Ratings News - 17th October 2011 *Full Tables Added*

Sunday Overnights - 10/16/11

Household
Rating/Share
NBC 8.9/14
Fox 8.6/13
CBS 7.1/11
ABC 4.8/ 7

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – 10/17/10:
Fox: + 6, CBS and NBC: -13 each, ABC: -23

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-Winners:
Sunday Night Football: Minnesota at Chicago (NBC), The OT (Fox)

-Fading Fast:
Desperate Housewives (ABC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Pan Am (ABC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Sunday Night Football led NBC to another closing week victory, but an approximate 11.3 rating/18 share in the overnights for Minnesota at Chicago was below average. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

Sunday Night Football (NBC)
8:30 p.m.: 11.8/19 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 12.1/18 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 11.8/18 (#1)
10:00 p.m.: 10.7/17 (#1)
10:30 p.m.: 10.3/17 (#1)

Earlier in the evening on NBC was pre-game Football Night in America as follows:

Football Night in America (NBC)
7:00 p.m.: 2.0/ 3 (#4)
7:30 p.m.: 3.9/ 7 (#4)
8:00 p.m.: 8.1/13 (#1)

As a reminder, results for any live sporting event are always approximate.

On Fox, an estimated half-hour primetime football overrun scored a mammoth 19.3/33 in the overnights at 7 p.m., leading into post-game The OT at a dominant 9.4/16 at 7:30 p.m. Two-hours of music competition The X Factor, which was delayed earlier in the week due to baseball, averaged a 5.7/ 9 from 8-10 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

The X Factor (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 6.2/10 (#3)
8:30 p.m.: 5.7/ 9 (#3)
9:00 p.m.: 5.6/ 8 (#4)
9:30 p.m.: 5.4/ 8 (#4)

Third-place CBS has nothing unusual to report with its combination of granddaddy 60 Minutes (#2: 8.3/14), young adult favorite The Amazing Race (#2: 6.2/10), relocated The Good Wife (#2: 7.3/11), and CSI: Miami (#2: 6.7/11), which dipped by 13 percent, on average, from the year-ago evening. Former Sunday 9 p.m. CBS occupant Undercover Boss, which is returning in an undetermined time period in midseason, averaged an 8.3/12 on 10/17/10. Comparably, that was 14 percent above The Good Wife. Given the particularly older skew for The Good Wife, CBS cannot be all that satisfied with its Sunday performance.

In week four news, drama Pan Am on ABC is still bleeding, with a distant-third place 4.7/ 8 at 10 p.m. Not beneficial, no doubt, is deteriorating lead-in Desperate Housewives, which dropped by a hefty 30 percent from one-year earlier (8.9/13 to 6.2/ 9 at 9 p.m.). Compared to year-ago Sunday 10 p.m. occupant Brothers & Sisters (6.4/10 on 10/17/10), Pan Am dipped by 27 percent. Here is the four-week overnight track:

9/25/11: 8.7/14
10/02/11: 5.8/10
10/09/11: 5.2/ 8
10/16/11: 4.7/ 8

If I were ABC, I would position upcoming drama GCB (formerly Good Christian Belles) in the Sunday 9 p.m. hour leading into relocated Desperate Housewives.

Earlier in the evening on ABC was veteran America’s Funniest Home Videos (#3: 3.8/ 7), which was on par from one year earlier, and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (#3: 4.6/ 7), which moves to its new Friday 8 p.m. time period this week. Debuting next Sunday on ABC in the 8 p.m. hour is the very unusual Once Upon a Time, which faces an uphill battle for daring to be different.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights