ratings

Sunday’s last episode of the season left many Downton Abbey fans up in arms because of the surprise demise of a popular character. CBS had 15 of the 20 most-watched shows on broadcast television last week, not an unusual showing for television’s most dominant network. The network had one failure, though: the new reality show The Job was fired after only two episodes. Last week’s episode had 3.3 million viewers.

All the magazines were either up or flat. Wheel of Fortune is the No.1 show in first run. In addition, the week ending Feb. 10 saw new season highs for Inside Edition, Judge Judy, Criminal Minds and CSI: Miami.

Last night ABC’s third-year drama Body of Proof returned to low ratings, and it finished third in the timeslot, behind CBS and Univision but ahead of NBC’s Smash, which slid to another series low. Proof averaged a 1.2 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., off 29% from its 1.7 season-long average last year. It also tied a series low. Also in that hour, week two of NBC’s Smash averaged a 0.9, down from a 1.2 for its second-season premiere two weeks ago. (Last week’s episode was preempted by the State of the Union address.)

There has been a lot of talk this television season about the lack of new hits. But many veteran shows are also performing poorly. So far this season, only a handful of returning programs are doing better than they were last season.

Sunday’s audience surpassed even the audience for the third season premiere in January, when about 7.9 million viewers tuned in, a 20-year record for PBS.

The long-running ABC reality show, whose popularity seems to go in cycles depending on the likeability of the bachelor, is in an up cycle right now, hitting a season high for the second straight week. Bachelor averaged a 3.0 in adults 18-49 from 8 to 10 p.m., up 11% from last week. It marked the highest-rated non-finale episode of Bachelor since March 7, 2011. And it helped lift lead-out Castle to a season-high 2.2 at 10 p.m., where it won its timeslot.

The new report tracks a 28-day audience lift when DVR and video-on-demand viewing are added to live audience viewing numbers.

On a holiday weekend Sunday when TV usage was down 6% overall, both of ABC’s drama offerings rebounded from series lows. Once Upon a Time‘s trip to “Manhattan” took along 7.5 million total passengers while netting a 2.3 demo rating, up 6% and a tenth from last week’s nadir. Likewise, Revenge (with 6 million and a 1.8) surged 15% and 29%.

Viewers were clearly more interested in exchanging Valentines than in watching television last night. With TV usage by adults 18-49 off by 6 percent on Valentine’s Day compared to the previous week, a number of shows tumbled to season or series lows. The night’s lone premiere, ABC’s new thriller Zero Hour, was hit particularly hard. It managed just a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., becoming the lowest-rated in-season drama premiere ever for the network.

A historic flop in Do No Harm, chaos on Up All Night and a schedule full of holes have insiders (and Brian Williams) grumbling about how to right the ship.

American Idol topped Wednesday night for Fox in both adults 18-49 and total viewers, though it did hit some noteworthy lows in the process. The two-hour episode recorded 13.4 million viewers and a 4.3 rating among adults 18-49, both lows for a Wednesday outing since the series’ debut season in 2002. Survivor (2.4 adults) staged a relatively soft return to CBS, down 23% from its opener in April and 25% from the fall debut.

On a night littered with reruns leading into the State of the Union address, there was only one original show on the Big Four networks. That paved the way for a rare weeknight victory for Univision, which also won every hour of the evening with its original telenovelas. Univision drew a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating and 4 share in primetime, just ahead of No. 2 NBC with a 1.4/4. Amores Verdaderos was the night’s top show with a 1.8 at 9 p.m.

CBS, led by the Grammy Awards, thoroughly dominated primetime on broadcast TV last week. Its average audience was twice that of second-place Fox. Seventeen of the 20 top broadcast programs last week were on CBS, with the exceptions being two episodes of American Idol on Fox and ABC’s Modern Family.

The fake girlfriend hoax episode on Jan 31 powers it to top of the talkers. Other genre leaders for the week ending Feb. 3 include Entertainment Tonight, Judge Judy, Wheel of Fortune, Big Bang Theory and Law & Order: SVU.

Apparently viewers were in the mood for love last night with Valentine’s Day looming later this week. ABC’s long-running find-a-mate reality show The Bachelor soared to a season high, up 13 percent over the previous week. Bachelor drew a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., growing from a 2.4 last week. It was one of just three shows on the Big Four to see gains last night.

NEW YORK (AP) – The zombies keep getting stronger. AMC’s hit “The Walking Dead” set a series record Sunday night with 12.3 million viewers. The show was returning from a […]

Rentrak Corp. today announced a multi-year local TV ratings contract with Gray Television for its CBS affiliate WKYT Lexington, Ky. (DMA 64), which also airs CW programming on its 27.2 […]

As expected, the Grammy Awards declined from last year’s record performance, which paid tribute to the late Whitney Houston a day after her shocking death. But last night’s ceremony still scored the second-best audience for the awards show since 1993, behind only the 2012 awards. The ceremony averaged 28.12 million total viewers from 8 to 11:30 p.m. It averaged a 10.0 in adults 18-49 and an 11.1 in 25-54s.

After a hot start in the fall thanks to The Voice, Sunday Night Football and the new drama Revolution, NBC has gone into a deep hibernation for the winter. Ratings at the network have fallen dramatically as several freshman shows have tanked, and a few sophomores are on life support.

CBS’s The Big Bang Theory surged while Fox’s American Idol slid last night. Bang jumped to a 6.1 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., up 13% over last week and well ahead of Idol in their shared half hour. Idol averaged a 3.8 in its first half hour against Bang before growing a 4.4 in its second half hour. It averaged a season-low 4.1 for the night, off 9% from last week, when the two top-rated Thursday shows squared off for the first time.

Several top broadcast shows fell to season lows last night, including Fox’s American Idol and ABC’s Modern Family. Idol, the night’s top show, paced Fox to yet another Wednesday win despite the decline. The reality program drew a 4.6 from 8 to 10 p.m., off 15% from last week and its lowest Wednesday outing this season. Idol won every half hour against the other broadcast competition.

CBS Television Distribution’s Judge Judy is such a familiar part of daytime TV that now, in the post-Oprah Winfrey syndication world, it’s easy to overlook how dominant it is. The show averaged 10.1 million viewers each day during the third week of January, a typical week, more than the next three courtroom shows combined.

NBC’s Smash crashed in its second-season debut. Last night’s premiere fell to a series low and was down 39% from last May’s first-season finale. Smash averaged a 1.1 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m. last night, off from a 1.8 for its most recent episode last spring.

CBS failed to capitalize on the promotional muscle of the Super Bowl, as Monday night’s primetime lineup showed very little growth versus the most recent Monday roster of first-run episodes.

Talk shows tough it out for a shrinking slice of the ratings pie. Talk show vets say the dealmaking on integrations and even entire branded segments have become a more significant part of the profitability picture for talkshows, particularly new shows. It’s a far cry from the days when producing even a middling first-run yakker was a license to print money.

Other genre leaders in the week ending Jan. 27 include: Dr. Phil, Entertainment Tonight, Judge Judy, Wheel of Fortune, Big Bang Theory and Law & Order: SVU.

CBS won Monday night in adults 18-49, getting a Super Bowl boost for How I Met Your Mother, which hit a season high in the demo after several promotions during the big game. Mother was the night’s highest-rated show, averaging a 4.0 in 18-49s, up 8% from its most recent original two weeks ago. The recently renewed sitcom won its timeslot, leading off a night in which CBS finished first in every half hour among 18-49s.

In a counterprogramming coup, PBS’s costume drama averages 6.6 million viewers — a mere 102 million fewer than watched the game.

An estimated 108.4 million people watched the Baltimore Ravens’ 34-31 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. The most-watched events in U.S. TV history were last year’s game, seen by 111.3 million, and the 2010 game, with 111 million viewers.

Against record ratings for last night’s Super Bowl, the competing broadcast networks were unable to muster many viewers. Not that it’s any surprise. Fox had the night’s best non-sports rating among adults 18-49, but with every Big Four network besides Super Bowl carrier CBS in repeats, there wasn’t much else to note. Fox’s rerun of “Family Guy” was broadcast’s top non-sports show of the night, averaging a 0.9 rating in 18-49s. By comparison, Super Bowl XLVII scored a 39.4 at its peak at 7:30 p.m. (Note that these fast national ratings measure only timeslot data and do not account for time zone differences; more accurate numbers will be out later today.)

Averages a 48.1 household rating and 71 share on CBS, according to Nielsen metered-market ratings, up 1% over last year and topping 2011’s record.

The series premiere of NBC’s schizoid doctor drama Do No Harm died on the table Thursday night, posting a miserly 0.9 rating in the 18-49 demo. Per Nielsen preliminary fast national data, Do No Harm now stands as the lowest-rated, in-season debut of any scripted Big Four show, ever.

As it did at the end of last season, CBS’s The Big Bang Theory topped Fox’s American Idol in their first real square-off this year. But Idol also appeared to take a bit of Bang‘s audience, as both shows were down from their previous outings.

With repeats dotting the usually solid lineups on ABC and CBS, Fox had a dominating victory last night. American Idol held nearly all of last week’s rating, averaging a 5.4 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down very slightly from a 5.5 last week. Compared to the same night last year, Idol was down 9% from a 5.9. It was, of course, the night’s top-rated program, and Idol-fueled Fox also beat the combined average of ABC, CBS and ABC on the night.

All of the entertainment news strips posted gains in the week ending Jan. 14 thanks to the awards show coverage. Judge Judy is tops in daytime while the off-net Big Bang Theory is No. 1 overall.

Apparently some viewers did not enjoy last week’s serving of The Taste. Last night the new ABC cooking competition show fell 24% from its debut. Taste averaged a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., down from a 2.1 for last week’s two-hour debut. Last night’s episode lasted only an hour.

The Following looks like it’s found one on Fox. The show became the first new drama this season to grow in its second week as Fox posted its best Monday night of the season, and its first win. Following averaged a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating, up 3% from last week’s debut. It also helped revive Fox on a night where it struggled last fall with the very low-rated drama The Mob Doctor.

National ratings measurement of the Weigel-owned classic TV diginet will begin in the spring.

As it did the entire fall, NBC won Sunday night with football last night. But this victory came with smaller numbers. The Pro Bowl game averaged a 3.5 adults 18-49 rating from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. That was down slightly from last year. Those ratings are subject to adjustment, as fast nationals measure timeslot and not actual program data and do not account for time zone differences.