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2001 for cable
News led but real winners were Lifetime and TBS
By Kevin Downey
The tragedies of Sept. 11 and the hunt for Osama bin Laden will surely be remembered as defining moments for TV history and most certainly for 2001, when once again cable news shows proved their power with American viewers.
But it was rather cable's entertainment networks that showed their real power in 2001, led by Lifetime and TBS, far outdistancing the news networks in total viewers for the year.
Both saw modest gains in key demographics.
While those increases were smaller than the 50 percent gains seen by CNN and Fox News, they grew from much larger bases and without the benefit of external events.
Among top-rated individual shows for the year were a long list of shows tied to news events related to Sept. 11 and the war in Afghanistan.
President Bush’s six-minute address on CNN on Sept. 11, for example, tied as the year’s fifth-highest-rated program, with a 7.8 household rating in homes that carry the network.
In all, nearly half of the top-20 cable shows of 2001 were on CNN on Sept. 11.
But when it comes to the year’s single biggest draw, it was TNT’s "Crossfire Trail" that tops the list.
The movie, which starred Tom Selleck, first aired almost one year ago, had a 9.6 rating, and was watched in more than 7.7 million homes.
Other top shows included recent NFL games on ESPN, the "2001 Video Music Awards" on MTV, and the "Rugrats: All Growed Up" special on Nickelodeon that premiered to nearly 5.9 million homes in July.
The combination of news events and highly rated entertainment programs led to cable’s most-watched year ever.
Basic cable accounted for 45 percent of all TV viewing in 2001, according to the Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau. That’s an increase of more than 9 percent and coincided with a nearly 9 percent drop in broadcast’s share, to under 48 percent.
The highest-rated network, overall, was Lifetime, which hit the No. 1 spot for the first time in its history.
The women’s network benefited a bit from USA Network’s 19 percent decline due to the loss of WWF wrestling to TNN.
But Lifetime also got a bump from its primetime lineup on Sundays, which includes the original series "The Division," "Strong Medicine," and "Any Day Now."
Lifetime’s primetime rating was up 18 percent for the year, to a 2.0.
The most-watched networks in the adult 18-49 and adult 25-54 demographics that advertisers favor were TBS, TNT, USA, Lifetime and ESPN.
TBS ranked No. 1 and was up 2 percent in both demos with an average primetime audience in excess of one million viewers. Its sister network TNT, under parent company AOL Time Warner, had an audience of roughly one million for both target audiences and was up 4 and 7 percent, respectively.
The biggest gainers in 2001 were TNN, which changed from The Nashville Network to The National Network and swiped the WWF from USA. Its primetime rating went up 25 percent and its adult 18-49 audience nearly doubled to more than 600,000. TNN ranked No. 7 in the demo.
Both CNN and Fox News had double-digit percentage increases for the year and tied with a 1.0 primetime rating and a 0.6 total day rating. CNN had more viewers, however, because of wider distribution.
|
2001 -
FULL-YEAR RATINGS |
|||||||
|
PRIMETIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||||||
|
# |
Net |
Rtg |
(000) |
% Chg |
Rtg |
(000) |
% Chg |
|
1 |
LIF |
2.0 |
1592 |
18 |
1.2 |
998 |
9 |
|
2 |
TBS |
1.7 |
1451 |
-11 |
1.0 |
873 |
-9 |
|
2 |
USA |
1.7 |
1419 |
-19 |
0.8 |
662 |
-11 |
|
2 |
TOON |
1.7 |
1246 |
-6 |
1.1 |
846 |
0 |
|
5 |
TNT |
1.6 |
1341 |
0 |
0.9 |
724 |
0 |
|
5 |
NICK |
1.6 |
1286 |
-6 |
1.4 |
1142 |
-7 |
|
7 |
ESPN |
1.3 |
1043 |
-13 |
0.6 |
496 |
-14 |
|
8 |
A&E |
1.2 |
1017 |
-14 |
0.8 |
657 |
-11 |
|
8 |
DISC |
1.2 |
967 |
0 |
0.6 |
508 |
0 |
|
10 |
TNN |
1.0 |
828 |
25 |
0.5 |
377 |
25 |
|
10 |
CNN |
1.0 |
816 |
25 |
0.6 |
497 |
50 |
|
10 |
FOXN |
1.0 |
675 |
43 |
0.6 |
387 |
50 |
|
Source: Turner Entertainment
Research from Nielsen Media Research data
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2001 -
FULL-YEAR RATINGS |
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|
# |
Date |
Program |
Net |
Day |
Rtg |
Shr |
(000) |
|
1 |
1/21/01 |
m/"Crossfire Trail" |
TNT |
Sun |
9.6 |
13.2 |
7736 |
|
2 |
12/16/01 |
NFL/Steelers/ Ravens |
ESPN |
Sun |
9.1 |
14.1 |
7826 |
|
3 |
11/25/01 |
NFL/Bears/ Vikings |
ESPN |
Sun |
8.7 |
13.2 |
7441 |
|
4 |
9/6/01 |
2001 Video Music Awards |
MTV |
Thu |
8.6 |
13.7 |
6990 |
|
5 |
9/9/01 |
NFL/Dolphins/ Titans |
ESPN |
Sun |
7.8 |
12.7 |
6572 |
|
5 |
9/11/01 |
Bush Address/USA Attacked |
CNN |
Tue |
7.8 |
10.3 |
6539 |
|
7 |
11/18/01 |
NFL/Rams/ Patriots |
ESPN |
Sun |
7.7 |
11.7 |
6538 |
|
8 |
9/11/01 |
Explosions In Afghanistan |
CNN |
Tue |
7.5 |
11.8 |
6351 |
|
8 |
9/11/01 |
America Under Attack |
CNN |
Tue |
7.5 |
11.0 |
6336 |
|
8 |
9/11/01 |
America Under Attack |
CNN |
Tue |
7.5 |
10.6 |
6328 |
|
11 |
9/11/01 |
America Under Attack |
CNN |
Tue |
7.4 |
11.3 |
6253 |
|
12 |
9/11/01 |
Rumsfeld PC/ USA Attacked |
CNN |
Tue |
7.3 |
11.0 |
6115 |
|
13 |
9/20/01 |
Bush Addresses Congress |
CNN |
Thu |
7.2 |
9.9 |
6062 |
|
13 |
7/21/01 |
Rugrats |
NICK |
Sat |
7.2 |
14.8 |
5885 |
|
15 |
9/20/01 |
Sp Rpt:Bush Congress Address |
CNN |
Thu |
7.1 |
9.5 |
5967 |
|
16 |
9/11/01 |
Ashcroft PC/USA Attacked |
CNN |
Tue |
7.0 |
10.3 |
5876 |
|
17 |
12/23/01 |
NFL/Jets/Colts |
ESPN |
Sun |
6.9 |
12.6 |
5938 |
|
17 |
9/11/01 |
Congressional Leaders Brief |
CNN |
Tue |
6.9 |
10.3 |
5843 |
|
17 |
9/30/01 |
NFL/Cowboys/ Eagles |
ESPN |
Sun |
6.9 |
10.9 |
5838 |
|
20 |
9/11/01 |
America Under Attack |
CNN |
Tue |
6.8 |
10.3 |
5763 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
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2001 -
FULL-YEAR RATINGS |
|||||
|
PRIMETIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||||
|
# |
Net |
(000) |
% Chg |
(000) |
% Chg |
|
1 |
TBS |
1033 |
2 |
590 |
-1 |
|
2 |
TNT |
959 |
4 |
480 |
10 |
|
3 |
USA |
888 |
-16 |
415 |
-8 |
|
4 |
LIF |
815 |
12 |
542 |
13 |
|
5 |
ESPN |
695 |
-14 |
343 |
-11 |
|
6 |
DISC |
654 |
0 |
330 |
0 |
|
7 |
TNN |
601 |
94 |
261 |
43 |
|
8 |
TLC |
581 |
12 |
311 |
25 |
|
9 |
NICK |
473 |
-4 |
382 |
-7 |
|
10 |
SCIF |
464 |
-3 |
221 |
-1 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
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2001 -
FULL-YEAR RATINGS |
|||||
|
PRIMETIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||||
|
# |
Net |
(000) |
% Chg |
(000) |
% Chg |
|
1 |
TBS |
1035 |
2 |
568 |
-2 |
|
2 |
TNT |
1004 |
7 |
503 |
12 |
|
3 |
USA |
947 |
-9 |
419 |
-3 |
|
4 |
LIF |
909 |
14 |
582 |
15 |
|
5 |
ESPN |
731 |
-12 |
330 |
-9 |
|
6 |
DISC |
712 |
1 |
348 |
0 |
|
7 |
TLC |
596 |
8 |
297 |
18 |
|
8 |
TNN |
572 |
73 |
262 |
33 |
|
9 |
SCIF |
537 |
-1 |
250 |
3 |
|
10 |
A&E |
506 |
-15 |
342 |
-11 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
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Top-10 Basic
Cable Ad-Supported Networks |
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|
PRIMETIME |
TOTAL DAY |
||||||
|
# |
Net |
Rtg |
(000) |
Shr |
Rtg |
(000) |
Shr |
|
1 |
ESPN |
2.5 |
2142 |
4.5 |
1.1 |
979 |
3.4 |
|
2 |
LIF |
2.2 |
1876 |
4.0 |
1.4 |
1196 |
3.6 |
|
3 |
TBS |
1.9 |
1646 |
3.5 |
1.1 |
970 |
3.3 |
|
4 |
TNT |
1.6 |
1371 |
2.9 |
1.0 |
891 |
3.1 |
|
5 |
NICK |
1.4 |
1148 |
2.4 |
1.3 |
1135 |
3.9 |
|
6 |
USA |
1.3 |
1120 |
2.4 |
0.7 |
633 |
2.2 |
|
6 |
TOON |
1.3 |
999 |
2.3 |
1.1 |
893 |
3.4 |
|
8 |
AEN |
1.2 |
1044 |
2.2 |
0.8 |
643 |
2.0 |
|
9 |
DISC |
1.1 |
964 |
2.0 |
0.6 |
531 |
1.6 |
|
9 |
CORT |
1.1 |
736 |
2.0 |
0.5 |
342 |
1.4 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
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Top-20 Basic
Cable Ad-Supported Programs |
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|
# |
Date |
Program |
Net |
Day |
Rtg |
Shr |
(000) |
|
1 |
12/30/01 |
NFL/Redskins/ Saints |
ESPN |
Sun |
6.3 |
10.5 |
5384 |
|
2 |
12/28/01 |
Holiday Bowl |
ESPN |
Fri |
5.3 |
10.1 |
4525 |
|
3 |
12/29/01 |
Alamo Bowl |
ESPN |
Sat |
3.8 |
8.7 |
3241 |
|
3 |
12/30/01 |
NFL Prime Time |
ESPN |
Sun |
3.8 |
6.4 |
3229 |
|
5 |
12/27/01 |
Independence Bowl |
ESPN |
Thu |
3.6 |
6.0 |
3102 |
|
6 |
12/24/01 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
3.5 |
7.8 |
2965 |
|
7 |
12/28/01 |
Music City Bowl |
ESPN |
Fri |
3.2 |
6.7 |
2781 |
|
7 |
12/25/01 |
m/"Big Jake" |
TBS |
Tue |
3.2 |
6.6 |
2773 |
|
7 |
12/30/01 |
m/"False Arrest, Part II" |
LIF |
Sun |
3.2 |
5.8 |
2670 |
|
10 |
12/24/01 |
WWF Entertainment |
TNN |
Mon |
2.9 |
6.7 |
2488 |
|
10 |
12/29/01 |
Motor City Bowl |
ESPN |
Sat |
2.9 |
7.5 |
2451 |
|
10 |
12/30/01 |
m/"A Mothers Revenge" |
LIF |
Sun |
2.9 |
4.8 |
2440 |
|
10 |
12/29/01 |
m/"Vows Of Deception" |
LIF |
Sat |
2.9 |
5.3 |
2400 |
|
14 |
12/25/01 |
m/"Holiday Affair" |
LIF |
Tue |
2.7 |
5.3 |
2266 |
|
15 |
12/30/01 |
m/"A Few Good Men" |
TBS |
Sun |
2.6 |
4.2 |
2226 |
|
15 |
12/24/01 |
Rugrats |
NICK |
Mon |
2.6 |
8.4 |
2184 |
|
15 |
12/29/01 |
m/"Before He Wakes" |
LIF |
Sat |
2.6 |
5.4 |
2153 |
|
18 |
12/25/01 |
m/"McLintock!" |
TBS |
Tue |
2.5 |
6.6 |
2184 |
|
18 |
12/30/01 |
NFL Sportscenter |
ESPN |
Sun |
2.5 |
5.9 |
2121 |
|
18 |
12/30/01 |
Spongebob |
NICK |
Sun |
2.5 |
6.7 |
2119 |
|
18 |
12/30/01 |
m/"Siege At Ruby Ridge, 1" |
LIF |
Sun |
2.5 |
4.0 |
2071 |
| Source:
Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data
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January 4, 2002 © 2002 Media Life
-Kevin Downey is a staff writer for Media Life.
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