Ratings

[AgentPat]

It's really not hard to see why CW was hurt.

They spent the better part of last year stating 7th heaven was in it's last season, then out of no where they revive it. Quite a few probably didn't even know it was coming back.

Good possibility, but the show did attract a *very* large audience (for WB) and it had a vocal following. Given that, I do find it kinda odd for it to have such a soft launch. Weird.

So right of the bat you've got a weak lead in.

No doubt, "Runaway" is a poor choice as a lead off show, especially since it's brand spakin'. I would have put it *after* 7th Heaven, the latter of which is such a family oriented show anyway, it would been better off in the 8pm slot to begin with.

then top that off with what's almost direct CW competition in Heroes at 9.

7th Heaven and Heroes? Mmmm... I don't really see much direct competition there.

So the question becomes should they have gone w/ Aquaman for direct competition? He's an established character unlike the Heroes on NBC.

That's a VERY interesting question. I'm really glad they didn't do that though 'cause I HATE having to make that kind of choice. I rarely if ever have those problems because I watch so little TV as it is.

Hmmm... I wonder if Dawn Ostroff is regretting canceling Everwood (which is what woulda replaced 7th in the sked)....

Hard to say. If anything, networks usually wait about three or four weeks before they start to panic and rejig their skeds - or worse, start honing the axe.

Another thing that occurred to me when I was looking at the Mediaweek comparisons - something that should have been obvious, but wasn't until last night. With the merger of UPN and The WB, CW doesn't have any competition in its class. If we were rating cars, that might seem like a good thing, but given its tiny broadcast window (13 hours a week) and relative smaller size compared to ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC, CW will likely *always* be in last place with statistical exceptions in specific demos. At least there was competition between UPN and WB LOL.

Oh well. Lets keep our fingers crossed that SV does boffo ratings for them compared to their other shows. They'll want to take good care of it in such a situation.

 

[Cmill216]

Well let's see:

CW's Current Monday:
8PM - 7th Heaven
9PM - Runaway

What Could Have Been CW's Monday:
8PM - Aquaman
9PM - Everwood

*sigh*

 

[NHawk19]

Something else that's not covered by the Network ratings is Monday Night Football now that it's on ESPN

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/nielsen-more.htm

USA Today shows that last weeks game brought in 13.3 million viewers. That's an entire key demo that isnt tuning in to the nets at all. It's also quite large when you consider that in the same week the #20 show on the Nets was at 13.7 million.

 

[NHawk19]

No doubt, "Runaway" is a poor choice as a lead off show, especially since it's brand spakin'. I would have put it *after* 7th Heaven, the latter of which is such a family oriented show anyway, it would been better off in the 8pm slot to begin with.

7th Heaven and Heroes? Mmmm... I don't really see much direct competition there.

7th Heaven was the lead in at 8.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Something else that's not covered by the Network ratings is Monday Night Football now that it's on ESPN

http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/nielsen-more.htm

USA Today shows that last weeks game brought in 13.3 million viewers. That's an entire key demo that isnt tuning in to the nets at all. It's also quite large when you consider that in the same week the #20 show on the Nets was at 13.7 million.

yup. this time of year on Monday Night it's a rating dead zone for males 18-49 sincem ost are watching MNF. I was surprised Heroes debuted on Mondays, I wouldve figured it for a Tues or Weds night.

Smallville should be fine, it now reaches like 3 million more homes than before, and has one less "young" network to compete with.

 

[Kaboom]

this monday nights numbers were way up for MNF given that it was the saints-falcons

 

[avidreader]

Well I watched that Runaway last night and it wasnt a bad show. Its too bad that it didnt get the "new show" advertising that they usually give new shows.

I'm a little curious though, CW's target audience is young people right? Does it not seem entirely possible that young people dont take the time to go out and buy Nielsen Box's? Therefore this demographic's viewing audience is not accurately captured.

 

[Cmill216]

Runaway just didn't grab my attention. Saw the ads. Blah.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

Well I watched that Runaway last night and it wasnt a bad show. Its too bad that it didnt get the "new show" advertising that they usually give new shows.

I'm a little curious though, CW's target audience is young people right? Does it not seem entirely possible that young people dont take the time to go out and buy Nielsen Box's? Therefore this demographic's viewing audience is not accurately captured.

You dont go out and buy a Nielsen box. Neilsen randomly selects households with people in certain age and gender brackets and asks them to participate in the sampling. It has to be done at random or else it would be statistically flawed.

 

[avidreader]

You dont go out and buy a Nielsen box. Neilsen randomly selects households with people in certain age and gender brackets and asks them to participate in the sampling. It has to be done at random or else it would be statistically flawed.

Ah, that makes sense. I just thought I read somewhere that people actually buy them, which I could never work out why you would do. Must have been on my early days at Ksite.

Thanks for the clarification.

While you're here, you need to clean out your PM box. t:

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

cleaned

 

[Migu-EL]

Ah, that makes sense. I just thought I read somewhere that people actually buy them, which I could never work out why you would do. Must have been on my early days at Ksite.

Thanks for the clarification.

While you're here, you need to clean out your PM box. t:

They actually pay you fifty bucks a month for them to install the box in your house. I know this because I was asked to participate.

 

[AgentPat]

MEDIAWEEK, SEPTEMBER 27, 2006

Prime-Time Tuesday Ratings:
ABC Dances to Victory; Fox No. 1 Among Adults 18-49

Tuesday 9/26/06
Metered Market Ratings

Household Rating/Share
ABC: 10.1/16, CBS: 7.8/12, NBC: 7.8/12, Fox: 7.8/12, CW: 2.8/ 4

-Percent Change From the Comparable Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday 9/27/05)
ABC: +10, Fox: - 2, NBC: - 5, CBS: - 6, CW*: -35

(*compared to the WB’s combination of Gilmore Girls and Supernatural)

---------------

-Yesterday’s Winners:
Dancing With the Stars (ABC), House (Fox), Law & Order: SVU (NBC)

-Honorable Mention:
NCIS (CBS), The Unit (CBS)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Help Me Help You (ABC), Standoff (Fox)

---------------

Fast National Ratings

-Total Viewers:
ABC: 14.23 million, CBS: 11.80, Fox: 11.16, NBC: 9.92, CW: 3.15

-Adults 18-49:
Fox: 4.7 rating/13 share, ABC: 4.2/11, CBS and NBC: 3.4/ 9 each, CW: 1.4/ 4

---------------

-Ratings Breakdown (edited for brevity):
...In season-premiere news, the CW’s Gilmore Girls opened on a below average note with a 4.0/ 6 in the overnights (#4), 4.56 million viewers (#4) and a 2.0/ 6 among adults 18-49 (#5) at 8 p.m. Compared to its year-ago opener on the WB (Overnights: 5.3/ 8; Viewers: 6.22 million; A18-49: 2.8/ 8 on Sept. 13, 2005), that was a decrease of 26 percent in the overnights, 1.66 million viewers and 29 percent among adults 18-49. Worth noting for Gilmore Girls, however, was a third-place finish in the time period among women 18-34 (3.5/10).

Gilmore Girls led into a repeat of Monday drama Runaway at a distant fifth-place 1.5/ 2 in the overnights, 1.73 million viewers and a 0.8/ 2 among adults 18-49.

---------------

National Ratings in Primetime:
Week of September 18, 2006

...NBC was second among adults 18-49 and third elsewhere, with year-to-year growth of 8 to 18 percent as a result of a vastly improved Monday (think Deal or No Deal) and Sunday Night Football. Fox was also on the plus side, finishing third among adults 18-34 and fourth elsewhere. Since the CW aired a combination of originals and repeats, the true initial results will not be apparent until next week. Worth positively noting for the CW, however, was record opening season ratings for old faithful America’s Next Top Model and a first-place finish on Wednesday among adults 18-34 (3.2/10) and women 18-34 (4.9/14).

---------------

Here are the final national ratings for the week of September 18, 2006 (with percent change versus the comparable year-ago period in parentheses for the Big 4 -- the CW is not included), followed by the top 30 ranked programs for the week in households and adults 18-49.

-Households:
CBS: 8.3 rating/14 share (+ 1), ABC: 8.0/13 (no change), NBC: 7.1/12 (+ 8), Fox: 4.7/ 8 (+15), CW: 1.9/ 3

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 13.02 million (+ 2), ABC: 12.28 (+ 1), NBC: 11.04 (+12), Fox: 7.52 (+16), CW: 2.82

-Adults 18-49:
ABC: 4.4 rating/12 share (- 4), NBC: 4.0/11 (+18), CBS: 3.9/11 (- 5), Fox: 3.1/ 8 (+11), CW: 1.2/ 3

-Adults 25-54:
CBS: 5.1/12 (+ 2), ABC: 5.0/12 (- 6), NBC: 4.6/11 (+15), Fox: 3.2/ 8 (+14), CW: 1.2/ 3

-Adults 18-34:
ABC: 3.7/12 (- 5), NBC: 3.2/10 (+14), Fox: 3.0/ 9 (no change), CBS: 2.6/ 8 (-16), CW: 1.4/ 4



Hmm. So GG is down, too? Damn. With ELC a deadman walking on Sunday nights, could it be the only shows to pull CW's tush out of the fire will be Top Model, Wrestling, and SV? Ouch. This is gonna be an interesting week. Wow.

 

[Cmill216]

Hmm. So GG is down, too? Damn. With ELC a deadman walking on Sunday nights, could it be the only shows to pull CW's tush out of the fire will be Top Model, Wrestling, and SV? Ouch. This is gonna be an interesting week. Wow.

I think they're relying too heavily on the fact that it's a new network, and didn't take into account that they needed "fresh" new products to go along with the new network. I mean, Runaway is their only "new" show. And then you cancel a critical favorite (Everwood), keep a sagging family drama (7th Heaven), and drop a potential big genre series (Aquaman)? Bad, bad bad.

 

[avidreader]

They actually pay you fifty bucks a month for them to install the box in your house. I know this because I was asked to participate.

When I was a kid we participated in the ratings, the old fashioned way where you had to write everything down, and we got a packet of screw drivers for our efforts. t:

Hmm. So GG is down, too? Damn. With ELC a deadman walking on Sunday nights, could it be the only shows to pull CW's tush out of the fire will be Top Model, Wrestling, and SV? Ouch. This is gonna be an interesting week. Wow.

I was a GG watcher the last couple of years, but after the finale last year I wasnt too thrilled to watch the Season Prem. I bought the Lake House on DVD yesterday and was anxious to watch that instead. Good movie!

Anyway, I'll take a look at the commercials over the next couple of weeks for GG and see if I change my mind.

 

[Migu-EL]

When I was a kid we participated in the ratings, the old fashioned way where you had to write everything down, and we got a packet of screw drivers for our efforts. t:

lol.

That's hilarious.t:

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

I think they're relying too heavily on the fact that it's a new network, and didn't take into account that they needed "fresh" new products to go along with the new network. I mean, Runaway is their only "new" show. And then you cancel a critical favorite (Everwood), keep a sagging family drama (7th Heaven), and drop a potential big genre series (Aquaman)? Bad, bad bad.

yup, that pretty much sums it up. Stupid Dawn Ostroff.

Once again, Superman will have to save the day.

 

[Serene]

Once again, Superman will have to save the day.

Knock on wood, 'kay?

I really hope SV does big ratings.. or at least, continues to do great in the key demographic.

I looked up to see how the DVD sales were going - because it seems like that has to be some indicator of how interested people still are in the franchise.

It's doing pretty damn well, esp. considering it's a show on a piddly-dink network like the WB/CW as opposed to the heavy-hitter networks.
http://www.videobusiness.com/topDVDSellers.asp
I looked up the Amazon ranking since it's not listed there - and that's at #13.

Not bad at all.

 

[NHawk19]

Hmm. So GG is down, too? Damn. With ELC a deadman walking on Sunday nights, could it be the only shows to pull CW's tush out of the fire will be Top Model, Wrestling, and SV? Ouch. This is gonna be an interesting week. Wow.

GG was up against dancing with the stars and had a poor lead out. Plus I'd be willing to bet, based on avid's comments the ender last year left a bad taste in several peoples mouths. Compound that with the departure of the shows creators and the ratings on this one ought to be intersting to watch.

Plus I'm sure there were people like me who reacted negatively to the annoying ad campaign put out by CW. In a lot of cases the photo's picked really didnt help matters.

 

[Kaboom]

I think they're relying too heavily on the fact that it's a new network, and didn't take into account that they needed "fresh" new products to go along with the new network. I mean, Runaway is their only "new" show. And then you cancel a critical favorite (Everwood), keep a sagging family drama (7th Heaven), and drop a potential big genre series (Aquaman)? Bad, bad bad.

her make bad decisions?

wasnt she the President of UPN? Wasn't UPN the lesser of the two networks?

As an aside, wasnt 7th heaven the most expensive show on the WB because of all the escalators in the casts contracts? How does it make sense to keep that when now theyre cutting the budgets of every show bc theyre scared since theyre a new network?

And if the CW is supposed to be free to be fresh and young and hip, what is it doing keeping 7th heaven anyway?

she must have some fancy smancy golden parachute or something that nobody wants to open.

 

[avidreader]

^^^ I seem to recall reading somewhere, that the actors on 7th Heaven took a pay cut.

 

[AgentPat]

Wasn't UPN the lesser of the two networks?

Depends which year you're comparing.

Here are the full season average ratings for all 6 nets during the 6-net era of 1994-2006.

1 rating point in 1994-95 =   954,000 TV households
1 rating point in 2005-06 = 1,102,000 TV households

          #1   ABC   CBS   NBC  FOX  UPN   WB   TOT  BIG3
1994-95  ABC  11.9  10.8  11.5  7.5  4.0  1.9  47.6  34.2
1995-96  NBC  10.5   9.6  11.6  7.3  3.1  2.4  44.5  31.7
1996-97  NBC   9.2   9.6  10.5  7.7  3.2  2.6  42.8  29.3
1997-98  NBC   8.3   9.5  10.2  7.0  2.8  3.1  40.9  28.0
1998-99  CBS   8.0   9.0   8.9  6.9  2.0  3.2  38.0  25.9
1999-00  CBS   9.3   8.6   8.5  5.9  2.7  2.6  37.6  26.4
2000-01  CBS   8.3   8.5   7.9  6.1  2.4  2.5  35.7  24.7
2001-02  NBC   6.3   8.1   8.8  5.7  2.7  2.5  34.1  23.2
2002-03  CBS   6.3   8.2   7.7  6.0  2.3  2.6  33.1  22.2
2003-04  CBS   5.8   8.4   7.2  6.0  2.4  2.3  32.1  21.4
2004-05  CBS   6.4   8.3   6.5  6.1  2.3  2.2  31.8  21.2
2005-06  CBS   6.8   8.1   6.5  6.2  2.1  2.1  31.6  21.2

 

[Kaboom]

i wonder how much the first 3 years of UPN had to do with Enterprise, otherwise they seem about the same.

 

[explode7]

So whats the projected Ratings for Smallville tomorrow???

 

[Batgort]

I'm betting that Smallville will continue to be their big cash cow, and we'll end up with a Metrpolis series after season 7. Who knows, maybe we'll see Aquaman or other type of spin off come around.

The SuperHero genre is definitely going through yet another growth spirt. Consider this: The Batman gets revamped and hyped (2 episodes per saturday morning for past couple months), Legion of SuperHeroes, Heroes show, Smallville,. We ahve a fantastic four show on Cartoon Network (which is also showing Krypto the Superdog, Teen Titans, and Static Shock again).

From purely a cost analysis perspective, the SuperHero genre appears to be the most lucrative. Consider that to get a series, movie, or cartoon off the ground, you have an entire industry of experts at hand that are most likely interested in adopting their stores into another media. They also have stories, art, and even rough ideas for storyboards in the comics. The creative team for the TV show has an enormous vault of knowledge to work with, to either reproduce or carve their own creative niche.

Personally, I consider Smallville as one of the greatest additions to the Superman mythology. I think the creators identified a great area that wasn't fully developed yet in the original mythology, identified a great target audience to introduce this type of genre again, and were able to pull off a show that is appealing to teenie boppers, comic geeks, and older folks who are familiar with superman.