ABC nips a win
on first night of sweeps
Averages a 3.1 in 18-49s, 0.1 ahead of Fox and CBS
By Toni Fitzgerald
Feb 5, 2010
Even with its new drama "The Deep End" sinking to a series low, ABC pulled off a win on the opening night of February sweeps for the third time in the past four years.
The network averaged a 3.1 adults 18-49 rating and 8 share, according to Nielsen overnights, just a hair ahead of Fox and CBS, which tied for second at 3.0/8. NBC was a distant fourth at 2.3/6, sunk by low ratings for the lame duck "The Jay Leno Show."
ABC also had its own ratings deadweight. Though the network had the night's highest-rated show, "Grey's Anatomy" with a 4.5 at 9 p.m., it also had the night's second-lowest-rated program on the Big Four, "Deep," which averaged just a 1.3 at 8 p.m. and finished sixth in the timeslot.
That was off 28 percent from last week's 1.8, clearly hurting from the stronger competition. Last week the only other original show in the timeslot on the Big Four was Fox's "Bones." This week, with CBS's "Surviving Survivor" special and NBC's "Community" and "Parks and Recreation" originals, both "Deep" and "Bones" slipped.
With "Survivor" returning to originals next week, and with an all-star edition no less, it will be interesting to see if ABC sticks with "Deep" for much longer. It undoubtedly will fall behind CBS on the night if it does.
Elsewhere on the night, the CW's first-year hit "The Vampire Diaries" posted its best numbers since Nov. 12 in its target adults 18-34 (2.3) and women 18-34 (3.0).
Meanwhile, rounding out the top six networks for the night among 18-49s, Univision placed fifth at 1.8/5 and the CW sixth at 1.5/4.
As a reminder, all ratings are based on live-plus-same-day DVR playback. Seven-day DVR data won’t be available for several weeks. Thirty-four percent of Nielsen households have DVRs.
At 8 p.m. Fox led with a 3.3 for “Bones,” with CBS second with a 2.4 for “Surviving.” NBC was third with a 2.3 for “Community” (2.2) and “Parks” (2.3), CW fourth with a 1.8 for “The Vampire Diaries,” Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Hasta que el Dinero Nos Separe” and ABC sixth with a 1.3 for “Deep.”
ABC took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 4.5 for “Grey’s Anatomy,” followed by NBC with a 3.4 for “The Office” (3.8) and “30 Rock” (2.9). CBS was third with a 3.2 for “CSI,” Fox fourth with a 2.6 for “Fringe,” Univision fifth with a 2.1 for “Sortilegio” and CW sixth with a 1.1 for “Supernatural.”
At 10 p.m. ABC held onto the lead with a 3.4 for “Private Practice,” while CBS moved to second with a 3.3 for “The Mentalist,” the night's No. 1 show in total viewers with 14.7 million. Univision was third with a 1.8 for “Mujeres Asesinas 2” and NBC fourth with a 1.2 for “Leno.”
CBS led the night among households with a 7.8 average overnight rating and a 13 share. ABC was second at 6.0/10, Fox third at 5.9/9, NBC fourth at 3.3/5, Univision fifth at 2.1/3 and CW sixth at 2.0/3.
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