Excuse the headline, but the mainstream media's never ending quest to claim Oprah's ratings have suffered due to her endorsement of Obama, even though at least at the national level there is no actual data to support such claims...
Below is the table of top syndicated shows for the week ending October 18, 2009. For some context on the numbers, check out Broadcasting & Cable's write-up on the week.
Please note that the syndicated weekly results are delayed versus normal reporting. While we get the broadcast and cable ratings for the prior Monday-Sunday period every Tuesday, there is an extra week of lag time with the syndicated ratings and these numbers are not for last week, but for the week before last. So while Friday Night Smackdown! is now counted as a syndicated show and we are seeing the numbers again, they are delayed. The numbers below are for Friday October 16, not October 23.
Top 25 Syndicated Shows for the week ending October 18, 2009:
| Rank | Program | Network | Day | Duration | HH Rating | Viewers (000) |
| 1 | ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON | ESP | M...... | 199 | 8.8 | 13,738 |
| 2 | WHEEL OF FORTUNE | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 7.2 | 11,574 |
| 3 | JEOPARDY | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 5.9 | 9,151 |
| 4 | OPRAH WINFREY SHOW | CTD | MTWTF.. | 60 | 5.2 | 7,038 |
| 5 | ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 4.4 | 6,303 |
| 6 | JUDGE JUDY (AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 4.3 | 6,139 |
| 7 | FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT) | 2/T | MTWTF.. | 30 | 3.4 | 5,137 |
| 8 | CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT) | CTD | ......S | 60 | 3.4 | 4,899 |
| 9 | INSIDE EDITION (AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 3.2 | 4,502 |
| 10 | OFFICE-SYN (AT) | NBU | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.8 | 4,264 |
| 11 | SEINFELD-WKND (AT) | SPT | ......S | 30 | 2.8 | 4,045 |
| 12 | DR. PHIL SHOW (AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 60 | 2.8 | 3,769 |
| 13 | TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT) | WB | ......S | 30 | 2.5 | 3,741 |
| 14 | LAW & ORDER:CI-WKL (AT) | NBU | ......S | 60 | 2.5 | 3,740 |
| 15 | SEINFELD (AT) | SPT | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.5 | 3,725 |
| 16 | GEORGE LOPEZ (AT) | WB | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.4 | 3,568 |
| 17 | DR. OZ SHOW (AT) | SPT | MTWTF.. | 60 | 2.6 | 3,525 |
| 18 | EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.4 | 3,519 |
| 19 | MILLIONAIRE (AT) | DAD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.5 | 3,501 |
| 20 | TWO-HALF MEN WKND A (AT) | WB | ......S | 30 | 2.3 | 3,388 |
| 21 | LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY | DAD | MTWTF.. | 60 | 2.6 | 3,287 |
| 22 | WWE FRI NITE Smackdown | 2/T | ....F.. | 120 | 1.9 | 3,287 |
| 23 | HOUSE-SYN (AT) | NBU | ......S | 60 | 2.1 | 3,234 |
| 24 | CSI MIAMI-SYN (AT) | CTD | ......S | 60 | 2.3 | 3,157 |
| 25 | JUDGE JOE BROWN (AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.2 | 3,121 |
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Please note that the #s for Monday Night Football are the total number both for the ESPN airings and the local markets where the games are syndicated to one of the local affiliates (a rule to ensure the markets playing the game can watch them, even if they don't have ESPN). As a result Monday Night Football will be at the top of the syndicated lists until football season is over. It's sort of bogus, but since I can't break the syndicated portion out, I'm just reporting it as Nielsen does, but you can figure most of the viewing is actually directly on ESPN.
For syndicated shows which air on multiple days, the viewership shown is the average of all telecasts.
BUENA VISTA items are syndicated packages of old Disney movies. For more information click here.
DAD = Disney ABC Domestic Television, SPT= Sony Pictures Television, 2/T=Twentieth Television, ESP = ESPN, CTD = CBS Television Distribution.
Nielsen TV Ratings Data: ©2009 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
I’ve really liked Oprah’s show this season. She seems engaged all the time again and not just for a few pet topics. The show’s a nice mix of serious and lighthearted subjects. Glad to see the effort being rewarded.
Apparently brand name loyalty can trump politics. If you have a quality product, in a country this populous, you can afford to antagonize customers on the one side when you’re sure you’ll pick up new admirers from the other side. Bruce Springsteen tested the waters a couple of decades ago and found out he can be far to the left and still make a ton of money. Lesser acts and has-beens are probably more affected when they take a political stance, but they also have much less to lose. Speaking of lesser acts and has-beens, I wonder how Heart is doing. …Besides, Oprah didn’t go rabid on Sarah Palin like Nancy Wilson did.
Oprah helped drive the country’s economy MUCH deeper into recession all through last season. Every other episode was about how terrible things were and that people should NOT go out to eat, NOT buy new clothes….NOT spend money in general! It was as if she was trying to destroy the economy and depress the hell out of her viewers. So far this season she’s stayed away from such negativity and damaging messages.
paul, don’t give the goofy press more ideas for bogus Oprah stories. I can see them now “Don’t Look At The Housing Bubble, Oprah Caused the Recession!”
Leno’s producers should take note.
How do you get more viewers? Make the show interesting and fun to watch – closing down Michigan Avenue for a concert, big “gets” like Whitney Houston and Mackenzie Phillips (OK, maybe not those two for Leno, but you get the idea), taking the show to Central Park, etc.
Oprah’s show has just been *good TV* this season to date.
Bill, Oprah didn’t cause the recession, but she greatly contributed to it once it started. As the now FORMER owner of a small store who tried to fill my unemployed days watching Oprah, I can assure you that she consistently had show topics that involved the viewers being told not to spend money and how not to spend money. Every other day, it was a show about not eating in restaurants, not taking vacations, and definitely not spending money in stores. Over and over! It was depressing to watch and because of her influence over middle America, it was immensely damaging to the economy. The only reason the goofy press never covered what she was doing is because they are goofy.
What about Tyra Banks show?