Cover Page Send to a Friend Print Version Contact Us Advertise Post a Free Classified

Led by baseball,
Fox is No. 1 in sweeps

Averages a 5.3 in adults 18-49, double last year

By Toni Fitzgerald
Nov 9, 2009

The World Series could well lift Fox to its first November sweeps victory since 2001, the last time the fall classic extended into November.

One week into sweeps, the network has built a commanding lead over second-place ABC, more than doubling its average for the first week of sweeps last year.

Through Wednesday night, the most recent data available, Fox is averaging a 5.3 adults 18-49 rating and 15 share, according to Nielsen data supplied by the network. That's up 104 percent from last year.

Second-place ABC is averaging a 2.8/8, down 15 percent from last year, while CBS is pulling a 2.7/7, even to last year.

Fourth-place NBC is averaging a 1.8/5, off 40 percent from last year, though it was without top show "Sunday Night Football," while the CW has averaged a 1.1/3, up 10 percent from last year.

Overall PUT levels, or people using television, are down 5 percent this sweeps.

Fox's lead is due entirely to sports, including runover from last week's record-breaking Green Bay Packers-Minnesota Vikings NFL game and the five World Series games that fell within the sweeps period.

The World Series finished up Wednesday with a strong 7.4 rating, the highest for any show last week by nearly two rating points.

The trick for Fox will be sustaining that lead over the next three weeks, but that won't be as big a problem as in past years. "House" is one of the top scripted shows on television this year, and the network's Sunday animated lineup has performed solidly.

New hits "Glee" and "The Cleveland Show" are doing much better than the shows that held their timeslots last year. Meanwhile, ratings for key shows on other networks, including ABC's "Dancing with the Stars," CBS's "CSI" and NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," are down, which will make catching Fox that much harder.

The last time Fox won the fall sweeps was 2001, when it tied for first with NBC with a 5.1 rating fueled by a seven-game World Series. The series was pushed back the beginning of the month by the Sept. 11 attacks, which prompted the postponement of many September games.

Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.	© 2010 Media Life Magazine

Latest headlines Your client cutting up on the ice Weak return for ABC's 'FlashForward' Leno wins week two by smaller margin Words and ideas: New York Magazine 'Life,' visually stunning as life itself Message right under your feet: Go NFL! It's official: Amanpour joins ABC News Rachel, what do I do about this woman? Jerry Buhlmann rises to CEO at Aegis Group Sandy Kolkey becomes president at Draftfcb New York Lane Soelberg and Christine Bensen join Moxie Interactive Icaro Doria becomes group creative director at Goodby Paula Abdul's new gig falls through Jeff Zeleny, Matt Bai and Jim Rutenberg shift roles at NYT Tony Sherman becomes director of product operations at LogicLab Beau Bridges joins NBC's 'The Rockford Files'