Fox News
 owes its ratings growth to its nonstop coverage of the Chandra Levy story.  Fox News’s delivery increased by 94 percent among adults 18-49 and 100 percent among adults 
25-54.

 

 
TNT laps the track
with NASCAR 

Two top-rated races boost total viewers for July

By Elizabeth White

    Picking up where FX left off, TNT spiked its July ratings with a healthy dose of NASCAR coverage last month.
    The network’s two Winston Cup races, the "New England 300" and the "Pennsylvania 500," were the highest and third-highest-rated programs, respectively, for the month among adults 25-54.
    The two races also placed fourth and eighth among adults 18-49 and tied for fifth place for the month among households.
    The Sunday afternoon races each garnered a 5.2 household rating, representing 4.2 million households. Among the demographics, an average of 3.6 million adults 18-49 and 3.9 million adults 25-54 tuned into the two programs.
    Additionally, the "Autotrader.com Post Race" show following the "New England 300" ranked 35th for the month in households, with 2.5 million homes watching.
    Thanks to this push by NASCAR, TNT’s average household total day delivery for July increased 9 percent from last year. Its total day adult 18-49 delivery improved 13 percent, and its total day adult 25-54 delivery improved 18 percent.
    But the biggest year-to-year primetime gains for July, however, were posted by TNN (again) and Fox News.
    For TNN, the growth was still driven entirely by "WWF" programs, which occupied three of the top-10 July household program rankings, six of the top-10 among adults 18-49, and five of the top-10 among adults 25-54.
    TNN’s primetime household delivery was 83 percent higher than it was last year, its 18-49 audience was 181 percent larger, and its adult 25-54 audience was 129 percent larger.
    Fox News, on the other hand, owes its primetime ratings growth to its nonstop coverage of the Chandra Levy story. Fox News’s July primetime household rating doubled over the same month last year, and its household delivery improved by 136 percent.
    Among the demographics, Fox News’s delivery increased by 94 percent among adults 18-49 and 100 percent among adults 25-54.
    Fox News also topped CNN in the primetime rankings for the month among both households and adults 18-49, even though CNN received a ratings shot from the Levy story as well.
    But CNN’s primetime household rating and delivery increased by only 40 and 44 percent, and its adult 18-49 rating went up a mere 31 percent in comparison to Fox News.
    The highest-rated program of July was the "Rugrats: All Growed Up" special from two weeks ago. The "Rugrats" special beat its next-closest competitor for the month, a "WWF" program, by 1.5 household rating points and over one-million homes. "All Growed Up" was also the tenth-highest-rated show for the month among adults 25-54, with 2.7 million viewers in the demographic tuning in.
    Nickelodeon’s primetime July household delivery increased by 11 percent over last year and its primetime adult 18-49 delivery increased by 4 percent. Among adults 25-54, however, Nickelodeon’s delivery declined by 4 percent.

 

 

Top 10 Primetime Networks Among Adults 18-49
Ranked in Order of Primetime Rating
July 2001 vs. July 2000

#

Net

PT (000)
July '01

PT %
Chg '01
vs. '00

TD #

TD (000)
July '01

TD %
Chg '01
vs. '00

1

TBS

968

6

1

606

5

2

USA

902

-19

4

424

-6

3

TNT

894

-3

3

470

13

4

LIF

889

33

2

569

22

5

DISC

648

-1

6

327

-1

6

TNN

595

181

12

245

51

7

NICK

514

4

5

386

-10

8

TLC

502

-3

8

288

16

9

MTV

487

5

11

247

-6

10

SCIF

483

5

15

216

-8
Source: Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data

 

 

Top 10 Programs Among Adults 18-49
July 2001 (7/2-7/29)

#

Date

Program

Net

Day

(000)

1

7/9/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

4322

2

7/23/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

4089

3

7/16/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3947

4

7/22/01

NASCAR/New England 300

TNT

Sun

3897

5

7/23/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3704

6

7/9/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3556

7

7/2/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3424

8

7/29/01

NASCAR/Pennsylvania 500

TNT

Sun

3402

9

7/15/01

m/"Mists Of Avalon (Part 1)"

TNT

Sun

3331

10

7/9/01

Home Run Derby

ESPN

Mon

3326
Source: Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data

 

 

Top 10 Primetime Networks Among Adults 25-54
Ranked in Order of Primetime Rating
July 2001 vs. July 2000

#

Net

PT (000)
July '01

PT %
Chg '01
vs. '00

TD #

TD (000)
July '01

TD %
Chg '01
vs. '00

1

TNT

994

6

3

506

18

2

LIF

973

28

1

607

21

3

TBS

972

7

2

561

1

4

USA

958

-11

4

417

-1

5

DISC

706

1

6

345

-1

6

TNN

555

129

12

244

39

7

SCIF

550

6

14

237

-6

8

ESPN

514

0

9

259

-8

9

TLC

507

-6

8

277

14

10

NICK

485

-4

5

358

-12
Source: Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data

 

 

Top 10 Programs Among Adults 25-54
July 2001 (7/2-7/29)

#

Date

Program

Net

Day

(000)

1

7/22/01

NASCAR/New England 300

TNT

Sun

4223

2

7/15/01

m/"Mists Of Avalon (Part 1)"

TNT

Sun

3933

3

7/29/01

NASCAR/Pennsylvania 500

TNT

Sun

3677

4

7/23/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3438

5

7/9/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3370

6

7/9/01

Home Run Derby

ESPN

Mon

3369

7

7/16/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3191

8

7/23/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

3154

9

7/9/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

2927

10

7/21/01

Rugrats

NICK

Sat

2787
Source: Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data

 

 

Top 10 Primetime Household Networks
Ranked in Order of Primetime Rating
July 2001 vs. July 2000

PT
#

Net

July '01 PT Rtg

July '01 PT (000)

% Chg. '01 vs. '00 PT Rtg

% Chg. '01 vs. '00 PT (000)

Total Day Rank

July ’01 TD Rtg

July
'01 TD
(000)

% Chg. '01 vs. '00 TD Rtg

% Chg. '01 vs. '00 TD (000)

1

LIF

2.1

1692

24

33

2

1.3

1052

18

23

2

NICK

1.8

1448

6

11

1

1.5

1244

-12

-4

3

TBS

1.7

1453

-6

-1

4

1.1

879

0

-2

3

USA

1.7

1422

-23

-16

6

0.8

680

-11

-4

3

TOON

1.7

1261

-15

1

2

1.3

946

0

15

6

TNT

1.6

1316

0

2

5

0.9

731

0

9

7

AEN

1.2

998

-20

-12

6

0.8

627

-11

-11

7

DISC

1.2

951

0

3

8

0.6

509

0

1

9

TNN

1.0

811

67

83

11

0.5

376

25

37

9

AMC

1.0

776

11

15

8

0.6

440

20

17
Source: Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data

 

 

Top 20 Basic Cable Ad-Supported
Household Programs
July 2001 (7/2-7/29)

#

Date

Program

Net

Day

 Rtg Shr

(000)

1

7/21/01

Rugrats

NICK

Sat

7.2

14.8

5885

2

7/23/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

5.7

9.5

4636

3

7/15/01

m/"Mists Of Avalon (Part 1)"

TNT

Sun

5.6

9.4

4600

3

7/16/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

5.6

9.0

4499

5

7/9/01

Home Run Derby

ESPN

Mon

5.2

8.7

4261

5

7/22/01

NASCAR/New England 300

TNT

Sun

5.2

12.5

4248

5

7/29/01

NASCAR/ Pennsylvania 500

TNT

Sun

5.2

12.9

4213

5

7/16/01

m/"Dangerous Child"

LIF

Mon

5.2

8.1

4159

9

7/21/01

Rugrats

NICK

Sat

5.1

9.9

4146

9

7/9/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

5.1

8.3

4123

11

7/2/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

5.0

8.3

4011

12

7/23/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

4.9

7.7

4008

13

7/22/01

Rugrats

NICK

Sun

4.8

8.4

3915

14

7/16/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

4.5

6.9

3620

15

7/9/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

4.4

6.9

3545

16

7/2/01

WWF Entertainment

TNN

Mon

4.3

7.0

3467

17

7/16/01

m/"Mists Of Avalon (Part 2)"

TNT

Mon

4.0

6.5

3274

18

7/15/01

m/"The Perfect Wife"

LIF

Sun

3.8

8.6

3059

19

7/10/01

m/"Pretty Woman"

TBS

Tue

3.7

6.2

3048

20

7/15/01

When Dinosaurs Roamed America

DISC

Sun

3.6

6.0

2939

20

7/15/01

m/"In My Sisters Shadow"

LIF

Sun

3.6

7.4

2912
Source: Turner Entertainment Research from Nielsen Media Research data

August 2, 2001 © 2001 Media Life

-Elizabeth White is a staff writer for Media Life.


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