Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, October 11, 2006

CBS takes the win in households and viewers, while ABC wins in A18-49. “The Nine” dips considerably, “30 Rock” and “Twenty Good Years” premiere to so-so ratings.

CBS finished first for the evening with a 9.8/15 HH rating (15.03M viewers) and second in A18-49, delivering a 4.5/12 rating in the demo.

• “Jericho” (10.90M viewers) continues to deliver the goods, staying consistent in households (even), viewers (+0.07M) and A18-49 (-0.02 points). The series was second in the time period in households (7.0/11), viewers and A18-49 (3.2/9).
• “Criminal Minds” (16.48M viewers, 4.4/11 A18-49) is slowly catching up to ABC’s “Lost”. It beat the hit series in households (10.9/17 to 10.2/16), though “Lost” still has a lead in A18-49 and a slim lead of only 180,000 in total viewers.
• “CSI: NY” turned in one of its strongest performances yet, delivering 17.71M viewers and a 5.9/16 A18-49 rating (up from last season’s comparable episode–15.73M viewers and a 4.9/14).

ABC followed in a very close second with a 9.4/15 HH rating (14.40M viewers) and second in A18-49, delivering a 4.8/13 rating in the demo.

• “Dancing With The Stars” continues to impress, delivering the nights largest audience with 18.14M viewers.
• “Lost” is no longer the powerhouse it once was, dipping to 16.66M viewers (down about 2.16M from the previous week). But even with the drops, it still has a very large A18-49 audience, #1 for the evening with a 6.7/17.
• “The Nine” lost a devastating 3.5M viewers from its premiere last week (11.91M to 8.41M). A18-49 was down as well, from a 4.6/12 to a 3.2/9.

FOX finished in third place with a 5.7/9 HH rating (8.27M viewers) and fourth in A18-49, delivering a 2.6/7 rating in the demo.

• The second game of the “ALCS” between the Tigers and Athletics delivered 8.27M viewers and a 2.6/7 A18-49, considerably down from the comparable ratings last season (13.51M viewers, 4.3/11 A18-49).

NBC followed in fourth for the evening delivering a 5.3/8 HH rating (7.74M viewers) and third in A18-49, delivering a 2.9/8 rating in the demo.

• The premieres of “30 Rock” (8.26M viewers, 2.9/9 A18-49) and “Twenty Good Years” (6.97M viewers, 2.5/7 A18-49) fail to impress. The former was solid, but not great. “Twenty” needs a little help.
• “The Biggest Loser” built from its lead-in to 7.37M viewers.
• NBC used their always consistent “Dateline NBC” to fill in for the vacated “Kidnapped”, and immediately improved the former time-slot holders audience in households (5.8/10 vs. 3.8/6), viewers (8.24M vs. 5.15M) and A18-49 (2.9/8 vs. 2.0/5).

The CW finished in fifth for the evening delivering a 2.9/5 HH rating (4.38M viewers) and a 2.1/6 A18-49 rating.

• The combination of “America’s Next Top Model” (5.47M viewers, 2.7/8 A18-49) and “One Tree Hill” (3.28M viewers, 1.5/4 A18-49) are staying even week to week, but “One Tree Hill” is still struggling to hold onto ‘Model’s’ audience.

Source: Fast National Numbers from Nielsen Media Research

The ratings for all the programs that aired last night are viewable below in chart form (click to enlarge):