Ratings News - 26th September 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 Wednesday Ratings
CBS Wins; Surprisingly Potent NBC

Wednesday 9/25/13

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 6.4/11
ABC 6.1/10
NBC 5.6/ 9
Fox 5.5/ 9
CW 0.7/ 1

———-

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Wednesday 9/26/12:
NBC and CW: +17 each, ABC: – 2, CBS: -10, Fox: -21

———-

-Winners:
“The Middle” (ABC), “Survivor: Blood vs. Water” (CBS), “Modern Family” (ABC), “Criminal Minds” (CBS), “Law & Order: SVU” (NBC)

-Honorable Mention:
“Back in the Game” (ABC), “Revolution” (NBC)

-Fading Fast:
“The X Factor” (Fox)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
“Capture” (CW), “Nashville” (ABC)

———-

-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS led this opening Wednesday of the new TV season in the household overnights, beating No. 2 ABC by five percent. Fox has slipped considerably. And there was, surprisingly, positive news on NBC, which has struggled on the evening in recent seasons.

Episode two of the new season of CBS’ “Survivor,” themed “Blood vs. Water,” won the 8 p.m. hour overall with a 6.1 rating/10 share in the overnights. And that, comparably, was on par with its week-ago season-opener (which translated into 9.73 million viewers and a 2.6 rating/8 share among adults 18-49, based on the live plus same day data). In other words, it is still healthy. Note to Mark Burnett: The new twist this season adds new levels of interest to a reality/competition that never loses its edge creatively. Bravo!

The ninth season-premiere of Eye net drama “Criminal Minds” followed with a solid second-place 7.1/11 in the overnights from 9-10 p.m., which was eight percent below the year-ago season-opener (7.7/12 on 9/26/12). But granddaddy “CSI” headed into its 14th season (time does fly!) with a second-place 5.9/11 at 10 p.m., which was nine percent below the second hour of the expanded “Law & Order: SVU” season-premiere on NBC (6.5/12). One year earlier, “CSI” returned with a 6.9/11 in the overnights, which puts last night at a 14 percent disadvantage.

Overall, the two-hour, 15th season “Law & Order: SVU” opener scored a healthy 6.2/11 from 9-11 p.m., building from the also two-hour year-ago season-premiere (5.4/ 9 on 9/26/12) by 15 percent. At 8 p.m. on NBC, “Revolution” minus the lead-in support from “The Voice” will house a much smaller audience, no doubt. Last season it kicked-off with a 7.9/13 in the overnights on Monday 9/17/12 (out of an 8.8/14 for “The Voice”). But a fourth-place 4.4/ 7 from 8-9 p.m. was 17 percent above the year-ago debuts of failed sitcoms “Animal Practice” (3.9/ 6 on 9/26/12) and “Guys With Kids” (3.6/ 6). And “Revolution” increased by 13 percent from its final five episodes of season one.

In series-premiere news, ABC sitcom “Back in the Game” debuted third in the 8:30 p.m. half-hour with a 5.4/ 9, which held a solid 87 percent of the overnight lead-in from the fifth season-premiere of underrated “The Middle” (#1: 6.2/11 at 8 p.m.). Comparably, “Back in the Game” beat the debut of former time period occupant “The Neighbors” (4.8/ 7 on 10/03/12) by 12 percent. And “The Middle” was right on par from one year earlier.

Next on ABC was the one-hour, fifth season-premiere of Emmy winner “Modern Family” at a dominant 8.0/13 from 9-10 p.m., which will certainly translate into nightly leadership in all key demos. But one year earlier, the half-hour “Modern Family” kick-off was notably stronger with a 10.2/16 on 9/26/12).

At 10 p.m. on ABC was the second season-premiere of drama “Nashville,” which finished third with a disappointing 4.4/ 8 in the overnights. Comparably, that was 35 percent below its year-ago series-opener (6.8/12 on 10/10/12) and two percent below its season-finale (4.5/ 8 on 5/22/13).

Fox, meanwhile, featured two-hours of “The X Factor,” which slid by 21 percent year-to-year (versus a 7.0/11 on 9/26/12) and is not benefiting by the new roster of judges. And The CW featured a repeat of “Arrow” (#5: 1.0/ 2), which will feature a recap of season one next Wednesday, and the series-finale of failed reality/competition “Capture” (#5: 0.4/ 1). And there you have it…the overnights for the first Wednesday of the 2013-14 TV season.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@tvmediainsights

About the Daily Ratings

Each day (except Sunday) during the main TV Season we post the TV Ratings for the previous nights primetime shows.

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.