TV Ratings Monday: 'House' Finale Up, 'AGT' and 'The Bachelorette' Slide

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NBC was the top rated network in adults 18-49 while ABC was number one  in total viewers.

On FOX, the series finale of House garnered a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating, (in line with what most of you predicted) up from last week's 2.2 rating for the series' penultimate episode. This marks the best ratings for the series since January.  The retrospective that preceded it earned a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating.

CBS was all repeats until 10PM, when they aired an hour-long special, Clash of the Commercials: USA vs. The World, which earned a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating.

On NBC, America's Got Talent earned a 3.1 rating, down considerably from the 3.7 adults 18-49 rating it received last week. The series premiere of American Ninja Warrior on the network  scored a 2.4 among adults 18-49.

On ABC, Dancing with the Stars  earned a 2.8 rating, up two-tenths from last week's  2.6 adults 18-49 rating.  The Bachelorette  earned a 2.4, down two tenths from last week's 2.6 rating.

The CW was all repeats for the evening.

Late-night results are below the primetime data.

Broadcast primetime ratings for Monday, May 21 2012:

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via NBC press notes:

In Late-Night Metered Markets Monday night:

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NOTE: All national ratings are "live plus same day" from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.

Nielsen TV Ratings: ©2012 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. 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 and Numbers 102.