November sweeps

The other networks just can’t compete with football-fueled NBC in the fall. The network will win its fourth straight November sweep, and by its largest margin yet. In fact, NBC will post the biggest November sweep advantage over the No. 2 network for any broadcaster in the past 19 years.

The World Series lifts the network to No. 1 in 18-49s during the first week of the November period, comfortably ahead of No. 2 NBC. Imagine if the series had gone beyond five games.

NBC will win the four-week rating period, but CBS will be closer than expected. Here are predictions on which shows will be yanked and which moved before the month’s done.

Winners: ABC, Mom, Flash, crossover episodes and MasterChef Junior. Losers: The Millers, new comedies, State of Affairs and second-year dramas.

The network scores its third straight November win, thanks largely to football. Without it, No. 2 ABC would have pulled ahead. Stunting helped, too.

Wednesday is the last official day of the November TV “sweeps” month — that period that comes four times a year when local stations traditionally blast viewers with all sorts of sensational teasers, gotcha stories and wasteful tax dollar reports, all to boost ratings to set advertising rates. But you may have noticed that the reports recently have not been quite as crazy as they have been in the past. “I think sweeps pieces have, in many cases, gotten a little less nutty in the past 10 years,” said Chris Tuohy, a former executive news producer and chair of broadcast and digital journalism at Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Journalism.

Two weeks into the November sweeps, the Big Four broadcast networks are doing worse than last year. ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC combined have averaged a 7.4 adults 18-49 rating from Oct. 30 to Wednesday night, according to Nielsen, down 11% from an 8.3 during the same span last year.

Overnight ratings were supposed to change the way local television viewing was measured. But at so many newsrooms, that never really happened. With local broadcast TV news competition tighter than ever because of competition from online newscasts, news apps on mobile phones and the explosion of tablets with news on demand, the upcoming November ratings period may be even more important than ever.

The November sweeps are upon us, one of those quarterly periods where networks traditionally boost their schedules to boost their ratings. Sweeps may mean more to their local affiliates than they do to the broadcast networks these days, but they still draw viewers and attention — so much so, that even cable gets in on the stunt-program act here and there. Here are some highlights.

While Doctor Phil is still the top chat fest, Wendy Williams and Steve Harvey clocked the biggest year-to-year increases with gains of 40% and 38%, respectively. Shows in other genres with nice increases from last year’s November rankings included Extra, Dish Nation, Family Feud, Rules of Engagement and House.