Ratings News - 24th May 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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Metered Market Wednesday Ratings
Fox Beats the Big 3 Combined

Wednesday 5/23/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 13.6/22
ABC 5.5/ 9
CBS 4.0/ 7
NBC 3.7/ 6
CW 0.7/ 1

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Wednesday 5/25/11
NBC: +28, ABC: +25, CBS: -15, Fox: -20, CW: -22

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-Winners:
American Idol (Fox), Modern Family (ABC), Revenge (ABC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
America’s Next Top Model (CW)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
The season-finale of American Idol led Fox to midweek victory, of course, with a 13.6 rating/22 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. And that was enough to beat the Big 3 networks combined. But, comparably, Idol dipped by 20 percent from one year earlier (17.1/27 on 5/25/11, which translated into 29.29 million viewers and a 9.2 rating/26 share among adults 18-49), and that mirrored the double-digit percent losses all season. With ratings on the downside, was there really a record number of votes cast?

ABC featured four season-finales, and facing a less significant American Idol resulted in a 25 percent overnight increase for the night year-to-year. The Middle concluded with a second-place 4.8/ 8 at 8 p.m. (-2 percent from one year earlier), followed by an encore telecast of Modern Family at a 4.5/ 7 (#2) at 8:30 p.m. Next was the Modern Family season-ender (#2, 7.7/12 at 9 p.m.: +4), followed by the first season conclusions of Don’t Trust The B___ in Apartment 23 (#2: 4.4/ 7) and Revenge (#1: 5.8/10) from 9:30-11 p.m. Comparably, Don’t Trust the B____ in Apartment 23 did build by 19 percent from Cougar Town one year earlier (3.7/ 6 on 5/25/11), but the retention out of Modern Family was lacking at 57 percent. Revenge, meanwhile, increased from year-ago 10-11 p.m. occupants Cougar Town (3.6/ 6) and Happy Endings (2.8/ 5) by a hefty 81 percent.

As for ABC relocating Revenge into the Sunday 9 p.m. hour (out of Once Upon a Time) next season, consider this one of the boldest…and smartest…moves of on any broadcast schedule.

Also concluding for the season last night was Betty White’s Off Their Rockers on NBC, which returns in midseason, and veteran Law & Order: SVU, also on the Peacock net, which moves to Wednesday at 9 p.m. into new Dick Wolf drama Chicago Fire. White’s Off Their Rockers ended with a fourth-place 3.5/ 6 at 8 p.m., followed by an encore telecast of the comical hidden camera series at a 3.2/ 5 at 8:30 p.m. (#4). Overall, the double dose of Betty White and company bested year-ago game show occupant Minute to Win It (2.2/ 4 on 5/25/11) by 52 percent.

Next was a repeat of Law & Order: SVU (#4: 2.6/ 4 at 9 p.m.), followed by the season-ender at a second-place 5.1/ 9 at 10 p.m. Comparably, this was SVU’s best overnight performance in the time period since January 11.

Elsewhere, CBS populated the evening with repeats of The Big Bang Theory (#3: 4.2/ 7), Two and a Half Men (#3: 3.3/ 5) and two episodes of Criminal Minds (9 p.m.: #3, 4.2/ 7; 10 p.m.: #3, 4.1/ 7). The CW opened with a repeat of America’s Next Top Model: British: Invasion (#5: 0.7/ 1 at 8 p.m.), followed by the original installment (which concludes for the season next Wednesday) at a mere 0.8/ 1 (#5) at 9 p.m. At this point, The CW should just put Top Model out of its misery instead of moving it into the Friday 8 p.m. anchor position next season. Enough is enough already.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights