Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, May 30, 2007

FOX takes the evening with two hours of So You Think You Can Dance?. Disappointing series debut for Hidden Palms leads to weak performance out of One Tree Hill. Solid debut for Next Best Thing: Who Is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator?, so-so second outing for Traveler.

Fox finished in first place for the evening with a 5.7/10 household rating, 9.21 million total viewers and a 4.0/12 rating among adults 18-49.

• Last Week:
  • Households – 17.8/28 rating [#1]
  • Viewers – 30.73 million [#1]
  • Adults 18-49 – 11.5/31 rating [#1]

• 8:00 p.m.: A two-hour edition of So You Think You Can Dance? (5.7/10 HH rating, 9.21M viewers, 4.0/12 A18-49) performed very well for FOX, giving the network an easy first place finish for the evening among adults 18-49. Another positive for the series was it’s strong hold-over from its last newly aired episode this past Thursday. Despite its slight dips among households and viewers, it managed a nice uptick of 8% among the advertiser coveted A18-49 demographic.
  • Episode-to-episode numbers (Thursday, 5/24/2007):
    • Households – 5.9/11 to 5.7/10
    • Viewers – 9.51M to 9.21M
    • Adults 18-49 – 3.7/12 to 4.0/12
  • Last week’s numbers (American Idol – season finale – 8:00-10:00 p.m.):
    • Households – 17.8/28
    • Viewers – 30.73M
    • Adults 18-49 – 11.5/31

CBS followed in second place for the evening with a 5.6/10 household rating, 8.04 million viewers and a 2.4/7 rating among adults 18-49.

• Last Week:
  • Households – 6.4/11 rating [#3]
  • Viewers – 9.36 million [#3]
  • Adults 18-49 – 2.2/6 rating [#3]

• 8:00 & 8:30 p.m.: Though off last week among households and viewers, back-to-back repeats of The King of Queens (3.7/7 HH rating, 5.24M viewers, 1.9/6 A18-49 rating) did manage to provide the network a stronger A18-49 performance. Improving among that demo by 12%.
  • Last week’s numbers (NCIS-REPEAT):
    • Households – 5.7/10
    • Viewers – 8.25M
    • Adults 18-49 – 1.7/5
• 9:00 p.m.: A repeat of Criminal Minds (6.1/10 HH rating, 8.83M viewers, 2.4/7 A18-49 rating) stayed consistent with last week’s airing, showing slight growth among adults 18-49 and continuing to show just how valuable procedurals are. They repeat extremely well when compared to programs more serialized in nature (i.e. Lost, Heroes, 24).
  • Last week’s numbers (Criminal Minds-REPEAT):
    • Households – 6.3/10
    • Viewers – 9.57M
    • Adults 18-49 – 2.3/6
• 10:00 p.m.: A repeat of CSI: NY (7.0/12 HH rating, 10.03M viewers, 2.9/9 A18-49 rating) ended the evening for CBS in a positive note, placing first for the hour among households, viewers and adults 18-49. It was also the nights most watched program by households and viewers (second highest among adults 18-49).
  • Last week’s numbers (CSI: NY-REPEAT):
    • Households – 7.1/12
    • Viewers – 10.25M
    • Adults 18-49 – 2.7/7

ABC finished in third place for the evening with a 4.2/7 household rating, 6.31 million viewers and a 2.0/6 rating among adults 18-49.

• Last Week:
  • Households – 6.6/11 rating [#2]
  • Viewers – 11.15 million [#2]
  • A18-49 – 4.6/12 rating [#2]

• 8:00 p.m.: The series premiere of The Next Best Thing: Who Is The Greatest Celebrity Impersonator (5.0/9 HH rating, 7.75M viewers, 2.5/9 A18-49 rating) started off very strongly, improving the time slot week-to-week across the board, as well as providing stronger overall ratings compared to programming which aired previously in this time period during the fall season (comedies).
  • Last week’s numbers (Lost: The Answers-REPEAT):
    • Households – 3.8/6
    • Viewers – 5.73M
    • Adults 18-49 – 2.1/6
• 9:00 p.m.: A repeat of the series premiere of Traveler (3.4/6 HH rating, 4.99M viewers, 1.6/5 A18-49 rating) was only so-so, but for a repeat, it wasn’t too bad. American Inventor returns for another season in this time slot next week.
• 10:00 p.m.: A new episode of Traveler (4.2/7 HH rating, 6.20M viewers, 2.1/6 A18-49 rating) expectedly improved upon its repeat lead-in, but fell a good amount from its last newly aired episode which was aired as a sneak preview after an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Decline was at 2.41M viewers (28%), 29% among households and 40% among adults 18-49. Even though it seems very apparent that ABC is just burning off the series in these summer weeks, if episodes continue to perform at this rate, they should be very content as ratings will equal or exceed fall/mid-season programming (at least in terms of households and viewers).
  • Episode-to-episode numbers (5/10/2007):
    • Households – 5.9/10 to 4.2/7
    • Viewers – 8.61M to 6.20M
    • Adults 18-49 – 3.5/10 to 2.1/6
  • Last week’s numbers (Lost – season finale – 9:00-11:00 p.m.):
    • Households – 8.0/13
    • Viewers – 13.86M
    • Adults 18-49 – 6.3/15

NBC followed in fourth place for the evening with a 3.9/7 household rating, 5.89 million viewers and a 1.9/6 rating among adults 18-49.

• Last Week:
  • Households – 3.0/5 rating [#4]
  • Viewers – 4.36 million [#4]
  • A18-49 – 1.8/5 rating [#4]

• 8:00-10:00 p.m.: NBC got very good results out of Most Outrageous Moments (4.2/7 HH rating, 6.51M viewers, 1.6/6 A18-49 rating) despite the programming skewing a bit out of the coveted A18-49 range. Total audience figures were solid and on par with programming airing in the time period during the fall/mid-season.
  • Last week’s numbers (SNL in the ’90s: Pop Culture Nation-REPEAT – 8:00-10:00 p.m.):
    • Households – 2.8/5
    • Viewers – 4.12M
    • Adults 18-49 – 1.8/5
• 10:00 p.m.: A repeat of Medium (3.2/6 HH rating, 4.65M viewers, 1.5/4 A18-49 rating) had to settle for a last place finish on the hour across the board.
  • Last week’s numbers (Dateline NBC):
    • Households – 3.3/5
    • Viewers – 4.85M
    • Adults 18-49 – 1.7/5

The CW finished in fifth place for the evening with a 1.5/3 household rating, 2.02 million viewers and a 0.9/3 rating among adults 18-49.

• Last Week:
  • Households – 1.0/2 rating [#5]
  • Viewers – 1.33 million [#5]
  • Adults 18-49 – 0.6/2 rating [#5]

• Note: The section for The CW will be updated shortly, as there were pre-emptions, so ratings will likely fall when the finals are released.
  
• 8:00 p.m.: The series premiere of Hidden Palms (1.3/2 HH rating, 1.82M viewers, 0.7/2 A18-49 rating) failed miserably, failing to even reach the 2M mark of viewership. Holding off on airing the show for such a long time obviously had a detrimental affect on the ratings. But, The CW it seems had very little interest in seeing the show succeed. That’s all well and good, summer burn-offs are common, but why would you also hold off on airing One Tree Hill and hurt that shows ratings as well (more on that below)? UPDATE: Well, the finals did indeed show an even worse decline. Final ratings were the following: 1.2/2 HH rating, 1.60M viewers and a 0.6/2 A18-49 rating. Terrible, just absolutely terrible. Here’s a good line: It failed to beat a One Tree Hill-REPEAT last week among adults 18-49. Not much else to say about the situation really.
  • Last week’s numbers (One Tree Hill-REPEAT):
    • Households – 1.0/2
    • Viewers – 1.38M
    • Adults 18-49 – 0.6/2
• 9:00 p.m.: Returning from hiatus was One Tree Hill (1.7/3 HH rating, 2.23M viewers, 1.0/3 A18-49 rating) and the weeks off were not kind. Though it managed to build respectably from its low, low lead-in, the series dipped a harmful 17% (450,000) among viewers. Declines among households (-6%) and adults 18-49 (9%) were less severe. So again I ask, what programming individual over at The CW thought it to be a good idea to hold the series until the summer to end its run? At the same time, is airing it as a mid-season replacement next season really such a good idea? Only time will tell I guess. UPDATE: The finals were not kind: 1.5/2 HH rating, 2.06M viewers and a 0.9/3 rating among adults 18-49. Judging from the final ratings, episode-to-episode decline was at very disappointing 620,000 viewers (17%), 23% among households and 18% among adults 18-49.
  • Episode-to-episode numbers (5/16/2007):
    • Households – 1.8/3 to 1.7/3
    • Viewers – 2.68M to 2.23M
    • Adults 18-49 – 1.1/3 to 1.0/3
  • Last week’s numbers (One Tree Hill-REPEAT):
    • Households – 0.9/2
    • Viewers – 1.28M
    • Adults 18-49 – 0.5/1

Note: Comparison’s from the week prior (or episode-to-episode, etc.) are based on final nationals. Ratings for the current day are based on fast nationals, unless otherwise noted. The final rating for episodes that aired this evening will be reported the following week. So for example, the final rating for tonights episode of “CSI-NY-REPEAT” will be reported in next weeks report for Wednesday, June 6, 2007.

Also keep in mind that because these are fast national ratings, numbers may increase or decrease when the final nationals are released.

Source: Fast/Final National Ratings Data from Nielsen Media Research and PIFeedback