ratings

Viewers were feeling the Christmas spirit last night. Holiday specials on ABC and NBC were up compared to last year, and Charlie Brown Christmas even boosted ABC into a tie for first place with Fox on the night. Brown averaged a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., up 4% over a 2.8 last year and becoming the top-rated holiday special so far this season.

Dancing with the Stars isn’t the ratings powerhouse it used to be; that’s been clear all season. But it can still stir up some interest in the finale. The show grew to a season high for last night’s two-hour season ender for the all-star edition, boosting ABC to its first win of the season on a Tuesday night, an evening where it has struggled this fall. Stars averaged a 3.0 adults 18-49 rating from 9 to 11 p.m., up from a 2.0 for last week’s Tuesday results show.

NBC aired the Jets’ embarrassing loss to the New England Patriots on Thanksgiving night, and followed it on Sunday with the Giants’ easy victory over the Green Bay Packers. Those two big primetime audiences on a holiday week enabled NBC to win its first week in the Nielsen company’s ratings since it televised the Super Bowl last winter.

Viewers were evidently in the mood to huddle up to the television set on Monday night. Nearly every show on the Big Five saw gains over last week, even including stinkers like The Mob Doctor, a struggling new drama that posted its best rating since the second week of the season. The across-the-board gains were in stark contrast to the across-the-board declines that have been more common this season. ABC’s Dancing with the Stars posted a season-high 2.6 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., up 8% over last week with part one of its season finale.

Fox’s animated lineup got a nice kick from the NFL last night. All four of its shows were up compared with the previous week thanks to a big lead-in from football overrun and The OT postgame show. The two combined for a 6.0 adults 18-49 rating at 7 p.m. That boosted the rest of the night.

In the first week six weeks of the new season, the time-shifted portion of the broadcast TV audience in LPM markets shows surging local trends, according to TVB’s analysis of Nielsen data.

The hit sitcom set a series record with 17.6 million viewers last week. The Thursday night comedy, now in its sixth year on the network, was second only to NBC’s Sunday night football game in popularity for the week.

Nielsen disclosed more about the magnitude of Hurricane Sandy on national and local TV ratings during a “recovery plan” briefing with clients, confirming that at least eight metered markets representing nearly 17% of U.S. TV households were impacted to some degree, and that the method it used to fill in the blanks for national audience estimates — mathematical weighting — “overstated” some national TV ratings during the period.

As Thanksgiving approaches, TV usage sees a predictable dip and many series suffered Tuesday night by hitting new lows. CBS emerged in the best shape, with NCIS (3.0 rating with adults 18-49) dropping just a tenth of a point from last week, NCIS: LA (2.8) steady and a new episode of Vegas moving up 13% to win its hour with a 1.8 rating in the demo. The network averaged a 2.5 rating with 18-49s and 13.9 million viewers.

Most of the genre posted gains in the week ending Nov. 11 compared to two weeks earlier, since there were no ratings in the week immediately prior due to Hurricane Sandy.

NBC continued its Monday winning streak to nine weeks, a new record for the network, even with hit reality show The Voice falling to a season low on the night. The network won all six half hours on the night and has now won every Monday night this season, the first time it has achieved such a feat in the people meter era, which dates back more than two decades. NBC averaged a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating and 7 share on the night, 27% ahead of second-place CBS with a 2.6/7.

NBC is basking in what appears to be its first November primetime TV sweeps win in nine years, though the sweeps period doesn’t officially end until Wednesday night and the numbers won’t be official for another week. Honchos at the perennially fourth-ranked broadcast TV network have followed the ratings with wide-eyed amazement, waiting for the bottom to fall out. But they have concluded over the last several days that it now appears too late for ABC, Fox and CBS to catch them.

Dr. Phil and Ellen are among some of the talkers to boast sizable DVR improvements after viewers are given a week to catch up — even if those bumps aren’t close to the gains that top primetime programs typically see.

ABC got a boost from the American Music Awards, and CBS was buoyed by football, but NBC still dominated another Sunday night with Sunday Night Football. Last night’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens lifted NBC to a 4.9 adults 18-49 rating and 12 share in primetime, 63% ahead of No. 2 CBS with a 3.0/8.

Two weeks after Superstorm Sandy knocked much of the East Coast —including many Nielsen households — off the grid, Nielsen held a meeting with its East Coast clients to brief them on some important developments, but essentially ignored the elephant in the room: Sandy.

The Big Bang Theory is the hottest scripted show on TV. For the second straight week, and third time this season, Bang hit a series high among total viewers, and it also notched a season best among adults 18-49. Bang drew 17.4 million total viewers at 8 p.m., up from a previous series best of 16.7 million last week. The show also averaged a 5.5 in 18-49s, the week’s highest-rated program so far and up from a 5.1 last week.

It was close, but Fox pulled off another Wednesday night victory over CBS. Fox averaged a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating and 8 share in primetime last night, 7% ahead of No. 2 CBS at 2.7/7. Fox’s entire night was taken up by The X Factor, growing 12% over last week’s 2.6, though it was not the night’s highest-rated show. That distinction once again went to ABC’s Modern Family, which drew a 4.6 at 9 p.m.

The networks argue that ads should be sold on commercial ratings for seven-day DVR playback. Buyers are content to stick with the current C3.

Absence apparently did not make the heart grow fonder for a number of Tuesday night shows, which were preempted last week for coverage of the presidential election. ABC’s already-canceled Private Practice, CBS’s new show Vegas and Ben and Kate, one of Fox’s new comedies, saw especially notable slides.

The one-two punch of Hurricane Sandy and the following nor’easter wipe out ratings for nationally-aired shows in the week ending Nov. 4.

Outside of NBC, which is up 23% this season, the broadcast networks aren’t having a very good fall. The rest are all down from last year, and in total the Big Five are off 11% among adults 18-49. They’ve combined for an 11.8 18-49 rating in the first seven weeks of the season, according to Nielsen, compared to a 13.3 at this point last year.

Last week, NBC finished a strong second to typical leader CBS in the primetime ratings, and won handily among the 18-to-49-year-old viewers it courts most fervently. Sunday night’s NFL game between Houston and Chicago was the week’s most-watched telecast in primetime. NBC’s election night coverage with Brian Williams also finished among Nielsen’s top 10, beating its ABC and CBS rivals.

Partners’ prospects got a little worse last night. The new comedy fell to a series low last night, despite getting stronger support than the previous week from lead-in How I Met Your Mother. That may all but squash any hopes of a full-season pickup for the program. Partners” averaged a 1.8 adults 18-49 rating at 8:30 p.m., down 14% from last week.

During their respective earning calls In the space of a week, both Walt Disney Co. president-CEO Bob Iger and CBS Corp. president/CEO Les Moonves talked about looking for ways to get paid for all TV network viewing through metrics that would measure more time-shifted viewing, which could increase measures of program viewership by 30% to 40% during a week.

NBC topped Sunday with Sunday Night Football, but how did the other networks fare? ABC’s rookie supernatural drama 666 Park Avenue (4 million total viewers, 1.3), awaiting an official decision on its fate, managed to stay steady, but was still behind its 10 p.m. competition. Kicking off the network’s scripted primetime, Once Upon a Time (8.7 million, 2.7) dropped sharply, 23% to be exact — a series low.

Lackluster broadcast TV ratings in the first weeks of the fall season could free up ad dollars to shift to cable networks. There’s a problem, though: There aren’t many ad dollars to move.

CBS won the third Thursday of sweeps with relative ease despite the fact that ABC and NBC saw gains on the night. CBS averaged a 3.2 adults 18-49 rating and 9 share in primetime, 33%% better than second-place Fox with a 2.4/6. The Big Bang Theory was easily the highest-rated show of the night with a 5.0, matching a season best in the demo. It also averaged 16.54 million total viewers, tying its best-ever performance.

The special edition of The Voice that aired last night, after being preempted from its regular Tuesday slot by election coverage, boosted lead-out Chicago Fire to a record high. Fire averaged a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m., up 44% over last week’s 1.6 thanks to Voice‘s 3.7 lead-in.

The judge was syndication’s top show again, posting an 8% gain in the week ending Oct. 28. And the doctor was the top talker for the seventh straight session in the first days of the November sweep.

NBC continued to pace the other networks as the presidential campaigns drew to a close last night, posting the biggest audience on broadcast for its election night results. NBC led the night among both adults 18-49 and total viewers, as it did during the three presidential debates last month as well. The network averaged a 4.6 adults 18-49 rating and 10 share during primetime, with ABC in second with a 3.8/8.

The ABC, CBS and NBC newscasts have collectively drawn 21.2 million viewers a night this fall. But last week, with an epic storm over the eastern third of the U.S. that caused big damage on the New Jersey coastline and in the New York City metropolitan area, the newscasts had nearly 5 million more viewers a night.

NBC had another dominant Monday night while Fox’s The Mob Doctor continued to struggle in its return after a long hiatus. NBC finished 60% ahead of No. 2 CBS on the second Monday of the November sweeps, led once more by the night’s top show, The Voice.

ABC’s strong promotional push for the new sitcom Malibu Country, most notably during last Thursday’s Country Music Association Awards, paid off. The premiere of the Reba McEntire comedy drew ABC’s best ratings in the 8:30 p.m. Friday timeslot since 2007. Malibu averaged a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating, building on its lead-in, the second-year sitcom Last Man Standing, which averaged a 1.9. It was the night’s second-highest-rated program.

Arrow, the new television series about the DC Comics character, is a bright spot in the CW ratings picture. The series premiere on Oct. 10 drew 4.1 million total viewers, which was the largest audience for any show on any night for the network in three years. It was also the most watched CW premiere since The Vampire Diaries.

ABC’s Country Music Association Awards boosted the network to an easy victory last night among adults 18-49, its first Thursday win of the season, though the show was down from last year. The CMAs averaged a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 11 p.m., down 21% from last year’s show, which averaged a 4.8. Last year’s show aired on a Wednesday night. This year the special fell to its lowest rating ever, yet it still marked ABC’s best night so far of sweeps.

David Letterman’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live last night delivered the ABC latenight show its biggest Wednesday audience since its 2003 debut — 2.35 million viewers.