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Television
At last, NBC KO's Fox's record streak
By Toni Fitzgerald
Aug 29, 2007 - 1:20:43 AM

After a six-month winning streak fueled by reality shows like “American Idol” and “Hell’s Kitchen,” Fox finally had its record streak snapped last week.

For sure, it was a bad week for Fox, which canceled “Anchorwoman” after just one episode and saw ratings for the “Teen Choice Awards” fall 19 percent from last year in adults 18-49.

But it was really a victory for NBC, its first weekly win in 2007 and its best week since the regular season ended in May.

The network had the week’s top three shows among 18-49s with the season finale of “America’s Got Talent,” a “Sunday Night Football” preseason game and “The Singing Bee.” NBC averaged a 2.1 rating and a 6 share in the demographic for the week ended Aug. 26, 11 percent above its summer-to-date average of 1.9/6, according to Nielsen.

That ended 28 weeks of weekly wins for Fox, dating back to February, the longest such streak for any network in 11 years.

Much of the credit for NBC's strong week goes to its decision to limit "Talent" to just one night this summer, down from two, and moving it to Tuesday from Wednesday and Thursday.

That spared it from airing opposite Fox’s hit “So You Think You Can Dance,” which clobbered it on Thursdays last year. 

Under the old format, the competition aired on Wednesday and the results on Thursday, but the results show never did as well, falling by a third from the previous night.

This year, airing on just one night, “Talent” averaged a 3.6 18-49 rating, up 16 percent over last summer’s combined Thursday-Wednesday rating.

For NBC, the timing of last week's win could not be better, as an opportunity to heavily promote its fall lineup of new dramas.

Meanwhile, in broadcast ratings for the week ended Aug. 26:
 
Among adults 18-49, NBC led with a 2.1 rating and a 6 share, followed by CBS at 2.0/6, Fox at 1.7/5, ABC at 1.6/5, Univision at 1.3/4, CW at 0.7/2, Telemundo at 0.4/1, Telefutura and MyNetworkTV at 0.3/1 and Ion and Azteca at 0.1/0.
 
Among adults 18-34, NBC led with a 1.7 rating and a 6 share, followed by Fox and Univision at 1.5/5, CBS at 1.4/5, ABC 1.2/4, CW at 0.8/2, Telemundo at 0.5/2, Telefutura at 0.4/1, MyNetworkTV at 0.4/1 and Ion and Azteca at 0.1/0.
 
Among adults 25-54, CBS led with a 2.5 rating and a 7 share, followed by NBC at 2.3/7, Fox at 1.9/5, ABC at 1.8/5, Univision at 1.2/3, CW at 0.7/2, MyNetworkTV and Telemundo 0.4/1, Telefutura at 0.3/1, Ion at 0.2/1 and Azteca at 0.1/0.
 
Top five English-language Big Five shows (18-49s): 1. NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” 4.2; 2. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 3.4; 3. NBC’s “The Singing Bee” 3.2; 4. CBS’s “Big Brother - Tuesday” 3.1; Tie-5. CBS’s “Big Brother – Thursday” and “Two and a Half Men” and NBC’s “Last Comic Standing” 3.0.
 
Top five English-language Big Four shows (total viewers): 1. NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” 13.94 million; 2. CBS’s “CSI” 10.37 million; 3. CBS’s “Without a Trace” 9.30 million; 4. CBS’s Two and a Half Men” 9.25 million; 5. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 9.20 million.
 
Bottom five English-language Big Four shows (18-49s): 73. ABC’s “Saturday Movie of the Week” 0.9; Tie-74. ABC’s “Set for Life” and NBC’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” 0.8; 76. CBS’s “Crimetime Saturday” 0.7; 77. ABC’s “Master’s of Science Fiction” 0.6.
 
Bottom five English-language Big Four shows (total viewers): Tie-72. ABC’s “George Lopez” and NBC’s “Heroes” 2.84 million; 74. CBS’s “Crimetime Saturday” 2.83 million; 75. Fox’s “Anchorwoman” 2.66 million; 76. Fox’s “On the Lot” 2.40 million; 77. ABC’s “Master’s of Science Fiction” 2.14 million.
 
Show on the rise: “Countdown with Keith Olbermann,” NBC, Sunday 7 p.m. Sure, it was among the week's least-watched broadcast shows, but in its broadcast debut it more than quadrupled its average nightly cable audience of 721,000 viewers last month.
 
Show on the decline: “Anchorwoman,” Fox, Wednesday 8 p.m. Was it the biggest broadcast bomb of the summer? Fox’s reality show posted just a 1.0 among 18-49s, and the network canceled the show after one episode.

PRIMETIME AVERAGES BY NETWORK
Ranked on Households
Week Ending August 26

Network

Households

People 2+

Adults 18-49

Rtg%

(000)

Shr

Rtg%

(000)

Shr

Rtg%

(000)

Shr

CBS

4.7

5230

8

2.4

6920

7

2.0

2620

6

NBC

3.8

4270

7

2.1

5960

6

2.1

2690

6

FOX

3.0

3380

5

1.7

4680

5

1.7

2240

5

ABC

3.0

3340

5

1.6

4480

5

1.6

2030

5

UNI

1.6

1740

3

1.1

2990

3

1.3

1680

4

CW

1.3

1420

2

0.7

1950

2

0.7

940

2

MNT

0.7

790

1

0.4

1000

1

0.3

420

1

TEL

0.5

560

1

0.3

930

1

0.4

560

1

ION

0.4

450

1

0.2

570

1

0.1

180

0

TF

0.4

400

1

0.2

660

1

0.3

410

1

AZA

0.1

100

0

0.1

150

0

0.1

100

0

* Each rating point is equivalent to 1.114 million homes
Source: Nielsen Media Research

 

SEASON-TO-DATE PRIMETIME AVERAGES BY NETWORK
Ranked on Households
Week Ending August 26

Network

Households

People 2+

Adults 18-49

Rtg%

(000)

Shr

Rtg%

(000)

Shr

Rtg%

(000)

Shr

CBS

7.0

7810

12

3.9

10930

10

3.2

4180

9

FOX

5.6

6280

9

3.2

9180

9

3.6

4670

10

ABC

5.5

6150

9

3.0

8500

8

3.0

3900

8

NBC

5.2

5780

9

2.8

7980

8

2.8

3600

8

UNI

1.9

2120

3

1.2

3520

3

1.5

2000

4

CW

1.9

2070

3

1.0

2850

3

1.2

1500

3

MNT

0.6

690

1

0.3

860

1

0.3

420

1

TEL

0.5

590

1

0.3

900

1

0.4

530

1

ION

0.4

480

1

0.2

630

1

0.1

180

0

TF

0.4

410

1

0.2

640

1

0.3

410

1

AZA

0.1

100

0

0.0

140

0

0.1

90

0

* Each rating point is equivalent to 1. 114 million homes
Source: Nielsen Media Research 

TOP 25 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST
Ranked on Households
Week Ending August 26

#

PROGRAMS

Net

HOUSEHOLDS

PERSONS 2+

Rtg%

Shr

(000)

#

Rtg%

(000)

1

AMERICA 'S GOT TALENT

NBC

8.4

14

9348

1

4.9

13943

2

CSI

CBS

7.0

12

7816

2

3.7

10373

3

WITHOUT A TRACE

CBS

6.4

11

7158

3

3.3

9304

4

60 MINUTES

CBS

6.2

12

6872

5

3.2

9046

4

TWO AND A HALF MEN

CBS

6.2

10

6910

3

3.3

9249

6

NBC NFL PRE-SEASON 8/26(S)

NBC

6.0

10

6670

5

3.2

9201

7

POWER OF TEN

CBS

5.8

10

6475

7

3.1

8696

8

COLD CASE

CBS

5.7

9

6299

9

3.0

8449

9

CRIMINAL MINDS

CBS

5.6

9

6204

10

2.9

8304

10

CSI: MIAMI

CBS

5.3

9

5913

12

2.7

7647

10

CSI: NY

CBS

5.3

9

5943

11

2.8

7846

10

SINGING BEE

NBC

5.3

9

5941

7

3.1

8875

13

BIG BROTHER 8-THU

CBS

5.1

9

5654

12

2.7

7776

14

BIG BROTHER 8-SUN

CBS

4.8

8

5373

15

2.6

7409

15

BIG BROTHER 8-TUE

CBS

4.7

8

5250

15

2.6

7299

15

JUST FOR LAUGHS

ABC

4.7

8

5221

12

2.7

7677

17

NCIS

CBS

4.6

8

5077

21

2.3

6526

17

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

CBS

4.6

7

5153

21

2.3

6650

17

SHARK

CBS

4.6

8

5094

21

2.3

6636

17

TV'S FUNNIEST MOMNTS-8/20(S)

FOX

4.6

7

5103

15

2.6

7243

21

LAST COMIC STANDING 5

NBC

4.5

7

5016

15

2.6

7252

22

JUST FOR LAUGHS-TU 8PM

ABC

4.4

8

4902

19

2.4

6828

22

NBC NFL PRE-SSN PRKCK8/26(S)

NBC

4.4

8

4853

19

2.4

6770

24

20/20-FRI

ABC

4.3

8

4767

27

2.2

6167

24

DATELINE-WED

NBC

4.3

7

4750

27

2.2

6180

24

EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED.

ABC

4.3

7

4787

21

2.3

6612

24

PRIMETIME: CRIME

ABC

4.3

8

4822

27

2.2

6328

24

WIFE SWAP

ABC

4.3

7

4742

27

2.2

6247

Source: Nielsen Media Research

TOP 25 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST
Adults 18-49
Week Ending August 26

Rank

Program

Net

Rtg%

(000)

1

AMERICA 'S GOT TALENT

NBC

4.2

5456

2

NBC NFL PRE-SEASON 8/26(S)

NBC

3.4

4405

3

SINGING BEE

NBC

3.2

4225

4

BIG BROTHER 8-TUE

CBS

3.1

4106

5

BIG BROTHER 8-THU

CBS

3.0

3926

5

LAST COMIC STANDING 5

NBC

3.0

3965

5

TWO AND A HALF MEN

CBS

3.0

3892

8

BIG BROTHER 8-SUN

CBS

2.8

3676

9

CSI

CBS

2.7

3542

10

JUST FOR LAUGHS

ABC

2.6

3357

10

WITHOUT A TRACE

CBS

2.6

3339

12

TV'S FUNNIEST MOMNTS-8/20(S)

FOX

2.5

3300

13

DESTILANDO AMOR WED

UNI

2.4

3094

13

NBC NFL PRE-SSN PRKCK8/26(S)

NBC

2.4

3153

13

PRIMETIME: CRIME

ABC

2.4

3089

13

WIFE SWAP

ABC

2.4

3148

17

CSI: NY

CBS

2.3

3012

17

DESTILANDO AMOR THU

UNI

2.3

3058

17

DESTILANDO AMOR TUE

UNI

2.3

2994

17

NFL ON FOX PRESEASON 3(S)

FOX

2.3

2982

17

POWER OF TEN

CBS

2.3

2940

22

CRIMINAL MINDS

CBS

2.2

2846

22

CSI: MIAMI

CBS

2.2

2884

22

DESTILANDO AMOR MON

UNI

2.2

2854

22

EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED.

ABC

2.2

2886

22

OFFICE

NBC

2.2

2914

22

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

CBS

2.2

2866

Source: Nielsen Media Research

  

SPANISH-LANGUAGE TELEVISION (WEEKLY COLLAPSED)
Ranked on Households
Week Ending August 26

#

PROGRAMS

Net

NHTI

P2+ (000)

1

DESTILANDO AMOR M-F

UNI

21.6

4420

2

DON FRANCISCO PRESENTA-WE

UNI

17.7

3279

3

AQUI Y AHORA-THU

UNI

16.8

2825

4

CRISTINA-MON

UNI

15.1

3089

5

FAMILIA P. LUCHE M-F

UNI

13.6

2808

6

AMAR SIN LIMITES M-F

UNI

12.7

2553

7

YO AMO JUAN QUERENDON M-F

UNI

11.9

2387

8

SOS: SEXO OTROS SECRT TUE

UNI

11.1

2099

9

FAMILIA DE DIEZ FRI

UNI

10.5

2143

10

SABADO GIGANTE-SAT

UNI

9.1

1565

11

RUMBO AL MUNDIAL 8/22(S)-08/22/2007

TEL

8.1

1422

12

BUSCANDO TIMBIRICHE SUN

UNI

7.6

1519

13

HORA PICO-SUN

UNI

7.0

1725

14

CASOS FAMILIA ED ESP SAT

UNI

6.4

1293

15

MADRE LUNA M-F

TEL

6.1

1097

15

ESCLAVA ISAURA M-F

TEL

6.1

1082

17

DAME CHOCOLATE M-F

TEL

5.4

946

18

CINE LAS ESTREL2 SUN

TF

4.4

1217

19

CINE MILLONARIO

TEL

4.3

870

20

JUNTO AL TRI 8/22(S)-08/22/2007

TEL

4.2

691

21

RUMBO PREGAME 8/22(S)-08/22/2007

TEL

4.1

631

22

CINE LAS ESTREL1 SUN

TF

4.0

1073

23

CINE LAS ESTREL1 M-THU

TF

3.8

816

23

AMOR MIO M-F

TEL

3.8

785

23

CINE DE IMPACTO

TEL

3.8

838

* Nielsen Hispanic Television Index; ratings based on 11.63 million Hispanic TV homes.
Source: Nielsen Media Research

 

HISPANIC ENGLISH-LANGUAGE VIEWING
Ranked on Households
Week Ending August 26

#

PROGRAMS

Net

NHTI

P2+(000)

1

AMERICA 'S GOT TALENT

NBC

3.7

595

2

JUST FOR LAUGHS

ABC

3.5

792