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DTV blooper:
Charlie Gibson tumbles


Nielsen snafu sinks Friday's ABC newscast to third

Jun 18, 2009

When it comes to the nightly news, all the bad news has been about CBS’s “Evening News with Katie Couric,” which has continued to struggle in third place as NBC and ABC swatted it out for No. 1.

But then late last week the attention turned to ABC’s “World News with Charles Gibson,” with reports that the show’s ratings had quite suddenly sunk to all-time lows.

As it turns out, it just plain wasn't true.

Friday was DTV switchover day, when the nation completed the move from analog to digital transmission. And while it went smoothly for the most part, there was one notable glitch: Gibson's news show appeared to lose some 2.2 million viewers.

Initially, Nielsen reported an audience of 4.1 million viewers. When ABC balked, Nielsen rechecked its numbers and issued a corrected figure yesterday: 6.34 million viewers had actually watched the show.

What happened?

Seems a few ABC affiliates switched over to digital earlier than expected, and Nielsen didn’t include these stations in its initial ratings estimates.

“World News” actually did fairly well the week of June 8, ranking a solid No. 2 behind NBC’s “Nightly News.”

“Nightly News” averaged just under 8.3 million viewers. It had a 5.5 household rating and 12 share. And in the key news demographic adults 25-54 it had a 1.9 rating.

“World News” had just shy of 7 million viewers, a 4.8 household rating and 11 share and a 1.5 adult 25-54 rating.

“Evening News” trailed far behind with 5.4 million viewers, a 3.7/8 in households and a 1.2 rating in 25-54s.

***

Meanwhile, in other daypart ratings for the week ended June 7, ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos” was the most-watched Sunday morning show with 3.11 million tuning in, followed by CBS’s “Face the Nation” with 2.49 million viewers and Fox “News Sunday” with 1.36 million. Among the 25-54 demographic, ABC averaged a 0.9 rating followed by CBS at 0.6 and Fox at 0.4. NBC’s “Meet the Press” was preempted due to the network’s French Open coverage.

In morning shows, NBC’s “Today” was first for the week with 5.4 million total viewers, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” with 4.1 million and CBS’s “Early Show” with 2.6 million. “Today” averaged a 4.1 household rating and a 15 share, followed by “Good Morning America” at 3.1/11 and “Early Show” at 2.0/7.

In late night, NBC’s “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” led the week with 6.1 million total viewers in its debut, followed by CBS’s “The Late Show with David Letterman” with 3.5 million and ABC’s “Nightline” with 3.2 million. In late late night, NBC’s “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” drew 2.4 million viewers, with CBS’s “The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson” bringing in 1.8 million, NBC’s “Last Call with Carson Daly” 1.4 million and ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live” 1.3 million. Among 18-49s, “Tonight Show” averaged a 2.3 rating, followed by “Nightline” and “Late Show” at 0.9. In late late night, “Late Night” averaged a 1.0 rating, with “Late Late Show” and “Last Call” at 0.6 (with a Monday rerun for “Last Call”) and “Kimmel” at 0.4 (including reruns on Monday and Friday).

The most recent week of daytime ratings were unavailable.


SUNDAY MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week ending June 7, 2009
Sunday averages

Program

Network

Households

 

Rtg%

Shr

Adults 25-54

Total viewers (millions)

This Week With George Stephanopoulos

ABC

2.2

6

0.9

3.110

Face the Nation

CBS

1.7

5

0.6

2.490

News Sunday

Fox

0.9

3

0.4

1.360

Meet the Press*

NBC

-

-

-

-

*Preempted due to French Open coverage

Source: NTI

LATE-NIGHT RATINGS
Week Ending June 7, 2009
Five-day averages

Program

Network

People 2+

Adults 18-49

Total viewers (millions)

Rtg%

Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien

NBC

6.1

2.3

Late Show with David Letterman

CBS

3.5

0.9

Nightline

ABC

3.2

0.9

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

NBC

2.4

1.0

The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson

CBS

1.8

0.6

Last Call with Carson Daly*

NBC

1.4

0.6

Jimmy Kimmel Live*

ABC

1.3

0.4

* Monday's "Last Call" and the Monday and Friday "Kimmel" telecasts were encores. Source: NTI

MORNING SHOW RATINGS
Week Ending June 7, 2009
Five-day averages

Program

Network

Households

People 2+

Rtg%

Shr

Total viewers (millions)

Today

NBC

4.1

15

5.419

Good Morning America

ABC

3.1

11

4.115

Early Show

CBS

2.0

7

2.578

Source: NTI

DAYTIME RATINGS
Week Ending May 24, 2009
Five-day averages

 

Total viewers (millions)

Women 18-49

Network

(millions)

Rtg%

CBS

3.36

1.0

ABC

2.84

1.3

NBC

2.53

1.2

Source: NTI

 

EVENING NETWORK NEWS RATINGS
Week Ending June 14, 2009
Five-day averages

Program

Network

25-54s

People 2+

Rtg%

Total viewers (millions)

NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams

NBC

1.9

8.271

ABC World News with Charles Gibson

ABC

1.5

6.990

CBS Evening News with Katie Couric

CBS

1.2

5.402

Source: Nielsen Media Research

SYNDICATION
Ranked on Households
Week Ending June 7, 2009

#

PROGRAMS

Syndicator

Households

US Rtg%

(000)

1

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

CTD

5.9

6787

2

JEOPARDY

CTD

5.2

5930

3

TWO-HALF MEN-SYN (AT)

WB

4.1

4724

4

OPRAH WINFREY SHOW

CTD

4.0

4524

4

JUDGE JUDY (AT)

CTD

4.0

4578

6

ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT(AT)

CTD

3.8

4350

7

CSI NEW YORK-SYN(AT)

CTD

3.5

3952

8

FAMILY GUY-MF-SYN (AT)

2/T

3.4

3939

9

LAW & ORDER:SVU-SYN (AT)

NBU

3.3

3787

10

SEINFELD (AT)

SPT

3.1

3563

11

INSIDE EDITION (AT)

CTD

2.9

3301

12

EVRY LVS RAYMOND-SYN(AT)

CTD

2.8

3261

13

DR. PHIL SHOW (AT)

CTD

2.7

3115

13

GEORGE LOPEZ (AT)

WB

2.7

3099

13

KING OF THE HILL-SYN(AT)

2/T

2.7

3050

16

WHEEL OF FORTUNE WKND

CTD

2.6

2987

17

LIVE WITH REGIS AND KELLY

DAD

2.4

2796

17

CSI MIAMI-SYN (AT)

CTD

2.4

2713

19

SEINFELD-WKND (AT)

SPT

2.3

2595

19

MILLIONAIRE (AT)

DAD

2.3

2591

19

KING OF QUEENS-SYN (AT)

SPT

2.3

2626

19

HOUSE OF PAYNE MF-SYN(AT)

2/T

2.3

2632

23

TWO-HALF MEN WKND B (AT)

WB

2.2

2563

23

FRIENDS (AT)

WB

2.2

2462

25

TMZ (AT)

WB

2.1

2349

25

GEORGE LOPEZ WKND A (AT)

WB

2.1

2435

Source: Nielsen Media Research



Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.




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