-Ratings Breakdown: It was a Wednesday of split leadership, with CBS the most-watched network and Fox first among adults 18-49. The time period debut of CBS’ Greatest American Dog led the 8 p.m. hour, with 5.91 million viewers and a 1.5 rating/5 share among adults 18-49 (tied with a repeat of Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance). Comparably, however, this was no better than the recent disappointing Thursday anchor results. The So You Think You Can Dance encore was third in total viewers, with 4.69 million.
Also airing from 8-9 p.m. was a repeat of America’s Got Talent on NBC (Viewers: #2, 5.23 million; A18-49: #3t, 1.4/ 5), a repeat of ABC’s Wife Swap (Viewers: #4, 4.04 million; A18-49: #3t, 1.4/ 5), and a repeat of America’s Next Top Model on the CW (Viewers: #5, 814,000; A18-49: 0.3/ 1). The sad reality of the 8 p.m. hour was all non-scripted programming, and four of those five shows repeats.
Fox’s original installment of So You Think You Can Dance and a repeat of CBS’ Criminal Minds led the 9 p.m. hour as follows:
Wednesday 9 p.m. Criminal Minds R (CBS) Viewers: 8.64 million (#1), A18-49: 1.7/ 5 (#3)
So You Think You Can Dance (Fox) Viewers: 8.61 million (#2), A18-49: 2.9/ 8 (#1)
For more on So You Think You Can Dance, listen to today’s PIPodcast at www.marcberman.tv. Also in the hour was the season (or series) finale of NBC’s Baby Borrowers (Viewers: #3, 5.40 million; A18-49: #2, 2.1/ 6), a repeat of ABC’s Supernanny (Viewers: #4, 3.85 million; A18-49: #4, 1.4/ 4), and a repeat of Pussycat Dolls Presents: Girlicious on the CW (Viewers: #5, 680,000; A18-49: #5, 0.3/ 1). How much lower can the CW get?
ABC’s Primetime: Crime and a repeat of CBS’ CSI: NY dominated at 10 p.m. as follows:
Originally posted by Marc Berman: The sad reality of the 8 p.m. hour was all non-scripted programming, and four of those five shows repeats.
Unfortunately, the result is that the networks are training the TV audience not to show up for 8pm Wednesday. This has been an ongoing problem for several years now and this is the summer that the networks SHOULD have been trying to solve it. After all, the upcoming schedule is filled on 8pm Wednesday this Fall. Shows I plan to watch in that timeslot: America's Next Top Model, Pushing Daisies, The New Adventures of Old Christine, and Gary Unmarried. Also airing in that timeslot are the big guns of Bones and Knight Rider. With all that viewing potential, the networks really should be trying to build the timeslot over the sumer.
Originally posted by Marc Berman: The time period debut of CBS’ Greatest American Dog led the 8 p.m. hour, with 5.91 million viewers and a 1.5 rating/5 share among adults 18-49
Not great numbers, but it did win the hour for CBS. I agree with tv-aholic that Big Brother should be a positivre on Thursday vs. the dog show, so CBS has a net gain in weekly ratings with this programming swap. The result here is much better than the swap they did with Swingtown and Flashpoint which was a net negative result for the network.
FOX Takes A18-49 Crown for 2008 July Sweep; CBS Wins Most Viewers & Households
A18-49 Demographic July Sweep Winner
Households & Viewership July Sweep Winner
FOX has won the July Sweep for the fourth consecutive summer in A18-49 with an average of 2.0 in A18-49 (previous A18-49 wins 2007: 2.2, 2006: 2.3, 2005: 2.2), followed by NBC in second with 1.6, CBS and ABC tied for third with 1.5 (although CBS eked out a 1/100th basis point advantage over ABC), The CW fifth with 0.6, and MyNetworkTV last with a 0.3 average (although that may round up to a 0.4 average when finals are released). Year-over-year, all the six networks are showing A18-49 declines from last July, and overall, A18-49 is down 10% across the six nets from last July. The smallest decline was experienced by ABC at -1% (thank you, Wipeout!) while the largest year-over-year declines were shown by The CW (down 19%), CBS (down 14%), NBC (down 12%) and MyNetworkTV / FOX (both down 10%).
After four weeks, CBS won the households measure handily with a 4.3HH average, while FOX and NBC tied for second with a 3.6HH. ABC came in fourth with a 3.0HH average, The CW was fifth with a 1.0HH average and MNT came in last with a 0.7HH average. Households overall were down by 4% from last July, and five of the six nets (ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC and MyNetworkTV) all showed minimal declines of between 1% to 3% from last summer. Not so for The CW which saw its households count fall off the most by 21%.
After four weeks of Sweep, CBS also won the prize for most viewers, with FOX second, NBC third, ABC fourth, CW fifth and MNT is last. In viewers, only ABC was up from last year (by a mere 1%), while CBS and FOX were even when compared to last years July Sweep. NBC and MyNetworkTV were both down by just 2% from last year, and overall viewership was also down 2% to last July (down 474,000 viewers on average). The biggest year-over-year decline in viewership was felt by the repeat-heavy The CW which was down 21% year-over-year (a loss of 407,000 viewers on average).
I will do a final update of the numbers when the finals are released for Tuesday and Wednesday.
nights nights
demo web demo demo % won won
Rank web 2008 2007 chg 2008 2007
1 FOX 2.00 2.21 -10% 18 19.5
2 NBC 1.60 1.82 -12% 3 4
3 CBS 1.51 1.75 -14% 2 1
4 ABC 1.50 1.52 -1% 3
5 CW 0.57 0.71 -19% 2 3.5
6 MNT* 0.34 0.38 -10%
total 7.51 8.39 -10% 28 28
nights nights
HH web HH HH HH won won
rank web 2008 2007 chg 2008 2007
1 CBS 4.3 4.3 -1% 13 13.5
2 FOX 3.6 3.7 -1% 7.5 8
2 NBC 3.6 3.7 -3% 6.5 6.5
4 ABC 3.0 3.1 -2% 1
5 CW 1.0 1.3 -21%
6 MNT* 0.7 0.7 -3%
total 16.2 16.8 -4% 28 28
nights nights
viewers web viewers viewers viewers won won
rank web 2008 2007 chg 2008 2007
1 CBS 6.369 6.342 0% 11 8.5
2 FOX 5.719 5.721 0% 11 12
3 NBC 5.538 5.639 -2% 5 6.5
4 ABC 4.641 4.613 1% 1 1
5 CW 1.535 1.942 -21%
6 MNT* 0.978 0.997 -2%
total 24.78 25.254 -2% 28 28
* MyNetworkTV for first 27 nights only.
The data for the last two nights is based on FAST National numbers, whereas previous nights this this year and last years comparative numbers are based upon final Nielsen numbers.
Nota Bene. This year's Sweep includes the low-HUT Fourth of July whereas last year's Sweep started on July 5th and did not include the Fourth of July.
Looking at the A18-49 demographic patterns over seven nights of the week, this July Sweep vs last July, only Tuesdays was up year-over-year (thank you, Wipeout), while every other night was down:
The worst fall-off was on Thursday nights (down 17%), and Sundays in the summer are attracting the same amount of young adults as Fridays.
And fewer than 1 in 20 adults younger than 50 now watch broadcast network television on Saturday nights. Only Mr. Rupert Murdoch has figured out the right formula for Saturdays as his networks now account for almost half the Saturday night broadcast audience (1.875/4.25=44%).
The worst fall-off was on Thursday nights (down 17%), and Sundays in the summer are attracting the same amount of young adults as Fridays.
I've noticed this summer how less important Sundays seem to be for the networks. Only Password & HSM:GITP have been the originals for the night. Fridays had more new shows despite its track record of lower viewership
Moving Great American Dog into Wednesday did nothing for the show or CBS. In fact, the show lost ratings in its Wednesday debut. To win its timeslot against repeats isn't that much of a win and it barely won out. The show's numbers are terrible. It won't be renewed. Nor will Baby Borrowers. For such a great start, it will be in the trash can also.
Criminal Minds repeat numbers are great. So are CSI NY.
680,000 for a Pussycat Dolls encore? That is what CW is broadcasting? They need to get their act together and replace that. Same with the ANTM repeat. Give ANTM repeats a rest.
Moving Great American Dog into Wednesday did nothing for the show or CBS. In fact, the show lost ratings in its Wednesday debut. To win its timeslot against repeats isn't that much of a win and it barely won out. The show's numbers are terrible.
I still say airing season 1 of survivor would have done well. Wouldn't be any worse than what we are getting from Dog or Swingtown.
Perhaps next summer we can get it. I know I was not a viewer of the show at that time and completely missed the first game
A18-49 Demographic July Sweep Winner
Households & Viewership July Sweep Winner
