A reality show about a Las Vegas pawn shop has done for History what ancient history never did: Boost the network into the top five cable networks.
"Pawn Stars" has become History's top-rated show ever, and it helped History to its best February ever.
Monday night's "Stars" drew 5.1 million total viewers at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen, the biggest audience ever for a History program. The reality show beat all broadcast and cable competition among men 18-34 and finished second only to CBS in men 18-49.
With "American Pickers," "Stars'" 9 p.m. lead-in, drawing a series-high 3.9 million viewers, History recorded its best-ever night among several adult and male demos.
That comes after History finished up its best-ever month in February, according to numbers released yesterday, moving into the top five among 18-49s, 25-54s, men 18-49 and men 25-54.
"Stars," "Pickers" and "Ax Men" helped boost the network 23 percent year to year in primetime among 25-54s and 17 percent among 18-49s. It saw its biggest gains among men 25-54, up 25 percent.
The gains come 10 months after History laid out its most ambitious schedule of originals ever at last year's upfront, with the goal of becoming the No. 1 nonfiction network among 25-54s.
At the time it ranked 10th overall in the demo in primetime. In February, it ranked fifth, just 20,000 viewers behind A&E.
Among the top 10 channels in both 18-49s and 25-54s, History had the biggest year-to-year gains in a month where many networks were down.
That was the case for USA, which easily retained its primetime crown among all major demos despite seeing double-digit percentage declines as it revamped its schedule.
It moved "Psych" and "White Collar" from their previous Friday timeslots, and both shows have seen their numbers decline in their new slots, though that's also likely due to the absence of a "Monk" lead-in.
Still, USA dominated in total viewers, averaging 2.95 million, down 16 percent from last year but some 700,000 ahead of second-place TNT.
USA also carried the Olympics during the month, though that was mostly in earlier dayparts.
The Olympics may have hurt the cable competition. Eight of the month's top 10 networks in 18-49s saw year-to-year declines, as did 16 of the top 20.
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TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
February 2010 |
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
2198
|
NICK
|
1725
|
|
2
|
FOXN
|
1659
|
NAN
*
|
1358
|
|
3
|
TNT
|
1652
|
USA
|
1157
|
|
4
|
NAN
|
1411
|
TNT
|
1123
|
|
5
|
TBSC
|
1237
|
FOXN
|
1051
|
|
6
|
AEN
|
1188
|
ADSM*
|
1002
|
|
7
|
HIST
|
1109
|
TOON
|
881
|
|
8
|
ESPN
|
1055
|
TBSC
|
739
|
|
9
|
TOON
|
1025
|
AEN
|
722
|
|
10
|
FAM
|
944
|
HIST
|
636
|
|
11
|
HGTV
|
937
|
ESPN
|
631
|
|
12
|
FX
|
908
|
HGTV
|
599
|
|
13
|
TRU
|
847
|
TRU
|
593
|
|
14
|
TLC
|
786
|
LIF
|
579
|
|
15
|
DISC
|
784
|
FX
|
547
|
|
16
|
LIF
|
775
|
FOOD
|
544
|
|
17
|
AMC
|
769
|
SPK
|
523
|
|
18
|
SYFY
|
766
|
DISC
|
521
|
|
19
|
FOOD
|
733
|
FAM
|
495
|
|
20
|
MSNB
|
705
|
AMC
|
488
|
|
21
|
CMDY
|
700
|
CMDY
|
458
|
|
22
|
MTV
|
697
|
MTV
|
457
|
|
23
|
SPK
|
697
|
TVLD
|
443
|
|
24
|
HALL
|
642
|
TLC
|
422
|
|
25
|
EN
|
571
|
HALL
|
413
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
February 2010 |
|
Rank |
Program |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
Winter Olympics Prime
|
MSNB
|
4980
|
|
2
|
East vs. West
|
TNT
|
4478
|
|
3
|
Burn Notice
|
USA
|
4274
|
|
4
|
Winter Olympics Prime Post
|
MSNB
|
4042
|
|
5
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3972
|
|
6
|
Burn Notice
|
USA
|
3895
|
|
7
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3820
|
|
8
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
3769
|
|
9
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3763
|
|
10
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3738
|
|
11
|
The Penguins Of
Madagascar
|
NICK
|
3700
|
|
12
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3674
|
|
13
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
3669
|
|
14
|
NBA All-Star Saturday Night
|
TNT
|
3624
|
|
15
|
Keeping Up With the Kardashians
|
EN
|
3596
|
|
16
|
CNN Newsroom
|
CNN
|
3587
|
|
17
|
iCarly
|
NICK
|
3571
|
|
18
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3569
|
|
19
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3535
|
|
20
|
CNN Newsroom
|
CNN
|
3516
|
|
21
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
3510
|
|
22
|
Pawn Stars
|
HIST
|
3448
|
|
23
|
White Collar
|
USA
|
3412
|
|
24
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3410
|
|
25
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3392
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
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