Ratings News - 4th March 2011

Prime-Time Metered Market Thursday Ratings:
American Idol Roars Past a Night of Repeats

Thursday 3/03/11
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 15.6/24
CBS 6.1/10
ABC 2.8/ 5
NBC 2.3/ 4
CW 0.9/ 1

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-Percent Change From the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday, March 2, 2010):
Fox: +71, CW: -18, CBS: -34, ABC: -53, NBC: -57

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
American Idol (Fox), The Big Bang Theory R (CBS), The Mentalist R (CBS)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Nothing…81 percent of the line-up were encore telecasts and we do not label repeats as “losers.”

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was all about Fox last night with a two-hour edition of American Idol featuring the unveiling of the 13 finalist at a hefty 15.6 rating/24 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. Unfortunately, Merrick, New York’s local favorite, Robbie Rosen, did not make the cut. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 14.1/23
8:30 p.m.: 15.7/24
9:00 p.m.: 16.1/25
9:30 p.m.: 16.5/25

Ten seasons on the air, American Idol’s dominance is unprecedented.

Outside of CBS’ Rules of Engagement, everything else last night was an encore telecast. Yes, the competition is still afraid of American Idol! A repeat of Mr. TV favorite The Big Bang Theory, kicked-off the night for CBS with a second-place 6.1/10 in the overnights at 8 p.m., followed by aforementioned Rules of Engagement (#2: 5.3/ 8 at 8:30 p.m.) and repeats of CSI (#2: 5.8/ 9) and The Mentalist (#1: 6.9/12) from 9-11 p.m. As expected, Rules of Engagement is faring no better than former time period occupant $#*! My Dad Says.

ABC was barely on the map care of encore telecasts of Wipeout (#3: 3.1/ 5), Grey’s Anatomy (#3: 3.1/ 5) and spin-off Private Practice (#2: 2.3/ 4). And NBC was even worse with a six-episode marathon of The Office at an average 2.3/ 4 from 8-11 p.m. Considering NBC recently revamped Thursday, it might have been better off leaving the new line-up intact not to confuse the audience.

The CW capped off this first Thursday in March with repeats of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 1.0/ 2) and Nikita (#5: 0.8/ 7). To the fan who emailed me wondering about the future of The Vampire Diaries, rest assured it will be back in 2011-12.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Source: pifeedback