Weekend overnights: CBS easily wins Friday night
Originals of “Ghost Whisperer” and “Numb3rs” led CBS to first place among viewers 18-49 on a slow Friday night, finishing with a 2.1 average Nielsen overnight rating and a 7 share. Univision was second at 1.4/4, NBC and Fox tied for third at 1.3/4, ABC fifth at 1.2/4 and CW sixth at 0.5/2.
At 8 p.m. CBS was first with a 2.6 for “Ghost,” the night’s highest-rated show, followed by Univision with a 1.5 for “Cuidado con el Angel.” Fox was third with a 1.3 for “Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?,” ABC fourth with a 1.1 for a repeat of “Wife Swap,” NBC fifth with a 0.9 for a “Momma’s Boys” rerun and CW sixth with a 0.5 for repeats of “Everybody Hates Chris” and “The Game.”
CBS led again at 9 p.m. with a 1.7 for a repeat of “Numb3rs,” with Univision second with a 1.6 for “Fuego en la Sangre.” NBC was third with a 1.5 for “Dateline,” Fox fourth with a 1.4 for “Don’t Forget the Lyrics,” ABC fifth with a 1.0 for a “Supernanny” rerun and CW sixth with a 0.5 for more “Chris” and “Game” repeats.
At 10 p.m. CBS was first once again with a 2.1 for a new “Numb3rs,” while NBC and ABC tied for second at 1.6, NBC for more “Dateline” and ABC for “20/20.” Univision was fourth with a 1.2 for “Rosa de Guadalupe.”
CBS also finished first for the night among households with a 5.8 average overnight rating and a 10 share. NBC was second at 3.6/6, Fox third at 3.4/6, ABC fourth at 2.8/5, Univision fifth at 1.9/3 and CW sixth at 0.9/1.
On Saturday night Fox was first among 18-49s with a 1.6 average overnight rating and a 5 share. CBS was second at 1.5/5, ABC third at 1.2/4, NBC fourth at 1.0/3 and Univision fifth at 0.9/3.
At 8 p.m. Fox was first with a 1.6 for an hour of “Cops,” with CBS second with a 1.4 for the first hour of the movie “Elf.” ABC was third with a 1.1 for “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown,” Univision fourth with a 0.9 for the first hour of “Sabado Gigante” and NBC fifth with 0.6 for “Crusoe.”
Fox and CBS tied for first at 9 p.m. at 1.7, Fox for “America’s Most Wanted” and CBS for “Elf.” ABC was third with a 1.2 for “The Cat in the Hat,” NBC fourth with a 1.0 for “WWE Salutes the Troops” and Univision fifth with a 0.9 for more “Sabado.”
At 10 p.m. CBS took the lead with a 1.4 for “48 Hours Mystery,” while ABC and NBC tied for second at 1.3, ABC for more “Cat” and NBC for a repeat of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” Univision was fourth with a 0.9 for the final hour of “Sabado.”
Among households, Fox led the night with a 3.3 average overnight rating and a 6 share. CBS was second at 3.1/5, NBC third at 2.3/4, ABC fourth at 2.1/4 and Univision fifth at 1.4/2.
White House accusing NYT of 'gross negligence'
The Bush administration has one last beef with the New York Times, with whom it has butted heads numerous times over the last eight years. The paper’s long article yesterday on the White House’s contribution to the mortgage meltdown prompted a 500-word response issued by White House Press Secretary Dana Perino denouncing the Times for “gross negligence.” The Times story carried the headline “Ownership society’: White House Philosophy Stoked Mortgage Bonfire” and notes, “the story of how we got here is partly one of Mr. Bush’s own making, according to a review of his tenure that included interviews with dozens of current and former administration officials.” The White House begged to differ, issuing the memo entitled, “Setting the Record Straight: The Three Most Egregious Claims In The New York Times Article On The Housing Crisis.” Says the memo: “The Times' 'reporting' in this story amounted to finding selected quotes to support a story the reporters fully intended to write from the onset, while disregarding anything that didn't fit their point of view.”
RAB: Radio revenue took a bigger hit in December
November did not bring any relief for the increasingly sickly radio marketplace. According to Miller Kaplan and Arase data for 100 markets released Friday by the Radio Advertising Bureau, total ad revenue was off 20 percent during November, following a 6 percent decline the same month last year. National revenue took the biggest hit, down 24 percent, while local revenue slipped 21 percent. Combined spot revenue fell 22 percent. Off-air revenue, from things like promotion and the web, climbed 1 percent. In October, revenue was down a more modest 10 percent, following an 8 percent decline in September. RAB has not reported a year-to-year revenue increase since April 2007.
Manic Mondays no more: Oregon paper cuts edition
Detroit’s aren’t the only daily newspapers in the country adjusting their delivery schedules. The Herald and News, a 16,000-circulation daily in Klamath Falls, Ore., said last week that it is eliminating its Monday print edition, pushing some of its feature content into the Sunday paper and relying on the web edition for breaking news. In a letter to readers published last week, publisher Heidi Wright cited the “realities of the marketplace” and a desire to avoid more layoffs as the reason for the move. “Besides being able to mitigate the skyrocketing cost of newsprint and other supplies, going back to six days a week will give our newspaper carriers and bundle haulers a much-needed day off each week,” Wright wrote. This is the latest in what is expected to be a slew of cost-cutting, paradigm-challenging moves by newspapers in a harsh advertising climate. Last week Detroit’s two dailies said they would eliminate home delivery most days of the week, and papers in Arizona and Wisconsin have already moved to web-only editions.
Study: 335 magazines launch in 2008, off 13 percent
It was a brutal year for magazines, with ad pages down nearly 10 percent year to date, according to the Publishers Information Bureau, and dozens of publications folding, including such high-profile ones as Radar and CosmoGirl. Still, new magazines continued to pop up during 2008, with 335 total launching in the U.S. and Canada, according to a new study from online database MediaFinder.com. The report found that health magazines led the list, with 31 new titles, followed by regional, with 24 titles, and food, with 17. The site predicts that these categories will continue to show strength, with aging baby boomers boosting interest in health magazines and strong local advertising supporting regional titles. The total number of new launches was off 13 percent compared to 2007, when 386 titles debuted, and down 22 percent from 2006, when 431 new titles premiered. Most of 2008’s launches were more niche, with backing from smaller publishers.
