After a round of musical chairs in December, in which it replaced the anchors of its evening, weekday morning and Sunday morning news shows, ABC News has suffered a drop in ratings.
Viewership for ABC's "World News with Diane Sawyer," "Good Morning America" and "This Week" all fell during the first three months of the year.
Since Sawyer joined "World News" in December, the show's season average has fallen by about 300,000 viewers, to just over 8 million, according to Nielsen.
Meanwhile, "GMA" has seen NBC's "Today" gain its biggest first-quarter lead in six years. "GMA" averaged 4.46 million total viewers, down 4 percent from last year, though the 2009 numbers did include a big bump in viewership for the inauguration.
And "This Week," which beat NBC's "Meet the Press" for the first time in years last summer with host George Stephanopoulos, has slid to third place behind "Press" and "Face the Nation" without a permanent host.
During first quarter, "This Week" averaged 2.4 million viewers, 1.1 million behind "Press" and 600,000 behind "Nation." For the previous full season under Stephanopoulos, the show averaged 3 million viewers.
The big question is whether the ABC shows can rebound.
It's possible that those departed ABC viewers are still sampling other networks since the great reshuffling, in which Charles Gibson retired, Sawyer moved into his evening news chair, and George Stephanopoulos left "This Week" for Sawyer's chair on "GMA." They could return.
Or it could be that those viewers are gone for good, reflecting a larger trend on broadcast.
ABC is hardly the only network suffering that problem. "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric's" average has also fallen since December.
"NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams" is up, but credit for that goes to the Olympics, when viewership swelled to its highest level in years.
NBC's "Today" is up 1 percent over last year, thanks partly to the Olympics bump, but CBS's "The Early Show" is off even more than "GMA."
ABC's "This Week" seems poised for the biggest improvement later this year, when former CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour becomes the new host. There's been a great deal of curiosity over how Amanpour, whose expertise is in international affairs, will remake the program as a less-Beltway-centric show.
***
In dayparts for the week ended April 11, NBC’s “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” led the week in late night with 4.2 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Nightline” and CBS’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” with 3.7 million. In late late night, CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson,” NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” all averaged 1.7 million viewers, with NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” at 1.0 million. Among 18-49s, “Tonight” averaged a 1.1 rating, with “Late Show” at a 1.0 and “Nightline” at a 0.9. In late late night, “Late Night” and “Kimmel” each averaged a 0.6, “Late Late Show” at a 0.5 and “Last Call” at a 0.4. Monday's "Last Call" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores. Also, Monday, Thursday and Friday "Late Show" telecasts are excluded from the averages due to delays caused by sports coverage, as is Monday's "Late Late Show." Thursday and Friday "Late Late Shows" were also delayed but are included in the averages.
NBC’s “Meet the Press” was the most-watched Sunday morning show on April 11 with 3.00 million tuning in, followed by ABC’s “This Week” with 2.50 million, CBS’s “Face the Nation” with 2.33 million and “Fox News Sunday” with 1.10 million. Among the 25-54 demographic, NBC averaged a 0.8 rating, with ABC at a 0.7, CBS at a 0.6 and Fox at 0.3.
In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” was first for the week with 4.97 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 4.09 million and CBS’s “The Early Show” at 2.52 million. “Today” averaged a 3.8 household rating and a 15 share, with “Good Morning America” at 3.2/12 and “Early Show” at 1.9/7.
In evening network news, NBC’s “Nightly News with Brian Williams” was first with 8.05 million total viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 25-54. ABC’s “World News with Diane Sawyer” averaged 7.27 million viewers and a 1.6 rating, followed by CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric” with 5.16 million and a 1.3 rating.
In daytime, CBS was first for the week with 3.59 million total viewers, followed by ABC with 2.83 million and NBC with 2.72 million. Among 18-49s, ABC posted a 1.2 average rating, while CBS and NBC averaged a 1.1.
|
SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week ending April 11, 2010
Sunday averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
|
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Adults 25-54 |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
Meet the Press |
NBC |
2.1 |
6 |
0.8 |
2.997
|
|
This Week |
ABC |
1.8 |
5 |
0.7 |
2.500 |
|
Face the Nation
|
CBS |
1.8 |
5 |
0.6 |
2.332 |
|
News Sunday
|
Fox |
0.8 |
2 |
0.3 |
1.099 |
|
Source: Nielsen |
|
LATE-NIGHT RATINGS*
Week Ending April 11, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
People 2+ |
Adults 18-49 |
|
Total viewers (millions) |
Rtg% |
|
Tonight Show with Jay Leno |
NBC |
4.2 |
1.1 |
|
Late Show with David Letterman |
CBS |
3.7 |
1.0 |
|
Nightline
|
ABC |
3.7 |
0.9 |
|
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon |
NBC |
1.7 |
0.6 |
|
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson |
CBS |
1.7 |
0.5 |
|
Jimmy Kimmel Live |
ABC |
1.7 |
0.6 |
|
Last Call with
Carson Daly |
NBC |
1.0 |
0.4 |
|
* Monday's "Last Call" and Friday's "Kimmel" were encores. Monday, Thursday and Friday "Late Show" telecasts are excluded from these averages due to delays caused by sports coverage, as is Monday's "Late Late Show." Thursday and Friday "Late Late Shows" were also delayed but are included in the averages.
Source: Nielsen |
|
MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending April 11, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
Households |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Shr |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
Today
|
NBC |
3.8 |
15 |
4.970 |
|
Good Morning
America
|
ABC |
3.2 |
12 |
4.090 |
|
Early Show |
CBS |
1.9 |
7 |
2.520 |
|
Source: Nielsen |
|
DAYTIME RATINGS
Week Ending April 11, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
|
Total viewers (millions) |
Women 18-49 |
|
Network |
(millions) |
Rtg% |
|
CBS
|
3.59 |
1.1 |
|
ABC |
2.83 |
1.2 |
|
NBC |
2.72 |
1.1 |
|
Source: Nielsen |
|
EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS
Week Ending April 11, 2009
Five-day averages |
|
Program |
Network |
25-54s |
People 2+ |
|
Rtg% |
Total viewers (millions) |
|
NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams
|
NBC |
1.9 |
8.052 |
|
ABC World News with Diane Sawyer
|
ABC |
1.6 |
7.273 |
|
CBS Evening News with Katie Couric
|
CBS |
1.3 |
5.162 |
|
Source: Nielsen |
|
SYNDICATION
Ranked on Households
Week Ending April 4, 2009 |
|
# |
PROGRAMS |
Syndicator |
Households |
|
US
Rtg% |
(000) |
|
1
|
WHEEL OF FORTUNE
|
CTD
|
6.4
|
7320
|
|
2
|
JEOPARDY
|
CTD
|
5.6
|
6459
|
|
3
|
TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT)
|
WB
|
4.7
|
5384
|
|
4
|
JUDGE JUDY (AT)
|
CTD
|
4.4
|
5022
|
|
5
|
ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)
|
CTD
|
4.1
|
4691
|
|
6
|
OPRAH WINFREY SHOW
|
CTD
|
4.0
|
4592
|
|
7
|
FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT)
|
2/T
|
3.4
|
3889
|
|
8
|
CENTURY 19
|
2/T
|
3.3
|
3814
|
|
9
|
EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.1
|
3505
|
|
10
|
OFFICE-SYN (AT)
|
NBU
|
3.0
|
3485
|
|
10
|
CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT)
|
CTD
|
3.0
|
3468
|
|
10
|
INSIDE EDITION (AT)
|
CTD
|
3.0
|
3409
|
|
13
|
GEORGE LOPEZ (AT)
|
WB
|
2.7
|
3081
|
|
13
|
LAW & ORDER:CI-WKL (AT)
|
NBU
|
2.7
|
3117
|
|
13
|
SEINFELD (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.7
|
3068
|
|
16
|
DR. PHIL SHOW (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.5
|
2863
|
|
16
|
TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT)
|
WB
|
2.5
|
2914
|
|
18
|
LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY
|
DAD
|
2.4
|
2777
|
|
19
|
DR. OZ SHOW (AT)
|
SPT
|
2.3
|
2666
|
|
19
|
MILLIONAIRE (AT)
|
DAD
|
2.3
|
2586
|
|
19
|
KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT)
|
2/T
|
2.3
|
2672
|
|
22
|
FRIENDS (AT)
|
WB
|
2.2
|
2538
|
|
22
|
REVOLUTION 1A
|
2/T
|
2.2
|
2475
|
|
22
|
CSI MIAMI-SYN (AT)
|
CTD
|
2.2
|
2502
|
|
22
|
TWO-HALF MEN WKND A (AT)
|
WB
|
2.2
|
2479
|
|
Source: Nielsen |
