Broadcast TV Ratings for Wednesday, October 25, 2006

Another close Wednesday between ABC and CBS with the ‘Alphabet’ coming away with the win in households, viewers and adults 18-49.

ABC finished first for the evening with a 9.6/15 HH rating (14.89M viewers) and a 5.0/13 A18-49 rating.

• Last Week’s Numbers:
  • 9.4/15 HH rating [#1]
  • 14.61M viewers [#1]
  • 4.9/13 A18-49 rating [#1]

• At 8:00 PM, “Dancing with the Stars: Results Show” (19.86M viewers, 5.1/14 A18-49 rating) was the nights most watched show, increasing some in all key categories from the week prior.
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 12.6/20 to 13.2/21
    • Viewers – 19.17M to 19.86M
    • A18-49 – 4.9/14 to 5.1/14
• At 9:00 PM, “Lost” (16.80M viewers, 6.9/17 A18-49 rating) eeked out another narrow win over its now strong competition of “Criminal Minds”. And though households and total viewers are close, “Lost” still maintains a strong lead in A18-49, where it was once again the top series in that demo for the night. (Note: these numbers and comparisons are all based on fast nationals. Last week fast nationals showed “Criminal Minds” beating “Lost” for the time-period in total viewers, however, when finals were released “Lost” was actually the victor — 16.31M to 16.20M).
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 9.9/15 to 10.4/16
    • Viewers – 16.07M to 16.80M (see note above)
    • A18-49 – 6.5/16 to 6.9/17
• At 10:00 PM, “The Nine” (8.02M viewers, 3.1/8 A18-49 rating) had far too many people fade away as “Lost” ended and “The Nine” began. The series hit yet another low, declining week to week in all key categories. So, is any show capable of leading out of “Lost”? “Invasion” last year, “The Nine” this year, what will be the next good show to fade away because of its trouble retaining its lead-in? One wonders if ABC would be better off having “Lost” end the evening and find a show to lead into it.
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 5.8/10 to 5.2/9
    • Viewers – 8.59M to 8.02M
    • A18-49 – 3.2/9 to 3.1/8

CBS followed in second place with a 9.5/15 HH rating (14.73M viewers), and a 4.3/11 A18-49 rating.

• Last Week’s Numbers:
  • 9.2/14 HH rating [#2]
  • 14.20M viewers [#2]
  • 4.2/11 A18-49 rating [#2]

• At 8:00 PM, “Jericho” (10.54M viewers, 3.2/9 A18-49 rating) was virtually unchanged from the week prior. It did lose some audience and A18-49, but the losses are far too minimal to be of any sort of concern. Barring a mass exodus, this one should be around a while.
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 6.9/11 to 6.8/11
    • Viewers – 10.81M to 10.54M
    • A18-49 – 3.1/9 to 3.2/9
• At 9:00 PM, “Criminal Minds” (16.59M viewers, 4.4/11 A18-49 rating) put up another strong performance against “Lost”, increasing its audience and total viewers, with a minimal dip in A18-49. One very interesting note was that while “Lost” stayed relatively consistent half-hour to half-hour, “Criminal Minds” did not. That show increased it’s audience in its second half-hour and soundly beat “Lost” in the time-period in viewers (17.58M to 16.65M).
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 10.6/17 to 10.9/16
    • Viewers – 16.10M to 16.59 (see note about ratings in “Lost” section)
    • A18-49 – 4.5/11 to 4.4/11
• At 10:00 PM, “CSI: NY” (17.06M viewers, 5.4/15 A18-49 rating) was the nights second highest rated series in households, viewers and A18-49.
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 10.3/17 to 11.0/18
    • Viewers – 15.68M to 17.06
    • A18-49 – 5.0/13 to 5.4/15

NBC finished in third place with a 4.9/8 HH rating (7.41M viewers), and a 2.9/8 A18-49 rating.

• Last Week’s Numbers:
  • 4.6/7 HH rating [#4]
  • 6.71M viewers [#4]
  • 2.6/7 A18-49 rating [#4]

• At 8:00 PM and 8:30 PM, “3o Rock” (6.01M viewers, 2.1/6 A18-49 rating) and “Twenty Good Years” (5.40M viewers, 2.0/5 A18-49 rating) grew some from their lows last week, but still didn’t manage to attract any significant amount of audience. (just a note that “30 Rock” will move to Thursday’s at 9:00 PM beginning November 30th).
  • Week to Week Numbers (“30 Rock”):
    • Households – 3.9/6 to 3.9/6
    • Viewers – 5.85M to 6.01
    • A18-49 – 2.3/7 to 2.1/6
  • Week-to-Week Numbers (“Twenty Good Years”):
    • Households – 3.5/5 to 3.6/5
    • Viewers – 5.10M to 5.40
    • A18-49 – 2.1/8 to 2.0/5
• At 9:00 PM, “The Biggest Loser” (7.86M viewers, 3.4/9 A18-49 rating) was NBC’s top performer on the evening in A18-49, and showed good growth in that key demo, as well as the other two main categories from the week prior.
  • Week-to-Week Numbers:
    • Households – 4.9/8 to 5.1/8
    • Viewers – 7.39M to 7.86M
    • A18-49 – 3.1/8 to 3.4/9
• At 10:00 PM, “Dateline NBC” (8.66M viewers, 3.2/9 A18-49 rating) was NBC’s top rated show in households and viewers, and like “The Biggest Loser” also showed some strong growth in all three main categories.
  • Week-to-Week Numbers:
    • Households – 5.5/9 to 6.0/10
    • Viewers – 7.26M to 8.66
    • A18-49 -2.6/7 to 3.2/9

FOX followed in fourth for the evening delivering a 3.8/6 HH rating (5.52M viewers) and fifth in A18-49, delivering a 2.0/5 rating in that demo.

• Last Week’s Numbers:
  • 7.2/11 HH rating [#3]
  • 10.43M viewers [#3]
  • 3.2/8 A18-49 rating [#3]

• With the World Series game being postponed due to rain, Fox scheduled a set of four re-runs of “The War at Home” from 8:00 PM – 10:00 PM (3.8/6 HH rating, 2.0/5 A18-49, 5.52M viewers).

The CW finished in fifth for the evening delivering a 3.0/5 HH rating (4.52M viewers) and fourth in A18-49, delivering a 2.1/5 rating in that demo.

The CW performed most impressively in the networks key target demos, placing second on the evening among adults 18-34 (2.7/8) and women 18-34 (3.9/11).

• Last Week’s Number’s:
  • 2.7/4 HH rating [#5]
  • 4.05M viewers [#5]
  • 1.9/5 A18-49 rating [#5]

• At 8:00 PM, “America’s Next Top Model” (5.48M viewers, 2.7/8 A18-49 rating) provided yet another strong outing for “The CW”. Now if only they could find an effective and compatible lead-out…
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 3.4/6 to 3.7/6
    • Viewers – 5.14M to 5.48M
    • A18-49 – 2.5/7 to 2.7/8
• At 9:00 PM, “One Tree Hill” (3.57M viewers, 1.6/4 A18-49 rating) showed some improvement from last week, more than likely because of the increases that ‘Model’ experienced, but it still lost nearly 2M viewers and more than 40% of ‘Model’s’ A18-49 crowd.
  • Week to Week Numbers:
    • Households – 2.1/3 to 2.4/4
    • Viewers – 2.95M to 3.57M
    • A18-49 – 1.3/3 to 1.6/4

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

Note: Fast Nationals are used when comparing week-to-week numbers, while Final Nationals are used when comparing year-to-year numbers, unless otherwise specified.

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