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tops in cable viewing
Beat out originals for drawing summer audiences
By Elizabeth White
The summer may be cable’s chance to flaunt its original series programming, and it certainly did so this summer with special vigor, in an effort to counter network television's flood of reality shows.
So it is more than of passing interest, as this summer cable season wraps up, to note that it was cable's sports and special events instead that dominated the ratings over these past three months.
The highest-rated program of the summer was Nickelodeon’s "Rugrats: All Growed Up" special in July, which garnered a 7.2 household rating and nearly six million homes.
Joining "Rugrats" in the top-10 household programs this summer were TNT’s miniseries "The Mists of Avalon," MTV’s "Movie Awards," ESPN’s All-Star weekend "Home Run Derby," and two NASCAR races on TNT, the "New England 300" and the "Pennsylvania 500."
Among adults 18-49, after the "WWF" on TNN and the feature film "Rush Hour" on TBS, the highest-rated program for the summer was the "MTV Movie Awards," followed by TNT’s "NASCAR New England 300" and the TBS original movie "The Triangle."
The "New England 300" was also the highest-rated program after "Rush Hour" among adults 25-54. "The Triangle," the "Mists of Avalon," TNT’s "Sharpie 500 Winston Cup" race, the "Pennsylvania 500" and the "Home Run Derby" also made the top-10 programs for the summer in the demographic.
These highly rated special events, however, didn’t necessarily translate into year-to-year summer ratings growth for their networks.
TBS’s summer primetime rating dropped 15 percent in households from last summer, and each of its primetime demographic deliveries slipped 4 percent. ESPN fell 9 percent in primetime summer household rating from last year, 8 percent in primetime summer adults 18-49 and 5 percent in primetime summer adults 25-54.
TNT and MTV fared a little better, sliding in household numbers but improving in the demographics. TNT declined 6 percent in its primetime summer household rating but gained 2 percent in primetime adults 18-49 and 6 percent in primetime adults 25-54.
MTV lost 11 percent of its primetime household rating from last summer but gained 3 percent on its adult 18-49 delivery and 9 percent on its adult 25-54 delivery.
Instead, the network that posted the most substantial audience gains for the summer did so without any special events, but with regularly scheduled original series.
Lifetime, which had new original dramas on Sunday nights all summer, scored significant increases across the board in its summer primetime audience delivery. The network’s average delivery of households grew 27 percent, its average delivery of adults 18-49 grew 22 percent and its average delivery of adults 25-54 grew 20 percent.
Lifetime’s original movies remained its workhorse programs–comprising nearly 60 percent of its top-rated programs during August–but the network’s Sunday night programs have also turned in strong performances.
All four August episodes of "Any Day Now" ranked among the top-100 programs for the month, as did three episodes of "Strong Medicine" and two episodes of "The Division."
Sci-Fi, which also relied heavily on its original series this summer, didn’t manage as well as Lifetime.
The network made slight primetime gains in the demographics, with 1 percent increases in each and an 8 percent increase in household delivery, but Sci-Fi dropped 11 percent in primetime household rating from last summer.
|
Top 10 Primetime
Networks |
||||||
|
PT |
Net |
PT (000) |
PT % Chg |
TD |
TD (000) |
TD % |
|
1 |
USA |
957 |
-14 |
4 |
425 |
-4 |
|
2 |
TBS |
952 |
-4 |
1 |
573 |
-4 |
|
3 |
TNT |
922 |
2 |
3 |
460 |
6 |
|
4 |
LIF |
844 |
22 |
2 |
558 |
20 |
|
5 |
DISC |
650 |
-2 |
6 |
322 |
-3 |
|
6 |
TNN |
566 |
150 |
14 |
240 |
47 |
|
7 |
TLC |
542 |
4 |
8 |
304 |
24 |
|
8 |
ESPN |
505 |
-8 |
9 |
282 |
-12 |
|
9 |
MTV |
494 |
3 |
11 |
260 |
-2 |
|
10 |
SCIF |
486 |
1 |
16 |
217 |
-3 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
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|
Top 10
Programs Among Adults 18-49 |
|||||
|
Rank |
Date |
Program |
Net |
Day |
(000) |
|
1 |
7/1 |
m/"Rush Hour" |
TBS |
Sun |
4393 |
|
2 |
7/9 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
4322 |
|
3 |
7/23 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
4089 |
|
4 |
7/30 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
4083 |
|
5 |
8/6 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
4050 |
|
6 |
7/16 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
3947 |
|
7 |
6/7 |
MTV Movie Awards 2001 |
MTV |
Thu |
3902 |
|
8 |
7/22 |
NASCAR/New England 300 |
TNT |
Sun |
3897 |
|
9 |
8/12 |
m/"The Triangle" |
TBS |
Sun |
3766 |
|
10 |
7/23 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
3704 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|||||
|
Top 10
Primetime Networks |
||||||
|
PT |
Net |
PT (000) |
PT % Chg |
TD # |
TD (000) |
TD % |
|
1 |
TNT |
992 |
6 |
3 |
484 |
9 |
|
2 |
USA |
974 |
-10 |
4 |
411 |
-1 |
|
3 |
TBS |
965 |
-4 |
2 |
543 |
-6 |
|
4 |
LIF |
931 |
20 |
1 |
595 |
20 |
|
5 |
DISC |
700 |
1 |
6 |
339 |
-2 |
|
6 |
SCIF |
554 |
1 |
13 |
239 |
-1 |
|
7 |
TLC |
552 |
0 |
8 |
289 |
18 |
|
8 |
ESPN |
538 |
-5 |
9 |
269 |
-10 |
|
9 |
TNN |
527 |
100 |
14 |
236 |
31 |
|
10 |
AEN |
486 |
-18 |
7 |
327 |
-13 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
||||||
|
Top 10
Programs Among Adults 25-54 |
|||||
|
# |
Date |
Program |
Net |
Day |
(000) |
|
1 |
7/1 |
m/"Rush Hour" |
TBS |
Sun |
4361 |
|
2 |
7/22 |
NASCAR/New England 300 |
TNT |
Sun |
4223 |
|
3 |
8/12 |
m/"The Triangle" |
TBS |
Sun |
4012 |
|
4 |
7/15 |
m/"Mists Of Avalon (art 1)" |
TNT |
Sun |
3933 |
|
5 |
8/25 |
NASCAR/ |
TNT |
Sat |
3701 |
|
6 |
7/29 |
NASCAR/ |
TNT |
Sun |
3677 |
|
7 |
7/23 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
3438 |
|
8 |
7/30 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
3395 |
|
9 |
7/9 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
3370 |
|
10 |
7/9 |
Home Run Derby |
ESPN |
Mon |
3369 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
|||||
|
Top 10 Basic
Cable Ad-Supported |
||||||||||
|
PT # |
Net |
Sum. '01 |
Sum. '01 |
% Chg. '01 vs. '00 |
% Chg. '01 vs. '00 |
TD # |
Sum. ’01 |
Sum. ’01 |
% Chg. '01 vs. '00 |
% Chg. '01 vs. '00 |
|
1 |
LIF |
2.1 |
1655 |
24 |
27 |
2 |
1.3 |
1035 |
18 |
22 |
|
2 |
USA |
1.8 |
1476 |
-18 |
-13 |
6 |
0.8 |
688 |
-11 |
-1 |
|
2 |
TOON |
1.8 |
1306 |
-5 |
5 |
2 |
1.3 |
934 |
0 |
15 |
|
4 |
TBS |
1.7 |
1445 |
-15 |
-8 |
4 |
1.0 |
866 |
-17 |
-7 |
|
4 |
NICK |
1.7 |
1356 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
1.5 |
1190 |
-6 |
-5 |
|
6 |
TNT |
1.6 |
1317 |
-6 |
2 |
5 |
0.9 |
713 |
0 |
3 |
|
7 |
A&E |
1.3 |
1019 |
-7 |
-7 |
6 |
0.8 |
641 |
-11 |
-7 |
|
8 |
DISC |
1.2 |
952 |
0 |
3 |
8 |
0.6 |
503 |
0 |
1 |
|
9 |
ESPN |
1.0 |
812 |
-9 |
-4 |
10 |
0.5 |
431 |
-17 |
-7 |
|
9 |
TNN |
1.0 |
783 |
67 |
65 |
16 |
0.4 |
363 |
0 |
30 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
||||||||||
|
Top 10 Basic
Ad-Supported Cable |
|||||||
|
Rk |
Date |
Program |
Net |
Day |
Rtg |
Shr |
(000) |
|
1 |
7/21 |
Rugrats |
NICK |
Sat |
7.2 |
14.8 |
5885 |
|
2 |
7/30 |
WWF |
TNN |
Mon |
6.1 |
10.1 |
4980 |
|
3 |
7/1 |
m/"Rush Hour" |
TBS |
Sun |
5.9 |
10.5 |
4944 |
|
4 |
8/6 |
WWF |
TNN |
Mon |
5.8 |
9.7 |
4687 |
|
5 |
7/23 |
WWF |
TNN |
Mon |
5.7 |
9.5 |
4636 |
|
6 |
7/15 |
m/"Mists Of Avalon (Part 1)" |
TNT |
Sun |
5.6 |
9.4 |
4600 |
|
6 |
7/16 |
WWF |
TNN |
Mon |
5.6 |
9.0 |
4499 |
|
6 |
6/7 |
MTV Movie Awards 2001 |
MTV |
Thu |
5.6 |
9.2 |
4397 |
|
9 |
7/9 |
Home Run Derby |
ESPN |
Mon |
5.2 |
8.7 |
4261 |
|
9 |
7/22 |
NASCAR/ |
TNT |
Sun |
5.2 |
12.5 |
4248 |
|
9 |
8/13 |
WWF |
TNN |
Mon |
5.2 |
8.7 |
4245 |
|
9 |
8/20 |
WWF |
TNN |
Mon |
5.2 |
8.6 |
4238 |
|
9 |
7/29 |
NASCAR/ |
TNT |
Sun |
5.2 |
12.9 |
4213 |
|
9 |
7/30 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
5.2 |
8.0 |
4183 |
|
9 |
7/16 |
m/ |
LIF |
Mon |
5.2 |
8.1 |
4159 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
|
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August 29, 2001 © 2001 Media Life
-Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.
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