Not-so-big Starz
finally has a big hit
Or big for it, as 'Spartacus' breaks a million viewers
By Toni Fitzgerald
Mar 3, 2010
It took Starz several tries, but the premium movie network finally has a signature original show.
"Spartacus: Blood and Sand" has become a hit for the network, which had launched three previous notable new shows over the past three years trying to find one that could help it build buzz much like pay cable rivals Showtime and HBO.
"Spartacus" averaged 1.08 million total viewers last Friday night, the first time it has broken 1 million and the fourth time in five weeks it showed a week-to-week increase.
Season to date, "Spartacus" is averaging 813,000 after premiering to 659,000 viewers in January, the best ever for a Starz original series.
Those numbers might not sound like much compared to mid-level basic cable hits like "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," "The O'Reilly Factor" or "Jersey Shore," which all draw more than 3 million viewers per week.
But Starz is available in only 22 million households, or roughly a quarter of the distribution for most major cable networks.
And what really matters for pay cable networks is buzz more than ratings. Ratings tell the network that people are watching, but buzz is what gets them to subscribe, and Starz has not had this sort of buzz-builder until now.
"Crash" premiered decently two years ago, but the show never lived up to the promise of the Oscar-winning movie on which it was based, and it managed a mere 94,000 viewers for last year's second-season finale. Comedies "Head Case" and "Party Down" generated decent reviews but little buzz.
Starz used a smart marketing campaign for "Spartacus," a soapy "300"-esque drama with plenty of naked gladiators. It made the show available online ahead of time on lots of free sites, building anticipation for it before the debut.
Now the network will apply the lessons learned from "Spartacus" to another new drama, "The Pillars of the Earth," that will premiere this summer.
"Earth" is the first acquisition by new Starz CEO Chris Albrecht, the former HBO head who arrived at Starz at the beginning of the year.
***
In cable ratings for the week ended Feb. 28:
Top five networks in primetime (18-49s): USA, TBS, TNT, FX, CNBC.
Top five networks in primetime (total viewers): USA, Fox News Channel, TNT, TBS, Nick at Nite.
Top movie (18-49s): TBS’s “Daddy’s Little Girls” (Sunday, 10:15 p.m.) 1.42 million.
Top sporting event (total viewers): ESPN2’s “NASCAR Nationwide Series” (Saturday, 6:15 p.m.) 2.86 million.
Shows making the top 10 among 18-34s, 18-49s and 25-54s: USA’s “WWE Raw” (Monday, 10 p.m.).
Show on the rise: Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Orange County” Thursday 10 p.m. The reality series averaged 1.61 million viewers 25-54, up 31 percent from 1.23 million the previous week.
Show on the decline: Oxygen’s “Bad Girls Club” Tuesday 10 p.m. Oxygen's highest-rated program fell 16 percent from the previous week's original episode among adults 18-34, but there was a reason for that decline: This was a clip show, not an original episode. While down from an original show, the season four clip show was up 133 percent over last season's clip show among women 18-34.
|
TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Household Rating
Week Ending February 28 |
|
Rank |
Primetime |
Total Day |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
2255
|
NICK
|
1689
|
|
2
|
FOXN
|
1582
|
NAN
*
|
1290
|
|
3
|
TNT
|
1414
|
USA
|
1146
|
|
4
|
NAN
|
1407
|
FOXN
|
1082
|
|
5
|
TBSC
|
1315
|
TNT
|
1067
|
|
6
|
TOON
|
1064
|
ADSM*
|
1060
|
|
7
|
AEN
|
1039
|
TOON
|
893
|
|
8
|
HIST
|
1039
|
TBSC
|
737
|
|
9
|
ESPN
|
991
|
AEN
|
672
|
|
10
|
FAM
|
922
|
HIST
|
611
|
|
11
|
CNBC
|
878
|
TRU
|
577
|
|
12
|
HGTV
|
866
|
HGTV
|
575
|
|
13
|
FX
|
858
|
ESPN
|
572
|
|
14
|
TRU
|
829
|
FOOD
|
540
|
|
15
|
TLC
|
772
|
LIF
|
537
|
|
16
|
SYFY
|
770
|
FX
|
523
|
|
17
|
DISC
|
752
|
SPK
|
516
|
|
18
|
AMC
|
750
|
AMC
|
508
|
|
19
|
MTV
|
719
|
CNN
|
507
|
|
20
|
FOOD
|
710
|
DISC
|
500
|
|
21
|
MSNB
|
703
|
FAM
|
492
|
|
22
|
SPK
|
696
|
MTV
|
457
|
|
23
|
LIF
|
654
|
TVLD
|
440
|
|
24
|
CMDY
|
650
|
CMDY
|
436
|
|
25
|
HALL
|
623
|
HALL
|
419
|
|
* 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
Week Ending February 28 |
|
Rank
|
Program |
Net
|
(000) |
|
1
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3738
|
|
2
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
3674
|
|
3
|
CNN Newsroom
|
CNN
|
3587
|
|
4
|
CNN Newsroom
|
CNN
|
3516
|
|
5
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3367
|
|
6
|
Burn Notice
|
USA
|
3224
|
|
7
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
3157
|
|
8
|
The Penguins Of
Madagascar
|
NICK
|
3122
|
|
9
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
3027
|
|
10
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
3003
|
|
11
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
2966
|
|
12
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
2880
|
|
13
|
America
's News
|
FOXN
|
2865
|
|
14
|
Psych
|
USA
|
2761
|
|
15
|
The Penguins Of
Madagascar
|
NICK
|
2753
|
|
16
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
2744
|
|
17
|
Fanboy & Chum Chum
|
NICK
|
2721
|
|
18
|
The O'Reilly Factor
|
FOXN
|
2702
|
|
18
|
White Collar
|
USA
|
2702
|
|
20
|
Spongebob
|
NICK
|
2681
|
|
21
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
2678
|
|
22
|
America
's News
|
FOXN
|
2677
|
|
23
|
iCarly
|
NICK
|
2674
|
|
24
|
iCarly
|
NICK
|
2668
|
|
25
|
iCarly
|
NICK
|
2665
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending February 28 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
558
|
ADSM*
|
530
|
|
2
|
TBSC
|
545
|
NAN
*
|
357
|
|
3
|
TNT
|
459
|
NICK
|
357
|
|
4
|
MTV
|
402
|
TBSC
|
304
|
|
5
|
CMDY
|
376
|
TNT
|
271
|
|
6
|
FX
|
355
|
USA
|
263
|
|
7
|
ESPN
|
350
|
ESPN
|
243
|
|
8
|
AEN
|
285
|
MTV
|
242
|
|
9
|
FAM
|
279
|
CMDY
|
240
|
|
10
|
NAN
|
276
|
TOON
|
222
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
Week Ending February 28 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
16 And Pregnant 2
|
MTV
|
1685
|
|
2
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1584
|
|
3
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1413
|
|
4
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1381
|
|
5
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1313
|
|
6
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1269
|
|
7
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1268
|
|
8
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1241
|
|
9
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1184
|
|
10
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
1183
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-49
Week Ending February 28 |
|
Rank |
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
1232
|
ADSM*
|
703
|
|
2
|
TBSC
|
1026
|
NAN
*
|
621
|
|
3
|
TNT
|
926
|
TNT
|
618
|
|
4
|
FX
|
683
|
USA
|
588
|
|
5
|
CNBC
|
613
|
NICK
|
574
|
|
6
|
AEN
|
611
|
TBSC
|
568
|
|
7
|
ESPN
|
596
|
ESPN
|
394
|
|
8
|
HIST
|
578
|
AEN
|
392
|
|
9
|
TRU
|
556
|
FX
|
390
|
|
10
|
FAM
|
538
|
TRU
|
355
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
Week Ending February 28 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2765
|
|
2
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2627
|
|
3
|
16 And Pregnant 2
|
MTV
|
2107
|
|
4
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
2044
|
|
5
|
Burn Notice
|
USA
|
2043
|
|
6
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1941
|
|
7
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1795
|
|
8
|
Family Guy
|
TBSC
|
1791
|
|
9
|
Real Housewives Of
Orange
County
|
BRAV
|
1776
|
|
10
|
Family Guy
|
ADSM
|
1743
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
Week Ending February 28 |
|
|
PRIME TIME |
TOTAL DAY |
|
Rank
|
Net |
(000) |
Net |
(000) |
|
1
|
USA
|
1345
|
TNT
|
651
|
|
2
|
TNT
|
945
|
USA
|
630
|
|
3
|
TBSC
|
895
|
NAN
*
|
507
|
|
4
|
HIST
|
648
|
TBSC
|
494
|
|
5
|
AEN
|
634
|
NICK
|
453
|
|
6
|
CNBC
|
624
|
ADSM*
|
440
|
|
7
|
FX
|
617
|
AEN
|
406
|
|
8
|
SYFY
|
568
|
TRU
|
378
|
|
9
|
TRU
|
567
|
FOXN
|
352
|
|
10
|
ESPN
|
554
|
HIST
|
349
|
|
* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 25-54
Week Ending February 28 |
|
Rank |
PROGRAM |
NET |
(000) |
|
1
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2640
|
|
2
|
WWE Raw
|
USA
|
2637
|
|
3
|
Burn Notice
|
USA
|
2173
|
|
4
|
CNN Newsroom
|
CNN
|
2008
|
|
5
|
CNN Newsroom
|
CNN
|
1915
|
|
6
|
Psych
|
USA
|
1836
|
|
7
|
White Collar
|
USA
|
1741
|
|
8
|
Real Housewives Of
Orange
County
|
BRAV
|
1612
|
|
9
|
Ax Men
|
HIST
|
1603
|
|
10
|
NCIS
|
USA
|
1585
|
|
Source: Turner Research from Nielsen data
|
|
|
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