Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:
Idol Rules, Soft Start for Top Model Season Opener
Wednesday 2/20/08
Household Rating/Share
Fox: 16.6/25, NBC: 6.5/10, CBS: 4.6/ 7, ABC: 3.9/ 6, CW: 2.4/ 4
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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2007)
NBC: +30, CW: +14, Fox: - 8, ABC: -25, CBS: -44
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Note: The fast affiliate results for Wednesday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008.
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-Yesterday’s Winners:
American Idol (Fox)
-Honorable Mention:
Law & Order (NBC)
-Yesterday’s Losers (Excluding Repeats):
Big Brother 9 (CBS), Wife Swap (ABC), Cashmere Mafia (ABC)
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-Ratings Breakdown:
With American Idol on board there is no stopping Fox, which beat the Big 3 networks combined on this February sweeps Wednesday (does anyone even know this is a sweeps period?). American Idol averaged a stellar 16.6 rating/25 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m., building by half hour as follows:
American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m. 14.7/23
8:30 p.m. 16.4/25
9:00 p.m. 17.5/26
9:30 p.m. 17.8/27
As for this first night of female competition, my picks to get the boot tonight: Joanne Borgella and Amy Davis. For more on American Idol, listen to today’s PIPodcast at
www.marcberman.tv.
NBC finished in the distant No. 2 spot with its combination of Deal or No Deal (#2: 6.1/ 9), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (#2: 5.7/ 8) and Law & Order (#1: 7.9/13). Considering that Law & Order faced a repeat of CBS’ CSI: NY (5.3/ 9), the overnight results could have been better.
CBS’ winter edition of Big Brother remains a bust, with a fourth-place 3.3/ 5 from 8-9 p.m. Personally, I do not think the couples concept works, particularly with this lackluster combination of people. Big Brother led into a repeat of Criminal Minds at a third-place 5.2/ 8 in the overnights at 9 p.m., followed by the aforementioned CSI: NY encore at a second-place 5.3/ 9 at 10 p.m.
In season-premiere news, the CW’s golden goose, America’s Next Top Model, got off to a modest start, with a last-place 3.1/ 5 at 8 p.m. Although there should be interest among the target young females, comparatively this was down by 16 percent in the overnights from its fall season-premiere on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007 (3.7/ 6). Top Model led into a repeat of Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious at a 1.8/ 3 (#5) from 9-10 p.m., which beat its original telecast on Monday (1.6/ 2) by 12 percent.
ABC capped off the evening with its line-up of Wife Swap (#3: 3.7/ 5), which has taken a big hit opposite American Idol, Supernanny (#4: 4.4/ 7), which always manages to spark some interest among adults 18-49, and dud Cashmere Mafia (#3: 3.6/ 6). If anyone is interested in a good dramedy about four female friends, Sex and the City comes out on the big screen in May.
Source: Nielsen Media Research data
