| Scoreboard |  |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rating: Adults 18-49 | 8.9/23 | 4.5/12 | 1.8/5 | 1.7/4 | 1.5/4 | 0.4/1 |
| Rating: Adults 18-34 | 6.7/20 | 3.5/10 | 1.1/3 | 1.8/5 | 1.1/3 | 0.5/2 |
| Total Viewers (million) | 29.26 | 12.78 | 6.87 | 4.12 | 3.86 | .98 |
American Idol had to settle for the silver medal for the first time in six years. It's the first time Idol had lost a single half hour to its competition since 2004. NBC bested American Idol across the board from 9pm-10pm and in most demographics (though it was a tie with women 18-34).
In the 9pm hour Idol averaged a 6.9/17 rating /share with adults 18-49 to NBC's 9.0/22. NBC averaged over 30 million viewers for that hour (30.065M) to FOX's 18.42 million.
On the night NBC averaged an 8.9/23 rating/share with adults 18-49 and 29.26 million viewers overall.
Fueled by gold medal performances from the likes of Lindsey Vonn and Shaun White, NBC saw its best numbers of the games in Vancouver (though the opening ceremonies on Friday had more viewers).
Idol haters, I wouldn't read into this data that American Idol is dead, far from it. Against amazing competition it still had a 6.9 rating with adults 18-49. So while editorially I do believe that the big story today is that Idol's winnings streak is over, it doesn't have any "death of American Idol" connotation to it for me, at least ratings wise. But the end of the winning streak is notable nonetheless, so I felt like it had to be highlighted. Reasonable people can disagree!
FOX was the only English language broadcast network to air original programming against the Olympics. At 8pm, Human Target had a 2.1 rating with adults 18-49, and 7.1 million viewers - down from last week's 2.9 rating with adults 18-49, and 8.9 million viewers.
Details:
| Time | Net | Show | 18-49 Rating/Sh | Viewers (Millons) |
| 8:00 | NBC | Vancouver Winter Olympics | 7.6/21 | 26.56 |
| FOX | Human Target | 2.1/6 | 7.14 | |
| ABC | Modern Family (R) | 1.7/5 | 5.09 | |
| CBS | New Adventures of Old Christine (R) | 1.3/4 | 4.91 | |
| CW | Life Unexpected (R) | 0.6/2 | 1.34 | |
| 8:30 | ABC | The Middle (R) | 1.7/5 | 4.66 |
| CBS | Gary Unmarried (R) | 1.4/4 | 4.43 | |
| 9:00 | NBC | Vancouver Winter Olympics | 9.0/22 | 30.07 |
| FOX | American Idol | 6.9/17 | 18.42 | |
| ABC | Modern Family (R) | 1.7/4 | 4.37 | |
| CBS | Criminal Minds (R) | 1.9/5 | 7.96 | |
| CW | Gossip Girl (R) | 0.3/1 | .608 | |
| 9:30 | ABC | The Middle (R) | 1.2/3 | 3.20 |
| 10:00 | NBC | Vancouver Winter Olympics | 10.1/26 | 31.15 |
| CBS | CSI: NY (R) | 2.0/5 | 7.99 | |
| ABC | Cougar Town (R) | 1.4/3 | 3.14 | |
| 10:30 | ABC | Cougar Town (R) | 1.1/3 | 2.70 |
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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.
The accountants at NBC would surely be dancing with glee at this news if only NBC had not paid too much for the Olympics.
Boo. Ya.
HA!
probably a series low for idol…but still an amazing streak
CW Gossip Girl (R) 0.3/1 608.00 …uh, 608 million watched gossip girl? ^_^
it seems Modern Family and The Middle are not compatible.. at all.
Looks like Gossip Girl is the real winner, with twice the US population watching.
Geez, it’s about time. I can’t for the life of me figure out what great numbers of Americans see in that ridiculous “talent” show.
But it just rolls along, proving that nobody ever lost money underestimating the intelligence of the general public.
and series low to Human Target!
Life Unexpected still performing very well in repeats, and has nearly as many viewers as the new episode on Monday against the Olympics! All it needs is a better time slot!!!
The Middle is at 8pm show not 9:30.
Big numbers for NBC, especially against Idol, the big question for them is if they can convince some of those 30 million viewer to give theeir regular lineup a shot the week after next.
I was thinking that a 2.1 against the Olympics was pretty good for Human Target.
The comments of this post are going to be quite the battleground throughout the day. *grabs popcorn*
It took 6 years but the streak is finally OVAH!!!!!
Either way this has been a great week for network TV. Which needed two programs going head to head but the scripted programs are getting crushed now in days. Hopefully that rumored Laverne & Shirley remake will give scripted TV the spark it needs.
The Olympics was way too damn good last night. Watched it all the way through with the stars on there. I love the thuggish behavior from the snowboarders.
Way to go Olympics! It was a great night of competition for the US team. So nice to see AI get humbled, if only it would become a lasting trend.
I don’t know why anyone is surprised by this. Last night’s idol revealed the rest of the top 24– the epitome of filler. One could’ve skipped it and read who made it online which it seems many did.
Yeah and everything except Human Target was a repeat. And Human Target fell 0.4 points to a 2.1. That’s probably what it will pull against the Olympics next week as well. That’s not the issue, the question is: will it bounce back once the Olympics are over?
I doubt it. It’s a new show. If it were an established show with a fanbase already, that’s one thing, but it’s not.
hmmm….but “Idol” won the overall audience. More people and sets were tuned to “Idol” than the Olympics.
Christian, don’t you see!? American Idol is on the massive decline! Fox had the balls to air a new episode against the Olympics, they got a 6.9 with basically filler material, but are still going to get trashed to all hell in this post. It’s quite hilarious, actually.