Ratings News - 22nd March 2013 (Full Tables Posted)

Today's Early Overnight Ratings

This table shows the early overnight ratings. These ratings are normally adjusted later in the day when all the ratings have been consolidated to take into account any local preemptions and/or overruns. You can find all the final adjusted numbers in our Ratings Database. (See the About section below for details about ratings)

Early Ratings Analysis

The analysis below is based on the early household numbers and are NOT the same as the numbers that will be posted in the above table later. (See the About section below)

For more information on the Nielsen Ratings see this Wikipedia Entry.

NOTE: The opinions expressed here are NOT those of SpoilerTV but of the Author of this Article, Marc Berman.

Metered Market Thursday Ratings
Fox wins; “NCAA Basketball” Soft on CBS

Thursday 3/21/13
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 6.2/10
ABC 5.6/ 9
CBS 3.1/ 5
NBC 2.2/ 4
CW 1.5/ 3

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-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 3/23/12:
ABC: +37, CW: -17, NBC: -27, Fox: -32, CBS: -33

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-Winners:
“American Idol” (Fox), “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC), “Scandal” (ABC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
“Wife Swap” (ABC), “NCAA Basketball” (CBS), “Community” (NBC), “1600 Penn” (NBC), “Glee” (Fox), “Beauty and the Beast” (CW)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Fox won this atypical Thursday, which featured two NCAA Basketball match-ups on CBS: South Dakota State vs. Michigan and Akron vs. Virginia Commonwealth. Second overall was ABC, followed by CBS, which paled in comparison to its regularly scheduled line-up, NBC and The CW.

The one-hour live voting edition of “American Idol” on Fox took top-rated overnight honors of the evening, with an 8.4 rating/14 share from 8-9 p.m. One year earlier, “Idol” scored a 10.6/17 (on 3/22/12), which puts this at a 21 percent disadvantage. But a win is still a win. Next on Fox was diluted “Glee” at a 4.1/ 7 in the overnights at 9 p.m., which dropped by a significant 46 percent from year-ago occupant “Touch” (7.6/12 on 3/22/12). Retention for “Glee” out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of “American Idol” was only 47 percent, and there was a loss of 14 percent in the second half-hour (4.4/ 7 to 3.8/ 6). Is it really worth it for Fox to renew “Glee” for next season?

The season premiere of “Wife Swap” on ABC disappointed with a 3.8/ 6 in the overnights at 8 p.m., which tied the first hour of basketball on CBS. Comparably, “Wife Swap” dropped by a considerable 40 percent from year-ago occupant “Missing” (6.3/10 on 3/22/12). Minus “Person of Interest” on CBS in the competitive mix, “Grey’s Anatomy” on ABC perked up to first in the 9 p.m. hour with a 6.9/11. And compatible “Scandal” at 10 p.m., also from Shonda Rhimes and a shoo-in for renewal, followed with a dominant 6.4/11 at 10 p.m.

Results for any live sporting event are estimated, of course, and the two match-ups on NCAA Basketball on CBS averaged a 3.1/ 5 in the overnights in primetime, with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

8:00 p.m.: 3.5/ 6 (#3)
8:30 p.m.: 3.9/ 7 (#2t)
9:00 p.m.: 3.7/ 6 (#3)
9:30 p.m.: 2.8/ 5 (#3)
10:00 p.m.: 2.7/ 5 (#2)
10:30 p.m.: 2.2/ 4 (#3)

One year earlier, basketball on CBS averaged a heftier 4.6/ 8 in the overnights on 3/22/12, which put this at an approximate 33 percent disadvantage.

Elsewhere, NBC remained out of the competitive loop with its combination of “Community” (#4: 2.3/ 4), an 8:30 p.m. installment of “1600 Penn” (#4: 1.9/ 3), a repeat of “The Office” (#4: 1.7/ 3), the regularly scheduled edition of “1600 Penn” (#4: 1.7/ 3) and a repeat of “Law & Order: SVU” (#2: 2.8/ 5). And The CW populated the evening with “The Vampire Diaries” (#5: 1.9/ 3), which dropped by nine percent from the year-ago evening, and “Beauty and the Beast” (#5: 1.3/ 2), which is the least likely to return next season of the current on the fence CW dramas.

Due to basketball on CBS bleeding into late night, overnight results in the daypart of excluded.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@tvmediainsights

About the Daily Ratings

Each day (except Sunday) we post the TV Ratings for the previous night.

The first item that gets posted (normally around 2pm GMT) is the early overnight analysis based on the early household numbers (these are not the same as the Total Viewers and 18-49 Demo numbers that are posted later).

Later on (normally between 4pm-5pm GMT) we post the official early overnight Total Viewers and 18-49 Demo numbers in the table above.

Finally, later in the evening (10pm-11pm GMT) or the following day, the final adjusted ratings numbers are released, these are then posted in the Ratings Database. The Final Adjusted numbers are what we use for all our Renew/Cancellation Tables, Full Season Tables, Ratings Scorecards etc (see below)

Additional Ratings Resources

If you’re interested in Ratings/Renewal/Cancellations then we have a number of resources here at SpoilerTV that we recommend you check out.

Renew/Cancel

Our Cancellation/Renewal predictions for the current season.

Ratings Database

Historical Ratings Database for nearly all major US shows going back to their first episodes.

Full Season Tables

The current season full ratings tables for both Total Viewers and 18-49 Demos

Ratings Scorecard

See how all the shows stack up against each other in the Ratings Scorecard Table.