As is disclaimed below the table, the numbers for Monday Night Football on ESPN (and now Thursday Night Football on NFL Network) are a bit misleading because those numbers are only "syndicated" in the local markets of the teams playing the games, which is usually only a fraction of the overall viewing, but the numbers also include the lion's share of viewing that occurs on ESPN and NFL Network. It's a goofy reporting mechanism by Nielsen.
How goofy is it? Well, in the numbers reported below for Monday Night Football (Browns Ravens on 11/16), 10.196 million of the viewing was on ESPN, and .625 million of the viewing came from the local markets or the "syndicated" portion. But Nielsen reports the whole 10.821 million in the syndicated reports. Normally I just ignore it, but I bring it up this week to pay homage to Pat & Vanna. Because even with the erroneous 10.196 million included in, Wheel of Fortune still bested Ravens/Browns!
Legend of the Seeker fans, the show's third episode of season two didn't make the top 25 below but it had an average audience of 2.504 million. That's up from the 2.24 million for the second episode but still off a bit from the season two premiere which averaged 2.58 million viewers).
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 November 20, not November 27.
Top 25 Syndicated Shows for the week ending November 22, 2009:
| Rank | Program | Network | Day | Duration | HH Rating | Viewers (000) |
| 1 | WHEEL OF FORTUNE | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 7.3 | 11,833 |
| 2 | ESPN NFL REGULAR SEASON | ESP | M...... | 189 | 6.9 | 10,821 |
| 3 | JEOPARDY | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 6.2 | 9,591 |
| 4 | TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT) | WB | MTWTF.. | 30 | 5.3 | 8,506 |
| 5 | OPRAH WINFREY SHOW | CTD | MTWTF.. | 60 | 6.1 | 8,193 |
| 6 | JUDGE JUDY (AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 4.7 | 6,625 |
| 7 | ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 4.5 | 6,527 |
| 8 | FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT) | 2/T | MTWTF.. | 30 | 3.6 | 5,708 |
| 9 | CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT) | CTD | ......S | 60 | 3.4 | 5,070 |
| 10 | OFFICE-SYN (AT) | NBU | MTWTF.. | 30 | 3.0 | 4,679 |
| 11 | INSIDE EDITION (AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 3.2 | 4,658 |
| 12 | LAW & ORDER:CI-WKL (AT) | NBU | M...... | 60 | 3.2 | 4,449 |
| 13 | DR. PHIL SHOW (AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 60 | 3.1 | 4,144 |
| 14 | SEINFELD (AT) | SPT | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.8 | 4,093 |
| 15 | GEORGE LOPEZ (AT) | WB | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.6 | 3,928 |
| 16 | EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT) | CTD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.7 | 3,803 |
| 17 | MILLIONAIRE (AT) | DAD | MTWTF.. | 30 | 2.6 | 3,679 |
| 18 | SEINFELD-WKND (AT) | SPT | ......S | 30 | 2.5 | 3,671 |
| 19 | CSI MIAMI-SYN (AT) | CTD | ......S | 60 | 2.4 | 3,563 |
| 20 | WWE FRI NITE Smackdown | 2/T | ....F.. | 120 | 2.1 | 3,556 |
| 21 | TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT) | WB | ......S | 30 | 2.4 | 3,550 |
| 22 | Bones-SYN (AT) | 2/T | ......S | 60 | 2.4 | 3,530 |
| 23 | 2009 NFL REG SEASON GAMES | NFL | ...T... | 190 | 2.2 | 3,511 |
| 24 | DR. OZ SHOW (AT) | SPT | MTWTF.. | 60 | 2.6 | 3,428 |
| 25 | LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY | DAD | MTWTF.. | 60 | 2.6 | 3,307 |
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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 (except if it's Ravens-Browns, apparently!) It's sort of bogus, but I'm just reporting it as Nielsen does, but you can figure most of the viewing is actually directly on ESPN. As of mid-November, the same now holds true for the Thursday games on NFL Network.
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.
Well at least Legend of the Seeker is still doing good =) I bet it will go up for episode 4 with Amy Teegarden guest star. GO LEGEND OF THE SEEKER!
I am glad Legend of the Seeker is still going strong and stable. More seasons to come for this show.
The 3.2HH and 4,449,000 P2+ viewer count for MyNetworkTV’s November 16, 2009 broadcast of ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ on Monday nights is incredible, and represent an all-time MyNetworkTV high, beating out the January 23, 2009 episode of ‘WWE Friday Night Smackdown’ which attracted 2.2HH/4% and 4,020,000 P2+ viewers.
MyNetworkTV’s ‘Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ tied ‘Heroes’ in HH, while falling just behind ‘Heroes’ 5,080,000 P2+ viewer count. Both episodes handily beat The CW’s broadcasts of ‘One Tree Hill’ (1.7HH, 2,630,000 P2+) and ‘Gossip Girl’ (1.5HH, 2,224,000 P2+).
The tremendous success that MyNetworkTV has enjoyed with its programming service strategy on Mondays this season may indeed be the reason that NBC has skedded a tryout double-up of ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ encores this coming Monday December 7th in the very first ‘Law & Order’ broadcast brawlfest.
My tracking of metered market numbers indicate that MyNetworkTV has been enjoying handsome numbers for its Tuesday double-up of ‘Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?’ and Wednesdays double-up of ‘The Unit’. At this point, the only weak program in their line-up is the Tuesday double-up of ‘Deal or No Deal’, which may be slated for mid-season replacement by the upcoming new poker series, ‘Shuffle Up and Deal’, which is due to be skedded in 2010.
Is there a way I could find out how Wendy Williams’s ratings compare to Tyra Banks’s ratings? I don’t expect to ever see either of them in the top 25, so I’m in the dark and really curious.
Paul, at least for the week above they were very comparable. Tyra a bit better, but not much. but neither anywhere near the top 25 in viewer averages or household rating.
You could follow the syndicated posts on Broadcastingcable.com. they often talk about shows way out of the top 25 (at least the household ratings) including Wendy & Tyra.
Do you think syndicated dramas are the way of the future when the big 3 go under for local TV.
do you know the numbers (rating and viewers) for wwe smackdown from november 13?
Stefan, click the link to “Syndicated TV Ratings” at the top of this post and then scroll down to the second post.
@ Robert
No smackdown rating for 11.13. in the list or the text.
Sorry about that! I was so used to it making the top 25, I didn’t even notice it hadn’t. Blame it on Friday the 13th. I updated that post, but it was 3.46 million on 11/13.
thanks
But the Browns/Ravens game still “beat” Jeopardy!
Thank you very much, Robert. I’m hoping that Wendy will pass Tyra up soon. She’s a hell of a lot more entertaining and far less pretentious and overrated than Tyra.
For any legend of the seeker fans Season 2 will be based on Terry Goodkinds second (Stone of Tears) and third (Blood of the Fold) books instead of just Stone of Tears because they want to make the 11 book series shorter in seasons. So the first 11 should be the SOT and the last 11 should be BOF. It can always change so i’ll keep updating when there is a change.
Oprah beat Judge Judy this time around. Must have been Sarah Palin week.
Heck ya Ledgend is UP!!! I love this show soooooo much, it is soooooo good, so magical, and imaginative!!! I am Obsessed!!!