Saturday 10/04/08

-Total Viewers:
ABC: 5.70 million, Fox: 5.35, CBS: 4.38, NBC: 4.31

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 1.9 rating/6 share, ABC: 1.7/ 6, CBS: 1.5/ 5, NBC: 1.1/ 4

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Note: Any prior rating results are based on the final nationals. Since the level of DVR penetration has increased from 20 percent at this same point last year to approximately 28 percent at present, the overall results may be negatively impacted.

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-Saturday’s Winners:
Nothing

-Saturday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
48 Hours Mystery (CBS), CBS Elitexc Saturday Night Fights and, of course, the night overall. It is just pathetic!

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Once again, there was little of note on this typically lackluster Saturday (yawn!), with football populated ABC the most-watched network and Fox, the home of Cops and America’s Most Wanted, No. 1 among adults 18-49. Saturday Night Football on ABC averaged 5.70 million viewers and a second-place 1.7 rating/6 share among adults 18-49 from 8-11 p.m. As a reminder, results for any live sporting event are always approximate. Cops (original and repeats – Viewers: #1, avg. 4.92 million; A18-49: #1, avg. 1.8/ 6 from 8-9 p.m.) and America’s Most Wanted (Viewers: #1, 5.92 million; A18-49: #1, 2.0/ 7) were, meanwhile, at typical levels. But worth noting for America’s Most Wanted was growth out of Cops of 1 million viewers and 11 percent in the demo.

CBS opened the evening with an early edition of 48 Hours Mystery below average at 4.53 million viewers (#3) and a 1.0/ 4 (#3) among adults 18-49 from 8-9 p.m. That led into the return of CBS Elitexc Saturday Night Fights at a mere 4.30 million viewers and a 1.8/ 6 among adults 18-49 from 9-11 p.m. Tale a look at the half-hour breakdown:

CBS Elitexc Saturday Night Fights
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 3.53 million (#4), A18-49: 1.3/ 4 (#3)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 4.48 million (#3), A18-49: 1.9/ 6 (#2)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 4.37 million (#3), A18-49: 1.9/ 6 (#1)
10:30 p.m. – Viewers: 4.84 million (#3), A18-49: 2.2/ 7 (#1)

Needless to say, the haphazard scheduling of CBS Elitexc Saturday Night Fights has not helped.

Cellar-dweller NBC capped off deadly dull Saturday with two repeat episodes of Knight Rider (Viewers: #4, avg. 3.82 million; A18-49: avg. 1.0/ 4 from 8-10 p.m.) and a repeat of Law & Order: SVU (Viewers: #2, 5.28 million; A18-49: #3, 1.3/ 4 at 10 p.m.). What a night!

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

CBS Saturday Night Fights did not do well as a whole, but the demo in the last half hour was pretty good for a Saturday night.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: yankeesrj12,

Besides the Phillies this has been one forgetable sports week just a loss after another including Kimbo's.

Elite XC numbers are up from the summer and did good in the last half-hour in the demo.

Knight Rider did good in repeats and better than Chuck. KR has to be renewed over Chuck at this point.

I don't know why CBS keeps trying with these fight nights. It just isn't working for them. It's sad when it gets less viewers than a 48 Hours Mystery.

NBC made a smart decision in pulling Chuck repeats and putting Knight Rider there. The ratings are slightly better. It should get even better when ATJ lands there (which should be this week NBC, not next).

Viewers never know when the fights will be back, so there is no use in scheduling it.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
I don't know why CBS keeps trying with these fight nights. It just isn't working for them. It's sad when it gets less viewers than a 48 Hours Mystery.

NBC made a smart decision in pulling Chuck repeats and putting Knight Rider there. The ratings are slightly better. It should get even better when ATJ lands there (which should be this week NBC, not next).

I agree. That's part of the problem. The other part is it is going after the old skewing 48 Hours Mystery. It's not the sort of audience that will stick around for fight night.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Viewers never know when the fights will be back, so there is no use in scheduling it.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
I don't know why CBS keeps trying with these fight nights. It just isn't working for them. It's sad when it gets less viewers than a 48 Hours Mystery.

NBC made a smart decision in pulling Chuck repeats and putting Knight Rider there. The ratings are slightly better. It should get even better when ATJ lands there (which should be this week NBC, not next).

WlcmLAPD, I'm curious to know why you think ATJ will do better on Saturday's? ATJ didn't perform well on Monday's and Friday's. So, I don't see how ATJ can "boost" NBC"s numbers on a even lower HUT night.

I think its a combination of really low numbers to start out and almost no competition. The two hour Knight Rider averaged 3.82 and a 1.0 demo. Since 9 PM tends to score higher in the viewership and not seeing the breakdowns, my guess is Knight Rider probably pulled around a 3 million and a 0.8 in the demo. ATJ is likely to keep it's 3.5 million/1.0 demo going to Saturday due to the reasons mentioned and might increase with viewers wanting to watch something new, raising the current NBC levels 8PM on Saturday.

quote:

Originally posted by CaseyM:

WlcmLAPD, I'm curious to know why you think ATJ will do better on Saturday's? ATJ didn't perform well on Monday's and Friday's. So, I don't see how ATJ can "boost" NBC"s numbers on a even lower HUT night.

I think Knight Rider did pretty well there. If I remember correctly Chuck and Heroes only got about 2.5 million in that time slot. This is roughly half of Knight Rider's regular Wednesday ratings, and it went up against baseball games, too. That shows some interest in this show. NBC might have something here.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Viewers never know when the fights will be back, so there is no use in scheduling it.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
I don't know why CBS keeps trying with these fight nights. It just isn't working for them. It's sad when it gets less viewers than a 48 Hours Mystery.

It is remarkable that even though 'Elite XC' fell in viewers from '48 Hours Mystery', it actually doubled up in demo from 1.0 to 1.9, enough to give CBS a close third place on the night.

quote:

Originally posted by dumont:

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Viewers never know when the fights will be back, so there is no use in scheduling it.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
I don't know why CBS keeps trying with these fight nights. It just isn't working for them. It's sad when it gets less viewers than a 48 Hours Mystery.

It is remarkable that even though 'Elite XC' fell in viewers from '48 Hours Mystery', it actually doubled up in demo from 1.0 to 1.9, enough to give CBS a close third place on the night.

While CBS' numbers may not be that good, I give them props for at least attempting to program Saturday nights.

CBS could also be trying a lot harder.

quote:

Originally posted by yankeesrj12:

quote:

Originally posted by dumont:

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Viewers never know when the fights will be back, so there is no use in scheduling it.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
I don't know why CBS keeps trying with these fight nights. It just isn't working for them. It's sad when it gets less viewers than a 48 Hours Mystery.

It is remarkable that even though 'Elite XC' fell in viewers from '48 Hours Mystery', it actually doubled up in demo from 1.0 to 1.9, enough to give CBS a close third place on the night.

While CBS' numbers may not be that good, I give them props for at least attempting to program Saturday nights.

This type of sport, although somewhat new, attracts all ages. The main problem is that the number of people that like this sport (and Boxing) is dwindling at time goes by.

But its a Saturday and unless there is a BIG Event on, no one stays home to watch Network TV.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
I agree. That's part of the problem. The other part is it is going after the old skewing 48 Hours Mystery. It's not the sort of audience that will stick around for fight night.

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Viewers never know when the fights will be back, so there is no use in scheduling it.

As happens every week, Saturday nights are the great leveller when it comes to network weekly averages...all four networks saw their averages chopped down by 0.2 to 0.3 in A18-49 last night.

CBS still maintains a demo lead after six nights, and should hold on to first place by a slim margin, likely due to a nice 'CBS Sunday Afternoon Football' overrun into the 7-8 pm hour. It's a really tight race for second place, which is likely to go to NBC unless 'Sunday Night Football' does poorly tonight (and football does poorly every night in the dumont household).

For the third consecutive night, the all-network year-over-year numbers showed double-digit declines from last year (a strong MyNetworkTV showing with 'Walking Tall' last night may improve the numbers a bit). Compared to last year, last night was down -19% in viewers and -21% in A18-49.

Week 2, Monday to Friday
# Net A18-49 (%YOY) Millions Viewers (%YOY)
===========================================
1. CBS 3.02 (-13%) 10.458(-8%)
2. NBC 2.45 (-19%) 6.962 (-14%)
3. ABC 2.42 (-28%) 8.308 (-20%)
4. FOX 2.33 (-8%) 6.318 (-4%)
5. CW 1.35 (-5%) 2.868 (-16%)
6. MNT 0.50 (+56%) 1.395 (+74%) <- 4 nights only

YOY - year-over-year

Marc, you are always saying that people will come to staurday nights IF they would program it. And. the only shows that have done well in the ratings on Staurday nights have been BIG EVENTS (Olympics, NFL PLayoffs, etc..)

What programs do you think would keep viewers home, in large numbers, to watch Network TV?

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
CBS could also be trying a lot harder.

quote:

Originally posted by yankeesrj12:

quote:

Originally posted by dumont:

quote:

Originally posted by Marc Berman:
Viewers never know when the fights will be back, so there is no use in scheduling it.

quote:

Originally posted by WlcmLAPD:
I don't know why CBS keeps trying with these fight nights. It just isn't working for them. It's sad when it gets less viewers than a 48 Hours Mystery.

It is remarkable that even though 'Elite XC' fell in viewers from '48 Hours Mystery', it actually doubled up in demo from 1.0 to 1.9, enough to give CBS a close third place on the night.

While CBS' numbers may not be that good, I give them props for at least attempting to program Saturday nights.