Weekend overnights: Huge turnout for NBC's game
The writers’ strike may be hurting TV ratings, but people will still tune in to a well-played football game, even if it’s on a Saturday night.
Saturday’s AFC wild card playoff game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Pittsburgh Steelers, which the Jags won 31-29 on a last-second field goal, led NBC to an 8.4 Nielsen overnight rating and 23 share among 18-49s for the night, the highest 18-49 rating for any network on any night since Fox’s “American Idol” finale last May.
As a reminder, fast nationals measure primetime timeslot and not actual program data, so final numbers will likely change somewhat, but overnights also show NBC averaged 22.4 million total viewers for the night, also the highest on any night for any network since the “Idol” finale.
Among 18-49s, ABC was a distant second for the night at 2.0/5, with Fox third at 1.8/5, CBS fourth at 1.4/4 and Univision fifth at 0.9/3.
NBC led each hour of the night, beginning with a 9.2 at 8 p.m. for the first hour of its game. Fox was second with a 1.9 for an hour of “Cops,” ABC third with a 1.6 for the first of three hours of New Hampshire debate coverage, CBS fourth with a 1.0 for the first hour of the movie “High Crimes” and Univision fifth with a 0.9 for its first of three hours of “Sabado Gigante.”
At 9 p.m. NBC led with an 8.1 for football, followed by Fox and ABC at 2.1, Fox for “America’s Most Wanted” and ABC for the debates. CBS was fourth with a 1.4 for the second half of its movie and Univision fifth with a 1.1 for “Sabado Gigante.”
NBC led again at 10 p.m. with another 8.1 for football, while ABC held onto second with a 2.2 for the debates. CBS was third with a 1.9 for “48 Hours Mystery” and Univision fourth with a 0.9 for the last hour of “Sabado Gigante.”
Among households, NBC was first for the night with a 13.0 average overnight rating and a 21 share. ABC was second at 5.5/9, CBS third at 4.0/7, Fox fourth at 3.5/6 and Univision fifth at 1.3/2.
On Friday night an evening of original programming led NBC to a first-place finish among viewers 18-49, as it averaged a 2.1 overnight rating and a 6 share. Fox was second at 2.0/6, ABC and CBS tied for third at 1.6/5, Univision fifth at 1.5/4 and CW sixth at 1.4/4.
NBC began the night in the lead with a 2.3 rating at 8 p.m. for “1 vs. 100,” followed by CBS with a 1.8 for a repeat of “Ghost Whisperer.” Fox was third with a 1.7 for a repeat of “Bones,” Univision and CW tied for fourth at 1.5, Univision for “Amar sin Limites” and CW for its first hour of “Friday Night Smackdown,” and ABC sixth with a 1.0 for a “Grey’s Anatomy” rerun.
Fox took the lead at 9 p.m. with a 2.3 for a repeat of “House,” while NBC slipped to second with a 1.8 for “Friday Night Lights.” ABC and CW tied for third at 1.7, ABC for “Women’s Murder Club” and CW for its second hour of “Smackdown,” with Univision fifth with a 1.6 for “Pasion” and CBS sixth with a 1.4 for a “Moonlight” repeat.
At 10 p.m. ABC was first with a 2.1 for “20/20,” with NBC second with a 2.0 for “Las Vegas.” CBS was third with a 1.6 for a repeat of “Numb3rs” and Univision fourth at 1.4.
Among households, NBC was first for the night with a 4.5 average overnight rating and an 8 share, with ABC second at 4.4/7, Fox and CBS tied for third at 3.9/7, CW fifth at 2.5/4 and Univision sixth at 1.7/3.
Comcast's upcoming innovation: The portable DVR
Media people may soon have a new set of concerns about digital video recorders. Today cable company Comcast and electronics manufacturer Panasonic will unveil a portable DVR player at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Called the Anyplay, it can hold up to 60 hours of programming and has an 8.5-inch screen and speakers, allowing users to record at home and play on the go. The device can operate as a standard high-definition DVR player too. The device also plays CDs and DVDs. The Anyplay box will be available in about a year. The machine utilizes a new technology that the cable industry has developed called tru2way. The technology enables “open cable” – in other words, it allows TV equipment to work on with any cable provider without special boxes.
After a frustrating fall, CW tinkers with its schedule
Get ready for a, like, totally revamped CW lineup come February. The network is making a number of changes to its primetime schedule, according to Variety, starting later this month when “Gossip Girl” moves from Wednesday at 9 p.m. to Monday at 8 p.m. That will push the network’s Monday comedy lineup to Sundays starting Feb. 10. The comedy lineup will begin at 8 p.m., following "CW Now" and repeats of "Everybody Hates Chris." That likely means the end for very low-rated Sunday drama "Life is Wild." Meanwhile, “Girl” will be paired with “Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious” at 9 p.m., premiering Feb. 18. “America’s Next Top Model” debuts two nights later in its usual 8 p.m. slot, and fellow reality show “Beauty and the Geek” returns March 11 at 8 p.m., though it will no longer be paired with new comedy “Reaper.” That show will switch from Tuesdays to Thursdays at 9 starting Feb. 28. The changes come after a difficult fall for the fledgling CW, the product of the merger of the WB and UPN in 2006. It has seen ratings fall across the board, including among its target viewers 18-34, despite generally positive feedback from media people for its new programs. And as for the new reality show “Farmer Wants a Wife,” that won’t debut till May.
CBS 'Early Show' introduces yet another makeover
Over the last nine years, CBS’s “The Early Show” has gone through seemingly countless redesigns and overhauls in an attempt to catch up with longtime leader “Today” and longtime No. 2 “Good Morning America.” Today begins another. In the biggest change since former “GMA” executive producer Shelley Ross joined the show last fall, “Early” debuts a new co-anchor this morning, Maggie Rodriguez and begins phasing out the local/national model that had been airing in about a fifth of the country. Forty-three local affiliates will no long be allowed to carry mostly local news during the first hour of the program, instead turning the airwaves over to “Early” at 7 a.m., just like “Today” and “GMA.” Ross has also instituted a new set and a new graphic design package, as well as new theme music that CBS hopes will help modernize the show. But like earlier revamps involving the addition of Bryant Gumbel and subtraction of Rene Syler, this one may not achieve the desired effect. “Today” draws about double the number of total viewers as “Early,” and in adults 25-54, though “Early” has gained over the past year, it’s still well behind NBC and ABC.
Finally, some first-months numbers for Fox Business
The media may have gotten a bit ahead of itself in building up the rivalry between News Corp.’s new Fox Business Network and NBC Universal’s veteran CNBC. According to numbers compiled by Nielsen last week, the new network averaged some 6,000 viewers per weekday during its first two and a half months, compared with 283,000 for CNBC. Of course, at a distribution of 30 million households, FBN is available in a fraction of CNBC’s roughly 90 million, and smaller numbers were to be expected. Still, while some bloggers smirked at FBN’s tiny tune-in when the numbers came out Friday, News Corp. probably didn’t care. Rupert Murdoch’s strategy for the network was to do a soft launch and work out the kinks before pushing into a more aggressive mode, adding more households and challenging CNBC directly. That won’t happen for months or perhaps years, and it wasn’t supposed to. FBN could be in 40 million households by year’s end, still half of CNBC, but in the meantime it’s the demographic profile of those viewers that will really matter to advertisers. Nielsen noted that during business primetime, FBN averaged 15,000 viewers to CNBC’s 234,000.
