survive! Keep it on NBC!
I’m amazed at how low the Chopping Block went. If they don’t yank it by tomorrow, I’ll be shocked.
I hate American Idol! Poor Lost can’t compete with it. But considering ABC’s dismal performances at 8 and 10, coupled with a huge Idol audience, I’d say it wasn’t so bad. Last nights episode was so-so, but the ending was a shocker. Did Sayid really kill young Ben? I wonder what implications that will have on the present timeline. Something tells me that Ben couldn’t have died, but I’m dying to see what will happen!
LOST has a great 18-49 rating. Impressive. LOL at NBC.
Good new for Chuck fans, keep Chopping away at Life.
There’s that typical NBC performance we all know and love!
Lost drop is expected, given how AI was hitting 27 mil between 9 and 10pm.
Why would anyone watch Criminal Minds over Lost? ugh people come on!
NBC should test the waters with heroes or chuck in the shiting blocks slot.
WAS expected. sorry.
BTW…better off ted is an awful show
@ Tony
Breacause currently it’s a much better show, that’s why
LOL
Wow 797 million for 90210, did the CW just discover a new audience in the over 49 age bracket
Hmm… I can’t believe 797 million people tuned in for a repeat of 90210!
On a serious note, when will ABC learn not to put Lost against American Idol? There is no way Lost will be canceled, but poor ratings will surely effect its budget for next season.
The decline of Lost is not a surprise to me as it will drop further until the season finale. Genre shows like Lost are better than shows like Criminal Minds hands down but the viewing audience doesn’t want complicated. Serialized shows are dead soon and that’s a bad thing. The only good thing coming out of this is Lost finishing it’s run.
Heroes on the other hand is a bad example for genre shows because it’s written for kids. Battlestar and Terminator are excellent though, just like Lost.
Horrible numbers for Lost, what was ABC thinking? gosh, a 4.0 in the demo is awful!