'Couric's broadcast is starting to make some modest audience gains. In Baltimore, for example, the CBS Evening News grew by about 2.2 ratings points or 28,400 viewers from May 2007 to May 2008. The pattern extends to such other mid-sized markets as San Diego; Hartford, Conn.; New Orleans; Pittsburgh; and Kansas City, Mo. None is New York or Los Angeles, and the gains are not huge, but analysts say that in this era of eroding audiences for all traditional media, a gain of that size in a highly competitive, East Coast market like Baltimore is noteworthy. "Katie Couric is actually getting ratings - there's a headline," says Douglas Gomery, University of Maryland media economist. "But, seriously, CBS and Couric should be pleased. Who wouldn't take an audience gain of 28,400 viewers these days and feel good about it?"' [B-Sun]
For all the hype, influence on the fashion industry, and magazine spreads, Mad Men is not the ratings draw you might've been led to believe.
In fact, it "continues to shed its audience at an alarming rate," intones Michael Starr. While the second season premiered on July 27 with 2.1 million viewers, last Sunday's episode averaged just 1.1 million (and a season low of 514k in the 18-49 demo).
None of this should be terribly surprising if you've been paying attention to the hype-vs-ratings measurements of late. CONTINUED »
Oprah may be Jesus, but Michael Phelps is the second coming. NBC's hype surrounding the 23-year-old swimmer, already the most decorated Olympian thanks to his success at the 2008 games so far, is paying off. What the network thought to be enormous ratings — 35 million viewers during Beijing's opening ceremonies — were trumped by the average of 40 million who tuned in on Tuesday night to watch Phelps win the 200-meter butterfly for his 10th Olympic gold medal. And things didn't stop there: Viewership then increased to an average of 41.2 million when Phelps went on to win another gold with his relay team. Before these games started, we asked "How much is NBC banking on Michael Phelps?" We answered our own question with, "everything." Turns out, it's true.
'Friday night's exclusive "Nightline" interview with former presidential candidate John Edwards, which rocked the media landscape earlier in the day, did little to boost the news program's ratings, although it was able to hold its audience against the Olympics opening ceremony on NBC. Friday's "Nightline" averaged a 2.6 household rating in the preliminary local people meter markets measured by Nielsen Media Research. That was on par with the previous week's household ratings. Also on par was the show's 1.2 rating in adults 25-54. But that in itself isn't a loss as "Nightline" managed to hold its own against the NBC Olympics juggernaut, not losing much in the way of audience as other shows did.' [THR]
NBC, which is banking on all-stars like Michael Phelps to pull in audiences, delivered a promising start during last night's opening ceremonies broadcast — part of the network's $894 million licensing deal. Some 35 million Americans tuned in during the primetime show from Beijing, 19 percent more than 2004's Athens games, according to Nielsen's preliminary numbers, which we're always uneasy about trusting but they're what advertisers care about. Meanwhile, NBCOlympics.com clocked 4.2 million unique visitors for the day. It's a big day for 30 Rock.
Unless you're a network evening news broadcast, the build up to November's election has been a boon for television news ratings. It has not been a boon for television news revenues.[NYT]
Baldwin Hills, the teen-focused reality show that is marketed as BET's answer to Laguna Beach and The Hills, premiered with a respectable (for BET) 1.5 million viewers on Tuesday. As 2007-2008 BET premieres go, the show comes in second place after Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is, meaning troubled R&B stars are more compelling to BET viewers than upper-middle-class kids and their overbearing parents. But how do Baldwin Hills' second season premiere numbers compare to its counterpart at MTV?
"CNBC talk show guy and famed ad man Donny Deutsch managed to get himself surrounded by women less than half his age at the Waverly Inn last night, all in short skirts and high heels," reports Roger Friedman. "It’s good to be king!"
Now, what, exactly, is Friedman's definition of King?
Because last time we checked, nobody was watching Donny's show. CONTINUED »
Former teen star Tori Spelling will never know the success of 90210 again, but her Oxygen reality show with husband Dean McDermott, Tori & Dean: Home Sweet Hollywood, is actually performing … well. Thanks to a careful manipulation of ratings numbers, Tori claims Oxygen's best Nielsens for the 18-49 female audience in the channel's history. In total, just under 1 million tuned in Tuesday night to see if blondes have more fun. [NYP]
Continuing her battle against Anderson Cooper, Greta Van Susteren takes to her blog once again in Round III of the bloodsporting she's been enjoying.
Van Susteren is relaying concerns from her own Fox News and MSNBC, reported by TVNewser, about CNN's decision to title its 10pm election coverage broadcast Anderson Cooper 360, which attaches to Cooper's show the ratings gains that the networks inevitably capture during election nights.
It's been CNN and FNC's standard practice to retitle this programming as "special coverage," so Nielsen doesn't award viewership spikes to a show that's not actually airing in its normal form.
Following the Nielsen conference call, 360 executive producer David Doss called his competitors' stance bullshit: "It’s an absurd argument. It’s not as if the primaries are staged for CNN’s benefit. It’s the biggest news of the day. Of course it counts."
Our take? Who cares if it should count. Just make sure there's enough material to keep this Greta-Anderson mudslinging action a'coming and we'll be v. v. happy. Thanks!
As of last week, NBC's Today scored its 655th consecutive week winning the ratings game, putting it in the top spot for 12 straight years and counting. "Since the start of the year Today is up about 3 percent, leading Good Morning America, which is down 6 percent, by about 1.2 million viewers a week." And in case you weren't wondering: "The Early Show on CBS trails far behind the other two programs." [NYT]
"MSNBC’s ‘Hardball’ No. 1 Among Adults in June at 5 p.m." shouted one of those endless press releases out of 30 Rock, where numbers are crunched in Excel spreadsheets in such a way that any show could probably be named No. 1 in one category or another. But this time around, MSNBC stood accused of taking things to far — by including Tim Russert' special memorial coverage in its rankings, pulling data for the 5pm timeslot, not just Hardball. So when CNN and Fox News cried foul, MSNBC had to backtrack. And when the smoke cleared? CNN's Situation Room came out on top. This is perhaps the most boring "scandal" we've ever reported on. [MCN]
"In the first five-and-a-half months of 2004, the last presidential election year, Fox’s prime-time audience among viewers aged 25 to 54 was more than double that of CNN’s — 530,000 to 248,000, according to estimates from Nielsen Media Research. This year, through mid-June, CNN erased the gap and drew nearly as many viewers in that demographic category as Fox — about 420,000 for CNN to 440,000 for Fox. Meanwhile, CNN has added 170,000 viewers a night, on average, when compared with the last presidential year, while Fox has shed about 90,000, according to Nielsen. (MSNBC, which added 181,000 viewers in that audience, much of it courtesy of gains by “Countdown With Keith Olbermann,” still lagged in third place, with 303,000.)" [NYT]
The award the Tonys received for skipping over bubble gum fare like Legally Blonde and Xanadu? A 5 percent increase in ratings from last year, to 6.2 million total viewers. [MW]
Hoping for a week of beating Bill O'Reilly in the advertiser friendly demographic of 25-54, Keith Olbermann gets upset by Tuesday night's results: FNC won 582,000 to 368,000.
Editorial Director
