weekly syndication ratings

In the session ending May 2, her honor led the courtrooms for the 1,284^th consecutive week, while Dr. Phil and Live with Kelly and Ryan tied for top talk honors and Family Feud led all of syndication.

Despite preemptions for Chauvin trial coverage in the session ending April 25, it rose 6% to a four-week high 1.8 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, taking over sole possession of first place in talk.

In the session ending April 18, the sophomore Hall strengthened 14% from the prior frame to a three-week high 0.8 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, and rose 33% in the key women 25-54 demo.

In the session ending April 11, the game show climbed 14% from a week earlier to a 5.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, its best performance in a month.

Preemptions from news coverage of opening arguments in the Derek Chauvin trial and the attack at a U.S. Capitol checkpoint as well as the regional round of March Madness and a rain-delayed NASCAR race hampered strips, especially those cleared on network affiliates. Phil was as the only first-run strip to post a gain in the week ended April 4.

In the week ending March 28, programs did well just to hold their own as virtually none of the top-tier strips in any category was able to muster any improvement whatsoever thanks to a number of factors, including March Madness.

In the session ending March 21, beset by March Madness preemptions and the introduction of Daylight Saving Time, Drew Barrymore posted a 20% weekly gain and Family Feud was the top game show for the first time since the week ending Jan. 3.

Once again, the vast majority of first-run shows are flat or down. In fact, in the week ending March 14, only two entries were up from the previous session, led by Judge Jerry.

The status quo was everywhere in the ratings for the week ending March 7 with show standing pat in most of first-run and off-net.

After 13 weeks in a tie as No. 2 or in a tie with Live with Kelly and Ryan, Dr. Phil returned to the top of the chat pack despite giving back 5% to a 1.9.

In the session after the coverage of the impeachment trial, shows in multiple posted single and double-digit increases, with Dr. Phil gaining the most with its 43% gain.

Many daytime syndies were preempted by the second Trump trial in the week ending Feb. 14, with very few shows able to muster an advance over the previous session.

Live with Kelly and Ryan rallied 6% to a 1.9 and took over sole possession of first place in talk, just ahead of Dr. Phil, which gave back 6% to a 1.7 in the session ending Jan. 24, a week during which daytime shows were riddled with pandemic-related preemptions and largely blown out by wall-to-wall coverage of President Biden’s inauguration.

In the week ending Jan. 17, “Greatest Of All Time” winner Ken Jennings began his stint as the first in a series of interim hosts with Jeopardy topping the game shows and all of syndication in the household ratings.

The game show, in the week ending Jan. 10, was up 29% from the previous session, delivering a 6.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating.

All in the genre post gains from the previous session in the week ending Jan. 3, with Extra growing the most of the big five and matching its season high with a 17% spurt to a 0.7.

Reruns and preemptions during the session ending Dec. 27 depressed the majority of shows.

The morning mainstay led the yak pack in the week ending Dec. 20, racing ahead 11% to a 2.1, its highest Nielsen number since early May.

The just-renewed Clarkson ramped up 10% to a 1.1 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating in the week ending Dec. 13 and leapt into a tie with veteran Ellen DeGeneres for third place among talk shows for the first time this season.

All of the top six in the genre posted ratings gains of 9% or greater in the week ending Dec. 6 with Entertainment Tonight and Inside Edition at the top of the heap.

The talk show’s “12 Days of Givaways” helped drive an 18% boost in household numbers in the session ending Nov. 29, a week that saw many other syndies drop due to holiday, football and political preemptions.

Judge Judy climbed 3% to a strong 6.1 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, its best showing since the week ending May 10, and outperformed everything on the chart including programs in the more heavily viewed access time period. Jeopardy was next with a second-place 5.9.

The game show led all of syndication for the first time in five months in the session ending Nov. 15, which was the first week after the death of its beloved host Alex Trebek.

Ratings were down across genres as preemptions for election coverage took their toll in the session ending Nov. 8.

Judge Judy was the biggest gainer, surging 16% from the previous week to a new season high 5.9 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, and outperforming all syndicated shows in households. Also posting ratings increase were Hot Bench, People’s Court and Judge Mathis.

The sophomore talker unleashed the largest leap of all syndicated shows in the session ending Oct. 25, skyrocketing 29% to a new season high 0.9 in households and shooting up 33% in the key women 25-54 demo.

It grows 4% week to week to a 5.5 to lead the game shows and all of syndication in the session ending Oct. 18. Dr. Phil tops the talkers, while Kelly Clarkson posts a 13% gain, the only member of the chat pack to advance.

Despite being blacked out in numerous markets for French Open tennis, football and coverage of President Trump’s post-COVID diagnosis return to the White House from Walter Reed, Barrymore shot up 20% from the prior frame to a 0.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating in the week ending Oct. 11.

Live with Kelly and Ryan’s 12% ratings gain and Wendy Williams’ 13% boost were unusual in first run. Most other shows across the genres were hard-pressed to post week-to-week gains in the session ending Oct. 4.

Among the shows debuting in the week ending Sept. 27 were Kelly Clarkson and Ellen DeGeneres, which rebounded 50% from the prior frame’s all-time low to a 1.2 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen household rating.

In the syndication season’s first week, Judge Judy jumped 6% from the prior venue to an eight-week high 5.7; Tamron Hall kicked off its second season with a 33% increase to a nine-week high 0.8; and rookie Drew Barrymore Show debuted with a 0.7, the third-highest pure talk show premiere since 2017.

For the week ending Sept. 6, the between-season session leading into Labor Day weekend, Judy rose 2% to a four-week high 5.6 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, and crushed the other court shows for a remarkable 1,250^th week in a row — or every week for the past 24 years.

Reports on the two storms — Laura and Marco— along with updates on the pandemic, blistered numerous daytime shows with preemptions in the week ending Aug. 30. On top of that, many programs were bumped for four days of coverage of the Republican National Convention coverage.

The show’s triumph came despite its airing in relatively lightly viewed daytime periods and being hit with months of massive coronavirus coverage preemptions. It gave the wildly popular jurist first place in first-run syndication for a remarkable 11^th year in a row with a 6.2 full-season rating as of the week ending Aug. 23, the latest for which national ratings are available. That was nearly triple the full-season rating of any other strip in the daypart.

Dr. Phil was mostly immune to the carnage, giving back 5% to a still-potent 1.8 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating, and easily leading the yak pack for the eighth time in nine weeks despite being in repeats on all five days.

Despite being in repeats on all five days, syndication’s top talker leapfrogged over the previous week’s leader, Live with Kelly and Ryan, and finished first for the 191^st time in the past 205 weeks in the session ending Aug. 9.

The talk show featured a widely-praised tribute to late co-host Regis Philbin on July 27 and, on July 31, an encore presentation of the “Regis Farewell Celebration Special” from Nov. 8, 2011, pushing it up 19% in the week ending Aug. 2.

Judge Judy increased its audience by 214,000 to more than 8 million daily viewers, and jumped to its second-biggest rating since May with a 2% advance to a 5.7 live-plus-same-day national Nielsen rating. That was followed by Judy’s progeny Hot Bench, which bagged a nine-week high 2.1, forging ahead 5% for the week and 11% from last year despite numerous preemptions for pandemic coverage.

Magazines as a genre showed some life in the week ending July 19 with none falling back. First run’s overall winner was Family Feud, which turned in a 5.8 in households.

The top shows by genre in the week ending July 12 were Dr. Phil (talk), 25 Words or Less (rookies), Judge Judy (courtrooms), Family Feud (games) and Inside Edition (magazines).