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
|
