TV Ratings Wednesday: 'American Idol,' 'Law & Order: SVU,' 'Modern Family,' 'Survivor,' 'Suburgatory,' 'Revenge' At Lows; As Fox Tops Night

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American Idol was down 6% vs. last Wednesday to an in-season series low (pending final adjustments) 4.7 adults 18-49 rating, but still easily lead a FOX win for adults 18-49 ratings and total viewership on the night.

Suburgatory ticked down a tenth to a series low 2.0 adults 18-49 rating vs. last week's 2.1. Modern Family dropped to a season low 4.0 adults 18-49 rating, down 5% last week's 4.2 adults 18-49 rating. The second episode of Don't Trust The B---- in Apartment 23 drew a 2.6 adults 18-49 rating, down 10% compared with last week's premiere rating of 2.9, not bad for a second episode decline. The PTC campaign/fundraising PR vs. the show didn't seem to do any damage, and may have helped. After six weeks since a regular new episode, Revenge earned a series/season low for a regular episode 2.3 adults 18-49 rating, down a tenth vs. a 2.4 rating in its last new episode in early March.

Survivor was even with last week's 2.7 adults 18-49 rating which tied its regular episode series low, and was the only new program on CBS.

Betty White: Off Their Rockers was up a tenth to a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating vs. last week's 1.6 ratings. Best Friends Forever was even with last week's 0.9 adults 18-49 rating. Rock Center with Brian Williams earned a 0.7, up two tenths compared with last week's 0.5. Law And Order: SVU fell to a new series at 1.5 adults 18-49 rating vs. last week's 1.7.

At 9pm, America's Next Top Model was the only new program on the CW and earned a 0.6 adults 18-49 rating, up a tenth vs. last week's 0.5

Late-night results are below the primetime data.

Overnight ratings for Wednesday, April 18, 2012:

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via NBC press note:

In Late-Night Metered Markets Wednesday night:

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.5/7 with an encore telecast; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 1.9/5 with an encore; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.3/8; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.7/5.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” 0.7/3 with an encore; "Late Show," 0.5/2 with an encore; "Nightline," 1.2/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.7/4.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.3/5 in metered-market household with an encore) beat CBS's first-run "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.0/3). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.4/3 in 18-49 with an encore) topped "Late Late Show" (0.3/2).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.9/4 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.3/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

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NOTE: All ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.
Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 The Nielsen Company. All Rights Reserved.

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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. 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.

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