Ratings News - 3rd March 2011

Prime-Time Metered Market Wednesday Ratings:
More Idol Ignited Victory for Fox; CBS a Comfortable Second

Wednesday 3/02/11
Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. All times are ET/PT.

HH
Rtg/Shr
Fox 12.4/19
CBS 7.5/12
ABC 4.9/ 8
NBC 2.7/ 4
CW 1.3/ 2

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-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Wednesday 3/03/10):
CW: +117, ABC: +14, CBS: + 6, Fox: -18, NBC: -49

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
American Idol (Fox), Survivor: Redemption Island (CBS), Criminal Minds (CBS), Modern Family (ABC), Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (CBS)

-Honorable Mention:
The Middle (ABC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Minute to Win It (NBC), Traffic Light (Fox), Shedding for the Wedding (CW), Off the Map (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Boosted by another 90-minute edition of American Idol, Fox remained in the Wednesday winner’s circle with a metered market advantage of a hefty 4.9 rating points over second-place CBS. Third overall was ABC, followed by distant NBC and The CW. Needless to say, Fox owns the evening in total viewers and all key demos.

American Idol averaged a solid 15.0 rating/23 share from 8-9:30 p.m., building by half-hour as follows:

American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 14.2/22 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 15.2/23 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 15.6/23 (#1)

Unfortunately, week three of Fox sitcom Traffic Light completely squandered the lead-in support with a third-place 4.8/ 8 in the overnights at 9:30 p.m. Comparably, that put retention out of the 9 p.m. portion of Idol of just 31 percent.

CBS held up well opposite the ongoing going American Idol juggernaut with its combination of Survivor: Redemption Island (#2: 6.7/10), which remains a considerable improvement over year-ago occupants The New Adventures of Old Christine and Gary Unmarried, underrated Criminal Minds (#2: 9.0/14) and week three of spin-off Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (#1: 6.9/12). Outside of winning the 10 p.m. hour, the positive news for Suspect Behavior was overnight growth of 10 percent from week two. Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior metered market track: 8.4/12 – 6.3/11 – 6.9/12.

As for Survivor, SPOILER ALERT…stop reading now if you have not seen it yet. After two seasons of completely dominating the game, bad-boy Russell finally got what he deserved. But will he stay in the game opposite competitive Matt next week on Redemption Island? Stay tuned.

ABC had nothing unusual to report with its combination of underrated The Middle (#3: 5.6/ 9), quiet Better with You (#3: 4.1/ 6), standout Modern Family (#3: 7.7/11), which is poised for a second-place adult 18-49 time period finish this week, week four of Mr. Sunshine (#2: 5.2/ 8) and failing Shonda Rhimes drama Off the Map (#3: 3.6/ 6). Worth nothing for Mr. Sunshine was the overnight growth of 16 percent from one week earlier. Mr. Sunshine metered market track: 7.7/11 – 5.0/ 8 – 4.5/ 7 – 5.2/ 8.

Elsewhere, NBC was completely dead in the water with its line-up of a repeat of game show Minute to Win It (#4: 2.0/ 3), an original installment of Minute to Win It (#4: 2.2/ 4) and a repeat of veteran Law & Order: SVU (#2: 3.9/ 6). Note how the encore telecast of SVU beat the original installment of aforementioned Off the Map by eight percent.

Over at The CW, week two of the new season for tired America’s Next Top Model was a disappointment at a last-place 1.9/ 3 in the overnights at 8 p.m., which is a double-digit loss from one year earlier. And week two of reality/competition Shedding for the Wedding dipped to a very last-place 0.8/ 1 at 9 p.m., which was equal to its DOA arrival one week earlier. No one ever said programming a network was easy!

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Source: pifeedback