Ratings News - 22nd September 2011

Metered Market Ratings Results – Wednesday 9/21/11
Fox Wins, But The X Factor is No American Idol

Wednesday 9/21/11

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 8.7/14
CBS 7.9/13
ABC 7.8/13
NBC 5.0/ 8
CW 1.2/ 2

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Thursday 9/23/10):
Fox: +102, ABC: +39, CBS: - 2, NBC: -26, CW: -45

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-Winners:
The X Factor (Fox), Survivor: South Pacific (CBS), The Middle (ABC), Modern Family (ABC), Criminal Minds (CBS), CSI (CBS), Revenge (ABC)

-Tired:
Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Free Agents (NBC), H8R (CW), America’s Next Top Model (CW)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Fox, as expected, led this first Wednesday of the 2011-12 season as a result of the two-hour series-premiere of highly anticipated singing competition The X Factor. The X Factor averaged an 8.7 rating/14 share in the overnights, building by a hefty 102 percent from the two-hour year-ago season-premiere of Hell’s Kitchen (4.3/ 7 on 9/22/10). But given the hype and the reteaming of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul, the initial overnight results should have been stronger. American Idol this is not.

Here is the half-hour breakdown for The X Factor:
8:00 p.m.: 8.2/13 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 9.2/15 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 8.7/13 (#3)
9:30 p.m.: 8.6/13 (#3)

Second overall in the metered markets was CBS with its combination of Survivor: South Pacific (#2t, 6.7/11), which held up well against The X Factor, the season-premiere of underrated Criminal Minds (#2: 8.9/14), and the season-premiere of relocated CSI (#1: 8.1/14 -- up 6 percent from the year-ago debut of The Defenders). The head-to-head battle of Survivor versus The X Factor fared as follows in the overnights:

Wednesday 8 p.m.
The X Factor (Fox): 8.7/14
Survivor: South Pacific (CBS): 6.7/11

Needless to say, the programming executives at CBS are breathing a huge sigh of relief.

ABC, which finished just one-tenth of a rating point behind CBS (and will have the overall advantage among adults 18-49), delivered a very positive opening Wednesday. A one-hour edition of The Middle, featuring guest star Ray Romano, opened season three tied with Survivor at a 6.7/11 from 8-9 p.m. Comparably, this was an increase of 10 percent from its 30-minute opener on 9/22/10 (6.0/10). And The Middle beat the time period premieres of NBC’s Up All Night (#4: 4.7/ 8 at 8 p.m.) and Free Agents (#4: 3.3/ 5) by 67 percent. More on Up All Night and Free Agents after ABC.

At 9 p.m., a one-hour edition of Emmy winning Modern Family won the 9 p.m. hour with a 9.8/15 in the overnights. Compared to its half-hour year-ago opener (8.8/14 on 9/22/10) this was an increase of 11 percent.

Thanks to the solid lead-in support, new ABC drama Revenge was sampled at a second-place 7.0/12 in the overnights at 10 p.m. Look for a first-place time period finish for Revenge among adults 18-49 once the fast affiliate results are released (and posted at http://www.tvmediainsights.com). One year earlier in this hour was the series-premiere of failed legal drama The Whole Truth at a 3.8/ 7 on 9/22/10. ABC will repeat the pilot episode of Revenge tomorrow night at 9 p.m.

Over at distant fourth-place NBC, week two of aforementioned sitcoms Up All Night and Free Agents, as expected, took a significant hit from their week-ago Wednesday 10-11 p.m. openers out of the season-finale of America’s Got Talent. Take a look:

Up All Night (NBC)
9/14/11 – Wed. 10 p.m.: 7.5/12
9/21/11 – Wed. 8 p.m.: 4.7/ 8
Percent Change: -37

Free Agents (NBC)
9/14/11 – Wed. 10:30 p.m.: 4.5/ 8
9/21/11 – Wed. 8:30 p.m.: 3.3/ 5
Percent Change: -27

Compared to the debut of failed drama Undercovers, which aired in the year-ago hour, Up All Night and Free Agents slipped, on average, by 35 percent (6.2/10 to 4.0/ 7). But the 42 percent advantage over Free Agents in the lower HUT level 8 p.m. half-hour (and potential younger audience skew) makes Up All Night the more promising of the two.

At 9 p.m. on NBC was the season two premiere of drama Harry’s Law at a fourth-place 5.5/ 8. Although Harry’s Law trailed CBS’ competing Criminal Minds (#2: 8.9/14) by 38 percent, overnight growth of 67 percent out of Free Agents is a positive worth noting. One year-earlier, the first half of an expanded edition of Law & Order: SVU was stronger at a 6.8/11 on 9/22/10.

Speaking of Law & Order: SVU, season 13 opened third in the 10 p.m. hour with a 5.5/10 in the overnights. Comparably, that trailed CSI on CBS by 32 percent and the Revenge opener on ABC (7.0/12) by 21 percent. Take a look at the three head-to-head:

Wednesday 10 p.m.
CSI (CBS): 8.1/14, Revenge (ABC): 7.0/12, Law & Order: SVU (NBC): 5.5/10

Last, and very least, was The CW’s combination of week two of H8R (1.0/ 2) and veteran America’s Next Top Model (1.6/ 2), which dropped by 38 percent year-to-year (2.6/ 6 at 8 p.m. on 9/22/10). One week earlier, H8R opened with an already dismal 1.2/ 2 (on 9/14/11). And there you have it…the first Wednesday of 2011-12.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights