| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating: Adults 18-49 | 6.0/15 | 3.3/9 | 2.6/7 | 1.6/4 | 1.5/4 | 0.6/1 |
| Rating: Adults 18-34 | 4.8/14 | 2.2/6 | 2.2/6 | 1.3/4 | 1.6/5 | 0.6/2 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 16.97 | 12.15 | 6.99 | 5.73 | 3.88 | 1.14 |
FOX easily won the night across the major demographics and total viewing on the strength of an hour of American Idol which has remained very strong, dropping only around 5 percent versus the same night last season. Idol was up 22 percent versus last Wednesday (though last Wednesday was a "Road to Hollywood" special).
Human Target was up very slightly from a 2.4 last week to a 2.5 last night.
CBS was second for the night with both adults 18-49 and viewers. Its 8pm comedy block was resoundingly bested by a Charlie Brown Valentine special and The Middle, but Criminal Minds stood tall even against a strong American Idol, and CSI: NY won the 10pm hour increasing from last week by about 5 percent.
ABC's sitcoms The Middle and Modern Family saw increases from last week, with The Middle reaching a 3.0 rating with adults 18-49, a series high. Modern Family matched it previous highs with adults 18-49.
The Middle vs. Cougar Town seems like a silly discussion to me. The Middle, doesn't have to air against American Idol and Cougar Town does. Still the steep drop from Modern Family to Cougar Town is notable (4.2 to 2.8).
Ugly Betty saw growth to a 1.7 rating at 10pm, its best numbers of the season, but it still lost to a repeat of Law & Order: SVU (which did about 18% better than the average for The Jay Leno Show in the timeslot).
In Late-Night:
- Conan O'Brien (0.8/4 in 18-49 in local people meters with an encore telecast) trailed CBS's first-run LATE SHOW (1.2/5) in Nielsen's 25 local markets with People Meters.
- At 12:35 a.m., Jimmy Fallon (0.4/3 in 18-49 in local people meters ) trailed CBS's LATE LATE SHOW (0.6/4).
Details:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Sh | Viewers (Millons) |
| 8:00 | FOX | Human Target | 2.5/7 | 8.92 |
| ABC | Charlie Brown Valentine (R) | 2.5/7 | 7.51 | |
| CBS | New Adventures of Old Christine | 2.3/7 | 8.30 | |
| NBC | Mercy | 1.8/5 | 6.78 | |
| CW | Life Unexpected (R) | 0.8/2 | 1.63 | |
| 8:30 | ABC | The Middle | 3.0/8 | 8.25 |
| CBS | Gary Unmarried | 2.4/7 | 7.68 | |
| 9:00 | FOX | American Idol | 9.5/23 | 25.02 |
| ABC | Modern Family | 4.2/10 | 10.11 | |
| CBS | Criminal Minds | 3.8/9 | 14.77 | |
| NBC | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (R) | 1.2/3 | 4.45 | |
| CW | Gossip Girl (R) | 0.3/1 | 0.66 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | Cougar Town | 2.8/7 | 6.66 |
| 10:00 | CBS | CSI: NY | 3.6/10 | 13.69 |
| NBC | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (R) | 1.8/5 | 5.98 | |
| ABC | Ugly Betty | 1.7/5 | 4.71 |
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Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2010 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.
You can see TV ratings from other recent Overnight ratings reports here.
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.
woah the middle!!
Yes! The Middle got a 3! and yay for Modern Family!
I had this feel The Middle would hit a 3.0 and it beat Cougar Town!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Those are terrific repeat numbers for Lux seeing that the new episode got just a little over 2 million!!!
ABC must be thrilled with The Middle and Modern Family. A 4.2 against Idol? WOW.
SERIES HIGH THE MIDDLE YEAH!!!
GO Modern Family!! awesome numbers
Series high for The Middle! So glad MF continues to rise. Cougar Town is worrying.
The Middle is clearly more popular than Cougar Town now, I wonder if they will switch the timneslots just to see if the Middle holds up better after Modern Family
Not that it matters, but “Ugly Betty” was up too! Yay!
Go The Middle!! Go!!!!!!!!!!
Not too bad for Human Target
Lux repeated only a tenth down from Monday. I estimated mid 9′s for Idol… dang I’m good. Vs last week, it looks like Idol took a bite out of Criminal Minds, not Modern Family. CBS’ post Super Bowl boost has ended.
I think the blizzard really helped ABC!!!
Interesting that Life Unexpected’s repeat airing gets numbers so close to what its originals get on Monday. That has to mean there’s real potential in this show.
ABC made a smart investment with the rights to the Charlie Brown specials.
Middle, Mod Fam, and CT are all holding up better than I thought they would with the AI comp. LUX had another good run of it too for a repeat.
Series high for the Middle.
@Pat, I doubt ABC will switch Cougar Town and The Middle around. ABC must be happy with hitting a 3.0 in the 8PM hour not to mention that 8PM is a more of a family friend hour and The Middle fits that time slot; Cougar Town’s content is better suited for 9:30.
Gooooooooooooo The Middle, yes like 5 months ago it got 1.8 in demo now a 3 just awesome, Modern Family 4.2 against Idol
, Cougar Town Ouch
OMG Charlie Brown almost even Human Target LOL
Oh, that’s true. CT is up against AI, which have similar viewer demographics. 2.8 doesn’t look so bad now, haha.
Cougar Town is fast becoming the weak link of the ABC comedy block, assuming you discount the already cancelled Ugly Betty. Its situation is made even worse by The Middle’s growth and the fact its got the Modern Family lead-in.
Elsewhere Modern Family and Criminal Minds both held up really well against Idol. And despite the less than fantastic numbers I’m still leaning toward a Human Target renewal for next year.