| medialifemagazine.com Cable recap
The final episode of TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8,” which aired on Monday night, drew an average audience of 4.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen, well up from recent episodes. “Jon & Kate Plus 8” had been on a ratings roller coaster since the season five premiere on Memorial Day of this year, which drew a record 9.8 million viewers. It was the first episode in which Jon and Kate Gosselin addressed the rumors of marital infidelity that had turned them from medium-sized cable celebrities to tabloid cover stars. That audience was more than twice as many viewers as had tuned in for the previous highest-rated episode, the season four finale, in November 2008. The audience later rose to 10.6 million for the heavily promoted June episode in which the couple announced that they were separating, but viewership for subsequent airings gradually declined, falling below 2 million some weeks this fall. Many critics and longtime fans said that since the new episodes had no interaction between the spouses, they were boring. It turns out many people actually enjoyed watching Kate berate Jon for his shortcomings as a father and husband while he rolled his eyes. The recent uptick may have come because the couple re-entered the news with some typical ugly-divorce squabbling: Kate accused Jon of withdrawing money illegally from their joint bank account. Other news was sui generis: Jon had recently sought to forbid TLC from filming the couple’s eight children, which ended for now the channel’s plans to continue with a show titled “Kate Plus 8.” That unexpected twist leaves TLC in something of a bind, as the channel was heavily dependent on the Gosselins. Airings of various episodes of “J&K” filled around 17 hours of TLC’s schedule last week. It was also the network’s highest-rated show. The penultimate episode of the series, which drew a more modest 2.3 million viewers on Nov. 16, was still far ahead of TLC’s next most-viewed series, “Cake Boss,” which drew only 1.8 million and had the benefit of “J&K” as a lead-in. If TLC has an image beyond “Jon & Kate,” it’s known for airing reality series that focus on big families, as in “18 and Counting,” or dwarfs, such as “Little People, Big World” and “Little Parents, First Baby.” These shows have done well in the younger adult-women demographics. Last week, according to Nielsen, TLC ranked eighth in prime time among women 18-49 but 17th among total viewers. Losing its flagship show, TLC is in a situation similar to that of HBO after “The Sopranos” finished its run. Should the channel try to re-create a previous success or try to redefine itself? Some signs point to the latter option. TLC recently announced it has ordered 12 episodes of “Mall Cops: Mall of America,” indicating that the network may be trying to attract the young males who helped make a hit of the recent guy-oriented comedy “Paul Blart: Mall Cop.” And who knows? Maybe the tabloids will discover that one of the cops is committing adultery. *** In cable ratings for the week ended Nov. 22: Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): ESPN, USA, TBS, TNT, FX. Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, ESPN, Fox News Channel, TBS, TNT. Top movie (18-49s): USA’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End” (Saturday, 7 p.m.) 1.5 million. Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Ravens/Browns” (Monday, 8:30 p.m.) 10.20 million. Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Steelers/Broncos” (Monday, 8:30 p.m.); FX’s “Sons of Anarchy” (Tuesday, 10 p.m.); ESPN’s “SportsCenter” (Monday, 11:39 p.m.); USA’s “Monday Night Raw” (Monday, 9 and 10 p.m.); Lifetime’s “Project Runway” (Thursday, 10 p.m.). Show on the rise: Lifetime’s “Project Runway,” Thursday 10 p.m. The season finale averaged 4.28 million total viewers, making it the most-watched episode of the season, its first on Lifetime. Show on the decline: ESPN’s “Monday Night Football: Ravens/Browns,” Monday 8:30 p.m. The NFL is having a great season in terms of viewership, but a Ravens/Browns matchup this late in the season doesn’t cut it. The game averaged 10.2 million total viewers, off 36 percent from the previous week’s game between the Steelers and Broncos.
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Rank
Primetime
Total Day
Net
(000)
Net
(000)
1
2321
NICK
1601
2
ESPN
2193
1263
3
FOXN
1888
1218
4
TNT
1483
FOXN
1032
5
1458
TNT
1010
6
TBSC
1400
ADSM*
944
7
HIST
1315
ESPN
902
8
AEN
1121
TOON
779
9
FAM
1108
TBSC
759
10
TOON
980
HIST
691
11
HGTV
977
AEN
664
12
FOOD
937
FAM
598
13
SYFY
882
FOOD
589
14
FX
851
TRU
588
15
TRU
850
HGTV
562
16
TLC
842
LIF
548
17
CMDY
833
HALL
526
18
LIF
804
FX
492
19
HALL
788
SPK
487
20
DISC
766
DISC
477
21
SPK
756
TVLD
440
22
ESP2
748
CMDY
432
23
AMC
614
AMC
408
24
BRAV
601
SYFY
408
25
MTV
583
TLC
401
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Rank
Program
Net
(000)
1
Ravens/Browns
ESPN
7481
2
Monk
3748
3
Sportscenter
ESPN
3675
4
WWE Raw
3532
5
White Collar
3387
6
Project Runway
LIF
3361
7
WWE Raw
3340
8
NCIS
3328
9
Spongebob
NICK
3247
10
Hannity
FOXN
3151
11
Spongebob
NICK
3136
12
Spongebob
NICK
3130
13
The O'Reilly Factor
FOXN
3085
14
NCIS
3052
15
The O'Reilly Factor
FOXN
3039
16
Spongebob
NICK
2993
17
The O'Reilly Factor
FOXN
2925
18
NCIS
2791
19
Penguins Of
NICK
2721
20
The O'Reilly Factor
FOXN
2717
21
The O'Reilly Factor
FOXN
2672
22
NCIS
2621
23
NCIS
2601
24
Sons Of Anarchy
FX
2569
25
Penguins Of
NICK
2567
1
Ravens/Browns
ESPN
7481
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Rank
PRIME TIME
TOTAL DAY
Net
(000)
Net
(000)
1
ESPN
743
ADSM*
481
2
TBSC
638
NICK
343
3
606
ESPN
341
4
FX
384
338
5
TNT
373
TBSC
318
6
CMDY
328
294
7
SPK
322
TNT
231
8
MTV
318
FX
209
9
301
MTV
208
10
TLC
291
TOON
197
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Rank
PROGRAM
NET
(000)
1
Ravens/Browns
ESPN
2521
2
CMDY
1475
3
The Hills
MTV
1464
4
Sportscenter
ESPN
1424
5
Sons Of Anarchy
FX
1324
6
Family Guy
ADSM
1241
7
WWE Raw
1241
8
Project Runway
LIF
1193
9
Family Guy
ADSM
1184
10
WWE Raw
1175
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Rank
PRIME TIME
TOTAL DAY
Net
(000)
Net
(000)
1
ESPN
1447
ADSM*
676
2
1294
640
3
TBSC
1109
ESPN
617
4
TNT
871
590
5
FX
701
TBSC
571
6
AEN
635
TNT
564
7
CMDY
610
NICK
554
8
HIST
600
FX
376
9
SPK
588
TRU
368
10
FAM
581
AEN
365
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Rank
PROGRAM
NET
(000)
1
Ravens/Browns
ESPN
5363
2
Sportscenter
ESPN
2735
3
WWE Raw
2546
4
Project Runway
LIF
2496
5
Sons Of Anarchy
FX
2474
6
WWE Raw
2304
7
CMDY
2023
8
Top Chef
BRAV
1910
9
The Ultimate Fighter
SPK
1826
10
The Hills
MTV
1795
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
PRIME TIME
TOTAL DAY
Rank
Net
(000)
Net
(000)
1
ESPN
1450
666
2
1365
TNT
607
3
TNT
927
ESPN
574
4
TBSC
919
503
5
HIST
690
TBSC
490
6
AEN
686
ADSM*
457
7
FOXN
655
NICK
442
8
FOOD
637
AEN
387
9
SYFY
632
TRU
372
10
FX
611
HIST
370
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Rank
PROGRAM
NET
(000)
1
Ravens/Browns
ESPN
5425
2
Sportscenter
ESPN
2674
3
Project Runway
LIF
2590
4
WWE Raw
2458
5
Sons Of Anarchy
FX
2220
6
WWE Raw
2189
7
Monk
2035
8
Top Chef
BRAV
2002
9
White Collar
1804
10
Next Iron Chef 2
FOOD
1787
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data
© 2012 Media Life |
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