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for BET Jackson tribute


Annual awards show draws 10.7 million total viewers

Jul 1, 2009

Just about everyone was shocked last Thursday by the death of pop star Michael Jackson, but perhaps none more so than the producers of the “2009 BET Awards,” the performing arts and sports awards show on the African-American cable network BET.

The show had only three days to prepare a tribute to Jackson, arguably the most celebrated black performer ever. The producers slammed together a tribute, including an appearance by Jackson’s sister, singer Janet Jackson.

The scrambling paid off with huge ratings for the “BET Awards.”

The show ranked No. 2 among all cable shows in second quarter with nearly 10.7 million viewers.

It was last week’s No. 1 show in total viewers and ranked No. 2 in key adult demographics behind only TLC’s “Jon & Kate Plus 8.”

This year’s “BET Awards” was the most-viewed program in the history of BET, which like MTV is owned by Viacom.

But BET got a boost not only for the “2009 BET Awards” but the shows that preceded it and followed it.

The series “106 & Park,” leading into the awards, pulled its best audience ever with 3.1 million people tuning in. The post-awards special, “BET Awards ’09 After-Party,” generated its best-ever audience with 5.2 million viewers.

And a preview of BET’s upcoming series “Tiny & Toya,”airing after the "After-Party," became the network’s most-watched original series with an audience of 3.8 million viewers.

For the week ending June 28, BET accomplished a rare feat by dominating the ratings.

It was the No. 1 network for the week in 18-34s with an average audience of 763,000 people. It ranked No. 2 in total viewers behind only USA with just under 2.4 million viewers.

By comparison, in second quarter BET ranked No. 24 in total viewers with an audience of 859,000 people, up 44 percent from the same time in 2008.

 

TOP 25 BASIC CABLE NETWORKS
Ranked on Households
 Week Ending June 28

Rank

Primetime

Total Day

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

USA

2448

NICK

1696

2

ESPN

1774

NAN *

1329

3

TNT

1647

USA

1283

4

FOXN

1585

TNT

1068

5

BET

1412

ADSM*

1044

6

NAN

1245

FOXN

990

7

TLC

1218

ESPN

839

8

CNN

1210

TOON

820

9

TBSC

1134

CNN

737

10

FAM

998

TBSC

665

11

DISC

949

BET

599

12

HGTV

895

DISC

599

13

FOOD

894

FOOD

577

14

AEN

887

HIST

569

15

HIST

846

AEN

566

16

FX  

842

TRU

562

17

TOON

820

FAM

558

18

LIF

799

LIF

538

19

SCIF

778

FX  

529

20

TRU

743

TLC

526

21

HALL

738

HGTV

498

22

MSNB

701

SPK

463

23

AMC

693

HALL

461

24

BRAV

687

AMC

453

25

CMDY

671

TVLD

441

Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 

TOP 25 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE PROGRAMS
Ranked on Households
 Week Ending June 28

Rank

Program

Net

(000)

1

Jon & Kate Plus 8

TLC

7540

2

BET Awards Show

BET

5835

3

WWE Entertainment

USA

4733

4

The Closer

TNT

4673

5

Royal Pains

USA

4384

6

WWE Entertainment

USA

4184

7

Sprint Cup Racing/Loudon

TNT

4003

8

Burn Notice

USA

3879

9

NASCAR Post Race Show

TNT

3791

10

BET Awards 09 Afterparty

BET

3217

11

NCIS

USA

3138

12

The Secret Life Of The American Teenager

FAM

3137

13

Cake Boss

TLC

3112

14

Lou Dobbs Tonight

CNN

3013

14

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Orig)

USA

3013

16

Campbell Brown

CNN

2986

17

In Plain Sight

USA

2893

18

Hawthorne

TNT

2873

19

Larry King Live

CNN

2846

20

Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Orig)

USA

2808

21

NCIS

USA

2775

22

NCIS

USA

2722

23

Anderson Cooper 360

CNN

2684

24

Yankees/Mets

ESPN

2650

25

The Penguins Of Madagascar

NICK

2647

Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-34
 Week Ending June 28

Rank

PRIME TIME

TOTAL DAY

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

BET

763

ADSM*

476

2

USA

626

NAN *

368

3

ESPN

481

USA

317

4

TBSC

474

NICK

316

5

TLC

470

ESPN

309

6

TNT

355

BET

296

7

FAM

346

TBSC

264

8

CMDY

340

TNT

255

9

FX  

325

CMDY

218

10

DISC/MTV

317

MTV

217

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source:
Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-34
 Week Ending June 28

Rank

PROGRAM

NET

(000)

1

Jon & Kate Plus 8

TLC

3732

2

BET Awards Show

BET

3382

3

BET Awards 09 Afterparty

BET

1863

4

WWE Entertainment

USA

1774

5

Cake Boss

TLC

1643

6

WWE Entertainment

USA

1437

7

Tiny & Toya

BET

1434

8

The Secret Life Of the American Teenager

FAM

1404

9

Confederations Cup Soccer      

ESPN

1377

10

Cake Boss

TLC

1319

Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 18-49
 Week Ending June 28

  Rank

PRIME TIME

TOTAL DAY

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

USA

1390

USA

692

2

BET

1283

NAN *

657

3

ESPN

1016

ADSM*

645

4

TBSC

873

TNT

616

5

TNT

873

ESPN

553

6

TLC

869

NICK

525

7

DISC

694

TBSC

487

8

FX  

643

BET

480

9

FAM

630

DISC

393

10

AEN

607

FX  

373

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source:
Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 18-49
 Week Ending June 28

Rank

PROGRAM

NET

(000)

1

Jon & Kate Plus 8

TLC

6494

2

BET Awards Show

BET

5929

3

WWE Entertainment

USA

3434

4

BET Awards 09 Afterparty

BET

3088

5

Cake Boss

TLC

2806

6

WWE Entertainment

USA

2760

7

NASCAR Post Race Show

TNT

2383

8

Sprint Cup Racing/Loudon

TNT

2354

9

Deadliest Catch

DISC

2265

10

Confederations Cup Soccer      

ESPN

2243

Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE NETWORKS
Adults 25-54
 Week Ending June 28

 

PRIME TIME

TOTAL DAY

Rank

Net

(000)

Net

(000)

1

USA

1485

USA

726

2

BET

1072

TNT

667

3

ESPN

1023

NAN *

535

4

TNT

961

ESPN

499

5

TLC

820

ADSM*

443

6

TBSC

768

NICK

426

7

DISC

695

TBSC

421

8

FOOD

630

BET

390

9

FX  

624

DISC

380

10

AEN

614

FOXN

356

* Network broadcasts less than 51% of minutes in a 24-hour day.
Source:
Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 

 

TOP 10 AD-SUPPORTED CABLE SHOWS
Adults 25-54
 Week Ending June 28

Rank

PROGRAM

NET

(000)

1

Jon & Kate Plus 8

TLC

5830

2

BET Awards Show

BET

5054

3

WWE Entertainment

USA

3242

4

NASCAR Post Race Show

TNT

2884

5

Sprint Cup Racing/Loudon

TNT

2877

6

WWE Entertainment

USA

2752

7

BET Awards 09 Afterparty

BET

2604

8

Royal Pains

USA

2566

9

Cake Boss

TLC

2431

10

The Closer

TNT

2423

Source: Turner Research from Nielsen Media Research data .

 



Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.




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