TV Ratings Tuesday: Big Numbers for Presidential Debate, 'The Voice' & 'Hart of Dixie' Up, 'Dancing With the Stars', 'Raising Hope' & 'Ben & Kate' Down, 'Emily Owens M.D.' Debuts Low

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Due to live coverage of the second Presidential Debate, the ratings on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX are subject to more than the typical ratings adjustments. The final numbers will be available this afternoon There will not be national ratings for the actual debate, which aired commercial free, but there will be ratings for the post-debate analysis.

NBC was the number one network in adults 18-49, and with total viewers.

On NBC, The Voice earned a 4.6 adults 18-49 rating, up from last week's a 4.5.

On FOX, Raising Hope scored a 1.7 among adults 18-49, down from last week's 1.8 adults 18-49 rating. Ben And Kate garnered a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating down three tenths from last week's 1.5.

On ABC, Dancing with the Stars: All-Stars earned a 2.1 down from last week's 2.2  adults 18-49 rating.

On the CW,  Hart Of Dixie scored a 0.6 adults 18-49 rating, up from last week's 0.5 adults 18-49 rating. The series premiere of Emily Owens M.D. earned a 0.5 adults 18-49 rating, below most of your predictions. It was way down from the Ringer premiere's 1.2 in the time period on September 13, 2011, but that’s hardly a fair comparison because Ringer was competing with reruns, not a highly anticipated debate.

Coverage of the second Presidential Debate from 9-10:30PM earned a 4.7 adults 18-49 rating on NBC, way up from a 3.2 fast national for the first debate on Wednesday, October 3. On ABC it scored a 2.8 versus a 3.0for the first debate. CBS garnered a 2.2, down from a 3.0 for the first debate.  FOX notched a 1.7 compared to a 2.8 for the first debate. In other words, people generally stayed on whatever network they were watching at 8PM to watch the debate.More accurate debate numbers will be available this afternoon.

Broadcast primetime ratings for Tuesday, October 16, 2012:

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Via Press Note:
In Late-Night Metered Markets Tuesday night:
>
> * In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The
> Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.6/6 with an encore telecast; CBS's
> "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.1/5 with an encore; and ABC's
> combo of "Nightline," 3.6/8; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.8/5.
>
> * In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results
> were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.9/4 with an encore; "Late
> Show," 0.6/3 with an encore; "Nightline," 1.4/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel
> Live," 0.7/4.
>
> * At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/5 in
> metered-market households with an encore) beat CBS's first-run "Late
> Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.1/4). In the 25 markets with Local
> People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/4 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 0.4/3 in adults 18-49
> in the 25 markets with local people meters.

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

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.