Apparently the gap is closing. 24 had 7.9 and Heroes had 8.2
[SIZE="4"]Nielsen ratings, Feb. 12-18[/SIZE]
[I]Tops among ages 18-49[/I]
[B]Rank 	Show title 	Network 	Viewers in millions[/B]
1.      American Idol (Tues) 	Fox 	17.0
2.      American Idol (Wed) 	Fox 	16.0
3.      House 	Fox 	14.6
4.      Grey's Anatomy 	ABC 	14.1
5.      CSI 	CBS 	9.5
6.      Desperate Housewives 	ABC 	9.2
7.      CSI: Miami 	CBS 	8.4
[B][U]8.      Heroes 	NBC 	8.2[/U][/B]
9.      Lost 	ABC 	7.4
10.    Survivor: Fiji 	CBS 	7.3
11.    Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 	ABC 	7.0
[B][U]12.    24 	Fox 	6.6[/U][/B]
[B][U]13.    Rules of Engagement 	CBS 	6.4
	Two and Half Men 	CBS 	6.4[/U][/B]
	Law & Order: SVU 	NBC 	6.4
[B][U]16.    24 	Fox 	6.3[/U][/B]
	ER 	NBC 	6.3
18.    Deal or No Deal 	NBC 	6.0
19.    Ugly Betty 	ABC 	5.9
	CSI: NY 	CBS 	5.9
[I]
Top broadcast shows[/I]
[B]Rank 	Season average 	Show title 	Network 	Viewers in millions[/B]
1.       1 	American Idol (Tues) 	Fox 	31.2
2.       2 	American Idol (Wed) 	Fox 	28.9
3.       8 	House 	Fox 	26.0
4.       5 	Grey's Anatomy 	ABC 	25.8
5.       3 	CSI 	CBS 	22.7
6.       8 	CSI: Miami 	CBS 	19.9
7.       6 	Desperate Housewives 	ABC 	18.5
8.      12 	Survivor: Fiji 	CBS 	16.1
8.      12 	Deal or No Deal 	NBC 	16.1
[B][U]10.    15 	Two and a Half Men 	CBS 	15.5[/U][/B]
11.    17 	NCIS 	CBS 	15.4
12.    17 	Criminal Minds 	CBS 	15.2
13.    26 	Shark 	CBS 	15.1
14.    17 	CSI: NY 	CBS 	14.8
[U][B]15.    21 	Heroes 	NBC 	14.7[/B][/U]
16.    21 	Extreme Makeover: Home Edition 	ABC 	14.2
[U][B]17.    15 	24 	Fox 	13.7[/B][/U]
17.    29 	Ugly Betty 	ABC 	13.7
[B][U]19.    25 	Rules of Engagement 	CBS 	13.4[/U][/B]
[U][B]20.   N/A 	24 	Fox 	13.1[/B][/U]
	Rank Name Prev +/-
        Grey's Anatomy  	1  	0
	Desperate Housewives 	2 	0
	American Idol 	3 	0
	Lost 	4 	0
	[B][U]24 	6 	1[/U][/B]
	House 	5 	-1
	CSI: Crime Scene Investigation 	7 	0
	[B][U]Heroes 	8 	0[/U][/B]
	CSI: Miami 	9 	0
	Oprah Winfrey 	10 	0
	The Office 	12 	1
	ER 	11 	-1
	Survivor: Fiji 	17 	4
	Medium 	15 	1
	Brothers & Sisters 	19 	4
	Prison Break 	21 	5
	My Name Is Earl 	16 	-1
	Family Guy 	18 	0
	Criminal Minds 	23 	4
	Las Vegas 	22 	2
	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 	20 	-1
	Without a Trace 	26 	4
	CSI: NY 	25 	2
	Scrubs 	23 	-1
	Numb3rs 	28 	3
	What you guys are talking about are shares which you have to be a network exec to understand. Plus NBC is available in more homes than Fox. A 7.9 and 8.2 out of what? Just wait for the millions of viewers.
Nielsen Television Ratings are reported by ranking the percentage for each show of all viewers watching television at a given time. As of September 2006, there are an estimated 110.2 million television households in the USA. A single national ratings point represents 1%, or 1,102,000 households for the 2006-07 season. Share is the percentage of television sets in use tuned to a specific program. These numbers are usually reported as (ratings points/share). For example, Nielsen may report a show as receiving a 9.2/15 during its broadcast, meaning 9.2%, or 10,138,400 households on average were tuned in at any given moment. Additionally, 15% of all televisions in use at the time were tuned into this program. Nielsen re-estimates the number of households each August for the upcoming television season.
It's really not to hard to understand, actually. Here's the explanation from wikipedia:
So let's say that there's 1000 homes out there with a TV. Now at 9PM, "Generic Reality Show" ("GRS") and "Generic Drama" ("GD") air on rival stations. Let's say 65 homes watched "GRS", and 35 homes watched "GD". And let's say all of the other 1900 homes were without power and watched nothing.
So we have:
GRS: 65 viewers
GD: 35 viewers
Total: 100 viewers
The first figure we look at is "What percentage of households with a TV were tuned to our show?". These are called the "ratings points". Well, there were 1000 households with a TV, so:
GRS = 6.5
GD = 3.5
The second figure we look at is "What percentage of households that were actively watching something were watching our show?". These are called the "shares". There were 100 total households actively using their TVs (remember 1900 had their TVs off), so:
GRS = 65
GD = 35
So the ratings for this example would look like this:
GRS: 6.5/65
GD: 3.5/35
So when, Feb. 6th for example, "Heroes" had an overall 8.7/12, that meant that 8.7% of every household that owned a TV watched "Heroes", and 12% of every household that had a TV turned on had it on "Heroes".
No, regular people talk in millions of viewers. I hate the US ratings system. We just talk in millions over here in the UK. Everyone knows where they're at with it.Yeah I know that but do regular people talk like that? "Hey did you see Scrubs got a 7.4/12?".
They are the ones who scan over all the possible data looking at the trends and age groups etc.
No, regular people talk in millions of viewers. I hate the US ratings system. We just talk in millions over here in the UK. Everyone knows where they're at with it.
t:   
http://pifeedback.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/63310451/m/55210535
Prime Time Ratings:
Monday 5/21/07
The following results are based on the fast national ratings (Live Plus Same Day data)
-Total Viewers:
ABC: 15.15 million, NBC: 10.70, CBS: 10.60, Fox: 10.19, CW: 1.85
-Adults 18-49:
ABC: 4.9 rating/13 share, NBC: 4.1/11, Fox: 3.8/10, CBS: 3.3/ 9, CW: 0.7/ 2
----------
-Yesterdays Winners:
Dancing With the Stars (ABC), The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman (ABC), Heroes (NBC)
-Disappointing:
24 (Fox)
----------
-Ratings Breakdown:
Led by the final competition on this seasons Dancing With the Stars, ABC cha-cha-ed to victory with an advantage over second-place NBC of a significant 4.44 million viewers and 20 percent among adults 18-49. Tied for third and fourth overall were a night of repeats on CBS and the season-finale of 24 on Fox, followed by repeat-riddled The CW.
Dancing With the Stars opened the evening for ABC with a stellar 19.75 million viewers and a 5.1 rating/15 share among adults 18-49 from 8-9 p.m. Comparably, the second most-watched show in the hour was the Monday season-finale of NBCs fading Deal or No Deal at a distant 9.66 million viewers (and a third-place 3.0/ 9 among adults 18-49). The first-hour of the expanded season-finale of Foxs 24 averaged 9.34 million viewers (#3) and a second-place 3.5/10 among adults 18-49.
Also in the 8 p.m. hour were back-to-back repeats of CBS Two and a Half Men (Viewers: #4, 8.22 million; A18-49: #3, 3.0/ 9), and repeats of Everybody Hates Chris (Viewers: 2.0/ 6 million; A18-49: 0.8/ 2) and the canceled All of Us (Viewers: 1.88 million, A18-49: 0.8/ 2) on The CW.
NBCs Heroes closed season one first in both total viewers (13.21 million) and adults 18-49 (6.1/15) at 9 p.m., with growth out of lead-in Deal of No Deal of 3.55 million viewers and 103 percent among adults 18-49. Second was the first hour of the expanded season-finale of The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman on ABC at 12.46 million viewers and a 4.3/11 among adults 18-49. The second half of Foxs expanded 24 season-opener averaged 11.04 million viewers (#4) and a third-place 4.0/10 among adults 18-49. Overall, the two-hour telecast of 24 averaged a disappointing 10.19 million viewers and a 3.7/10 in the demo from 8-10 p.m. Comparably, that trailed its year-ago season-finale (Viewers: 13.75 million, A18-49: 5.5/14 on Monday, May 22, 2006, based on the final nationals) by a hefty 3.56 million viewers and 27 percent among adults 18-49.
Also in the 9 p.m. hour were repeats of The CWs Girlfriends (Viewers: 1.75 million, A18-49: 0.7/ 2) and The Game (Viewers: 1.70 million, A18-49: 0.7/ 2).
The second half of ABCs two-hour The Bachelor season-finale moved into the top spot at 10 p.m., with 13.25 million viewers and a 5.3/14 among adults 18-49. Overall, The Bachelor: An Officer and a Gentleman concluded with a still potent 12.85 million viewers and a 4.8/12 among adults 18-49 from 9-11 p.m. No wonder why ABC renewed it. Second was a repeat of CSI: Miami on CBS (Viewers: 11.48 million; A18-49: 3.5/ 9), followed by the season-finale of NBCs Law & Order: Criminal Intent at 9.24 million viewers and a 3.2/ 8 in the demo. Next season, look for original episodes of Criminal Intent on USA Network.
Source: Nielsen Media Research data

