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With teens at least,
'Gossip Girl' is hot


It's the top-rated new show among 12-17-year-olds

Oct 5, 2007

 The CW’s new “Gossip Girl” hasn't caught with the viewers many media people expected, the network's target 18-34 viewers.

In its early weeks it's lost more than a third of its “America’s Next Top Model” lead-in and has lagged well behind tough timeslot rivals NBC’s “Bionic Woman” and ABC’s “Private Practice” in those demographics.

But among teenagers, “Girl” couldn’t be hotter.

Last week, the week ended Sept. 30, “Girl” was the top-rated new show among teens 12-17, averaging a 2.5 rating. It held that rating again this week in its 9 p.m. slot against both “Woman” and “Practice,” and is averaging a 2.6 season to date. 

“Girl,” about a group of popular, fast-living Manhattan teens whose social life is chronicled by an anonymous blogger, has won its timeslot in teens and female teens every week, even while finishing last in adults 18-34 these last two weeks.

Certainly “Girl” benefits from a strong lead-in from “America’s Next Top Model,” which averaged a 3.2 among teens last week.

But “Girl” is also putting up numbers that rank with some of the top shows among female teens over recent years.

The show’s Sept. 19 debut drew a 5.3 among teen girls, bettering the series premieres of “The O.C.,” “Veronica Mars,” “One Tree Hill,” “Gilmore Girls” and even the WB’s late “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Season to date, it's averaging a 4.6 in that demo.

On any other network, teens alone wouldn't be enough to save "Girl." But this is the CW, which skews younger and needs hits wherever it finds them as a still-developing network.

Teen girls are an especially valuable audience, as loyal viewers and vocal ones who could convince friends or others in their household to start watching. They're also inclined to stick with favorite shows as they grow older.

Besides, there's a good chance that older viewers will be drawn to the show over time. “Beverly Hills, 90210” was an immediate hit with teens but took much longer catch with the non-teen audience, at which point it became a big hit. That could be the case for “Girl.”

Right now, “Girl” is the youngest-skewing show on any English-language broadcast network, with a median age of 22.8 years old, about three years younger than last year’s youngest-skewing program, “One Tree Hill.”

"Girl" will likely need to start retaining more of “Model’s” 18-34 audience to justify staying in that very valuable timeslot.

One way to do that might be incorporating more adult plotlines, as co-creator Josh Schwartz did with his last teen show, “The O.C.,” by building up the parts of the parents.

Meanwhile, in other younger viewer ratings for the week ending Sept. 30:

Among teens 12-17, Fox led with a 1.8 rating and 6 share, followed by NBC and ABC at 1.6/6, the CW at 1.5/5, CBS at 1.5/6, Univision at 1.0/4, Telemundo at 0.3/1, Telefutura at 0.2/0, and Azteca at 0.0/0.

Among kids 2-11, ABC led with a 1.2/5, followed by Univision at 1.1/5, Fox at 1.1/4, NBC at 1.0/4, CBS at 0.9/4, the CW at 0.8/3, Telemundo at 0.3/1, Telefutura at 0.2/1, and Azteca at 0.0/0.

The top five shows among kids 2-5: 1. “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon, Saturday 9:30 a.m.); 2. “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon, Friday 10 a.m.); 3. “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon, Monday noon); 4. “Dora the Explorer” (Nickelodeon, Thursday noon); 5. “SpongeBob SquarePants” (Nickelodeon, Monday 2 p.m.)

The top five shows among kids 6-11: 1. “High School Musical 2” (Disney, Sunday 8 p.m.); 2. “Sky High” (Disney, Friday 9 p.m.); 3. “Sky High” (Disney, Saturday noon); 4. “High School Musical” (Disney, Sunday 6 p.m.); 5. “Shuan the Sheep” (Disney, Saturday 1:45 p.m.)

The top five shows among kids 9-14: 1. “High School Musical 2” (Disney, Sunday 8 p.m.); 2. “Sky High” (Disney, Friday 9 p.m.); 3. “Sky High” (Disney, Saturday noon); 4. “High School Musical” (Disney, Sunday 6 p.m.); 5. 5. “Suite Life of Zack & Cody” (Disney, Sunday 10 p.m.)

TOP 10 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST & CABLE
Kids 2-5
Week Ended Sept. 30

Program

Net

Rtg%

(000)

1

SPONGEBOB-09/29/2007

NICK

5.9

947

2

DORA THE EXPLORER-09/28/2007

NICK

5.6

896

3

DORA THE EXPLORER-09/24/2007

NICK

5.6

894

4

DORA THE EXPLORER-09/27/2007

NICK

5.3

854

5

SPONGEBOB-09/24/2007

NICK

5.3

846

6

WONDER PETS-09/28/2007

NICK

5.2

831

7

SPONGEBOB-09/24/2007

NICK

5.2

830

8

MAX AND RUBY-09/24/2007

NICK

5.1

824

9

YO GABBA GABBA-09/27/2007

NICK

5.1

809

10

SPONGEBOB-09/29/2007

NICK

5

808

Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research

 

TOP 10 PROGRAMS – BROADCAST & CABLE
Kids 6-11
Week Ended Sept. 30

Program

Net

Rtg%

(000)

1

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2-09/30/2007

DSNY

9.1

2205

2

SKY HIGH-09/28/2007

DSNY

7.9

1921

3

S SKY HIGH-09/29/2007

DSNY

7.5

1818

4

S HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL-09/30/2007

DSNY

6.6

1596

5

SHAUN THE SHEEP-09/29/2007

DSNY

6.2

1504

6

S HANNAH MONTANA-09/29/2007

DSNY

6.1

1489

7

S HANNAH MONTANA-09/29/2007

DSNY

6.1

1482

8

S SUITE LIFE OF ZACK&CODY-09/29/2007

DSNY

5.9

1431

9

S HANNAH MONTANA-09/29/2007

DSNY

5.8

1419

10

HANNAH MONTANA-09/27/2007

DSNY

5.8

1405

Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research

 

TOP 10 PROGRAMS – CABLE
Kids 9-14
Week Ended Sept. 30

Rank

Program

Net

Rtg%

(000)

1

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL 2-09/30/2007

DSNY

9.1

2216

2

SKY HIGH-09/28/2007

DSNY

7.5

1836

3

S SKY HIGH-09/29/2007

DSNY

6.9

1684

4

S HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL-09/30/2007

DSNY

5.7

1390

5

S SUITE LIFE OF ZACK&CODY-09/30/2007

DSNY

5.6

1369

6

CONFESSIONS/TEENAGE DRAMA-09/29/2007

DSNY

5.5

1334

7

HANNAH MONTANA-09/27/2007

DSNY

5.4

1313

8

SHAUN THE SHEEP-09/29/2007

DSNY

5.4

1312

9

S HANNAH MONTANA-09/30/2007

DSNY

5.1

1246

10

S SUITE LIFE OF ZACK&CODY-09/29/2007

DSNY

5.1

1243

Source: Disney-ABC Television Group, based on data from Nielsen Media Research

 



Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.




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