CNN Tops Cable Networks In Inauguration Ratings UPDATE: Inauguration Draws 37.8 Million January 21, 2009 6:18 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in ABC, Broadcast TV Ratings, Cable TV Ratings, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.add a comment
UPDATED ON 1/22/2009
Nielsen reports that from 10am to 5pm ET, an average 37,793,008 tuned into the ceremony, swearing in, speech and coverage of the Inauguration. That’s the second-most ever, slightly below the 41,800,260 who watched Reagan’s nomination in January 1981.
Keep in mind that the number does not include any online viewers or radio listeners and this covers a very large time period (President Obama’s oath took place shortly after noon and his speech lasted about 20 or so minutes ending shortly before 12:30pm). The amount of Americans who tuned into that segment was decidely larger.
It must have been, because Gallup has releaed a poll indicating that a massive 60% of the nation tuned into all of the address. Do the math and you’ll see there’s a large discrepency between the two numbers.
Original article follows below.
CNN was the ratings winner among cable-news networks during coverage of Tuesday’s inauguration of President Barack Obama, according to data released today by Nielsen.
For the swearing-in ceremony and Inaugural Address in Washington — from noon to 12:30pm — CNN drew 8.5 million total viewers, well ahead of Fox News Channel (5.5 million total viewers) and MSNBC (3.1 million total viewers).
Breaking out the numbers more fully, CNN was also first from 11am to 2pm Tuesday, with 6.9 million viewers, followed by Fox News Channel (4.4 million viewers) and MSNBC (2.6 million viewers). CNN’s numbers are the most ever 11am to 2pm average in its history.
And finally, for the total day of the inauguration — 6am to 3am — CNN placed first with an average of 4.0 million total viewers, with Fox News following in second with 2.5 million viewers and MSNBC in third with 1.7 million viewers.
Demo data — which CNN also dominated (beating Fox News and MSNBC combined) — follows after the jump. (more…)
Battlestar Galactica’s Premiere Draws 2.1 Million Viewers January 21, 2009 5:59 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Battlestar Galactica, Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.add a comment
The final episodes of the SCI FI series Battlestar Galactica got off to a solid start on Friday night, with the season 4.5 premiere episode “Sometimes a Great Notion” earning a 1.6 household rating and 2.11 million total viewers.
The show did well in the key demos as well, drawing over 1.3 million adults 18-49 and over 1.4 million adults 25-54.
SCI FI hypes the show’s performance (declaring double-digit gains), but the comparisons are made against the season 4.0 average, not the season 4 premiere. When compared against the season 4 premiere, the show was flat (off just 1% or 30,000 viewers from the fourth season premiere which drew 2.14M viewers). Among the key demos, however, the show was off slightly more (10% among adults 18-49 (4.0 premiere had 1.4 million) and 7% among adults 25-54 (4.0 premiere had 1.5 million).
The full press release follows after the jump. (more…)
No Series Finale Bump for Stargate Atlantis + Sanctuary Ratings and Analysis January 13, 2009 12:48 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sanctuary, Sci Fi, Stargate Atlantis, Television.4 comments
There was no bump to be had for the season five/series finale of Stargate Atlantis last Friday. While registering season highs among key measures including total viewers (2.02M), Adults 18-49 (973,000) and Adults 25-54 (1.15M), the show actually posted slight declines in all three categories vs. the season four finale on March 7, 2008: 2.12 million total viewers, 1.06M Adults 18-49 and 1.25M Adults 25-54.
Measured against that season four finale, ‘Atlantis’ was off by 5%/100,000 among total viewers , 8%/80,000 among Adults 18-49 and 8%/100,000 among Adults 25-54.
Both episodes received an identical 1.5 rating among households.
The first season finale of Sanctuary aired out of Stargate Atlantis and drew a 1.6 household rating, 2 million total viewers, 900,000 Adults 18-49 and 1.13 million Adults 25-54. Those numbers were the highest for the show since its series premiere back on October 3, 2008 among total viewers and Adults 18-49.
I have to admit that while I’ve watched every episode of Stargate Atlantis, I’m not much of a fan these days so I don’t much care one way or the other about its cancellation (but I always, always feel for the fans) but I do find it very interesting that the new series Sanctuary is performing only as well as the just-canceled five-year series.
Moving back to the ratings, the fifth season of Stargate Atlantis (including all available timeshifting data), averaged a 1.6 HH rating, 2.1 million total viewers, 1.06M Adults 18-49 and 1.24M Adults 25-54. Compared to season four, ‘Atlantis’ was up (again, this includes live+same day and all available timeshifting data): 14% in HH ratings, 5% in total viewers and 5% in Adults 25-54. SCI FI didn’t list the yearly change for Adults 18-49 so I imagine the show actually decreased some in that all important demo figure. (Incidentally, while it’s not nearly as important in cable television as in broadcast television, Adults 18-49 is considered the most important demo).
Sanctuary, meanwhile, had a slightly better season than ‘Atlantis’, save among Adults 18-49 where the later had a ever-so-slight advantage, drawing an average (live+same day plus all available timeshifting data) 1.8 HH rating, 2.35M total viewers, 1.04M Adults 18-49 and 1.36M adults 25-54.
SCI FI notes that this is the best performance for a first-year original scripted series on the network since the 2006 debut of Eureka. The network introduced three scripted shows in 2007: The Dresden Files; Painkiller Jane and Flash Gordon, but they were all poorly received and were canceled after just one season.
And about that SGA finale — SPOILERS for any one who hasn’t seen it yet — please tell me I’m not the only one that finds it — oh what’s that word I’m looking for..oh yes– stupid that the show ended with Atlantis on Earth? I know they’re working on a TV movie, but Earth, really?
Source: SCI FI
Glenn Beck Fox News Premieres January 19th UPDATE: Premiere Numbers December 2, 2008 12:46 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, Fox News Channel, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.7 comments
UPDATED on 1/22/2009:
The numbers are in for the first episode of Glenn Beck’s new Fox News show. The first episode, which was helped tremendously by an interview with former Republican Vice Presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin, the show drew a time-period high 2,388,000 total viewers and a second place 467,000 adults 25-54.
In total viewers, Beck’s show was up 92% over the January ’09 average of America’s News HQ and up 124% over the Q1 ’08 average of the same show. In the demo, it was up 70% and 106%, respectively.
Growth was even stronger compared to the last month of Beck’s HLN show. His first show was up a whopping 321% in total viewers and 119% in the demo.
Original article follows below.
Conservative talk radio personality Glenn Beck, who hosted a primetime show on CNN Headline News, will debut his new show on Fox News Channel sooner than originally expected. His 5 p.m. program will now debut on January 19th, a few weeks earlier than the originally expected February debut.
Top 10 Broadcast and Cable TV Ratings (July 14-20, 2008) July 23, 2008 4:17 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Broadcast TV Ratings, Cable TV Ratings, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.add a comment
Here are the top 10 programs for the past week (July 14-20) for both broadcast television and cable.
Top 10 Broadcast TV Ratings (Viewers)
- Fox MLB All-Star Game – FOX – 14.54M
- America’s Got Talent – NBC – 12.79M
- Fox MLB All-Star Game Pregame – FOX – 10.37M
- Criminal Minds (R) – CBS – 9.26M
- So You Think You Can Dance-WED – FOX – 9.01M
- CSI (R) – CBS – 8.92M
- Wipeout – ABC – 8.65M
- CSI: NY (R) – CBS – 8.60M
- So You Think You Can Dance-THUR – FOX – 8.40M
- Two and a Half Men (R) – CBS – 8.40M
Top 10 Cable TV Ratings (Viewers)
- Home Run Derby – ESPN – 9.12M
- The Closer – TNT – 7.81M
- Home Run Derby Pregame – ESPN – 6.03M
- Monk – USA – 5.64M
- Avatar – Nick – 5.59M
- Saving Grace – TNT – 5.16M
- Pysch – USA – 4.89M
- Burn Notice – USA – 4.87M
- Law & Order: Criminal Intent – USA – 4.83M
- WWE Raw – USA – 4.79M
Source: Nielsen Media
“John Adams” Off To A Solid Start March 18, 2008 7:29 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, HBO, John Adams, News, Television.add a comment
The first two episodes of HBO’s seven-part John Adams miniseries got off to a a solid start on Sunday night, averaging 2.66 million viewers (peaking at 2.8 million for the second episode).
CNN Democratic Debate Draws 7.6M Viewers February 23, 2008 8:29 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV Ratings, CNN, News, Nielsen TV Ratings.3 comments
CNN got another terrific performance from their coverage of a Democratic debate. The February 20th debate between Senator’s Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama drew 7.58 million viewers, with 2.99 million of those viewers within the coveted news demo of adults 25-54.
More Than 8 Million Tune In to CNN Democratic Debate February 1, 2008 3:27 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV News, Cable TV Ratings, CNN, Debates, Nielsen TV Ratings.3 comments
CNN’s presentation of the California Democratic Debate between Senator’s Obama and Clinton drew a massive audience of 8.32 million viewers. Obliterating the prior cable news record for a debate (4.91 million, accomplished just last week, also by CNN).
Best Ratings for SAG Awards Since 1998 January 29, 2008 7:48 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards, Awards, Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, Movies, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Screen Actors Guild Awards, TBS, Television, TNT.add a comment
Sunday nights dual telecast of the 14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on TNT and TBS drew more than 6.1 million viewers (click here to read the winners).
Record Performance for “Life After People” January 23, 2008 11:27 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV Ratings, History Channel, Life After People, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.add a comment
The History Channel’s Life After People, a two-hour special which looks at what would happen to planet Earth if the human race were to suddenly disappear, debuted with a record breaking 5.4 million viewers.
“Tin Man” Finishes Off Strong, Most Watched Program in SCI FI History December 7, 2007 12:30 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sci Fi, Television, Tin Man.add a comment
After a record breaking night one (related article here), Tin Man dipped a bit in night two, but rebounded quite nicely in its third and final night en route to becoming the networks most-watched program in SCI FI history, and the most-watched mini-series in 2007.
NFL Network’s Cowboys/Packers Match-Up Scores Ratings Touchdown December 5, 2007 2:27 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, News, NFL, NFL Network, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports.add a comment
The limited reach of NFL Network didn’t hurt the ratings for the Packers/Cowboys match-up.
Despite being available in only 35 million homes, NFL Network set a new record, as the highly hyped Dallas Cowboys/Green Bay Packers match-up produced an incredibly strong 14.6 coverage household rating, and over 10 million viewers.
Part One of “Tin Man” Is Most-Watched Telecast in SCI FI History December 3, 2007 6:30 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sci Fi, Television, Tin Man.1 comment so far
Part One of SCI FI’s re-imagining of L Frank Baum’s “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” premiered this past Sunday to an impressive 6.332 million total viewers making it the networks most-watched telecast.
TBS’s “Frank TV” Scores Big Premiere November 23, 2007 12:20 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, Frank TV, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, TBS, Television.1 comment so far
TBS’s Frank TV, the half-hour sketch comedy series featuring the voice talent of comedian Frank Caliendo, drew strong numbers in its Tuesday night premiere, drawing an audience of 2.9 million viewers.
VH1’s “I Love New York 2” Scores Biggest Audience Ever November 21, 2007 4:44 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, I Love New York 2, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television, VH1.8 comments
The Monday night episode of I Love New York 2, scored its largest audience ever, drawing an audience of 4.34 million viewers (2.8/4 HH rating/share and a 2.0/5 A18-49 rating/share).
Record Breaking Performance for “Dexter”, Series High for “Brotherhood” November 21, 2007 4:39 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Brotherhood, Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, Dexter, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Showtime, Television.add a comment
Showtime’s serial killer drama Dexter has broken the record for the most-watched Showtime series of all-time. The 9:00 p.m. Sunday episode drew an audience of 1.23 million viewers (0.7/1 HH rating/share and a 0.4/1 A18-49 rating/share), and 1.63 million total when including the 11:00 p.m. encore.
Law & Order: Criminal Intent Premieres Strong on USA October 8, 2007 3:25 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.3 comments
The premiere of Law & Order: Criminal Intent on its new network, USA, debuted with solid numbers, drawing an audience of 3.76 million viewers.
TBS Sees Improvement in Day 2 of MLB Playoffs October 6, 2007 9:48 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Baseball, Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports, TBS, Television.add a comment
The MLB playoff move to TBS continues to provide solid ratings for the network, with the first game of the New York Yankees/Cleveland Indians series providing the network with its highest rating in five years.
ABC Family Renews “Kyle XY” October 6, 2007 2:47 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in ABC Family, Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, Kyle XY, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Renewals.add a comment
ABC Family has renewed their hit drama series Kyle XY for a third season. The order comes before production has even completed on the second half of season 2.
MLB Playoffs Solid on TBS October 6, 2007 2:43 am
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Baseball, Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports, TBS.1 comment so far
The transition of the baseball playoffs to TBS was a success, with the first three games on Wednesday scoring slightly higher numbers than the comparable opening of the playoffs last year on ESPN and Fox.
“Dexter” Impressive in Return October 3, 2007 3:54 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV Ratings, Dexter, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Showtime.1 comment so far
The second season premiere of Showtime’s Dexter returned in impressive fashion, securing a record as the networks first drama series to open a season with over one million viewers.
Monday Night Football Doubleheader Hands ESPN Solid Ratings September 13, 2007 1:32 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, ESPN, ESPN Monday Night Football, Football, News, NFL, Nielsen TV Ratings, Sports.add a comment
The doubleheader, season opening pro football special on ESPN delivered strong ratings for the first of the two games, but the second matchup drew the franchises lowest ratings ever.
“Torchwood” Lights Up BBC America Record September 13, 2007 1:16 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in BBC America, Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Torchwood.add a comment
The BBC America premiere of Torchwood on Saturday night delivered for the network the biggest audience of any drama premiere in the history of the network.
“2007 MTV Video Music Awards” Shows Improvement Over Last Year’s Edition September 11, 2007 9:03 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, MTV, MTV Video Music Awards, Music, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television.add a comment
In welcomed news to MTV after seeing two consecutive years of declines for their flagship awards show, the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards improved upon last year’s performance with 7.08 million viewers (+23%) tuning in to the event.
“The Closer” Breaks Another Record September 11, 2007 8:45 pm
Posted by Rosario T. Calabria in Cable TV, Cable TV Ratings, News, Nielsen TV Ratings, Television, The Closer, TNT.1 comment so far
No stranger to breaking records (see here), The Closer has done it again. Breaking the Live+ Same Day record for ad-supported cable.