March 29, 2024

Media Decoder Blog: Winter TV Schedule Brings Shift in Ratings Race

7:07 p.m. | Updated The television season continues to generate big shifts in the ratings, with cable shows still dominating over most network offerings on Sunday nights and Fox overtaking a flagging NBC for the season.

NBC was No. 1 throughout the fall in the category it sells to most advertisers — viewers between the ages of 18 and 49. CBS, riding the Super Bowl, quickly surpassed NBC in February, and now Fox has cruised by the peacock network, too.

Even though its once dominant “American Idol” continues to erode, Fox has put together enough of a winter season — with the addition of the solid new drama performer “The Following” — to pass NBC. As of last week, Fox is now averaging a 2.6 rating in that 18-49 group, ahead of NBC’s 2.5. Last week, NBC was still ahead by one-tenth.

CBS is well ahead with a 3.1 rating. ABC, the only network that cannot rely on big sports numbers to push its ratings, is in last place for the season with a 2.3 rating. (Virtually all the sports its parent, Disney, owns rights to, including the N.F.L. and N.C.A.A. football, are on ESPN.)

ABC did, however, get positive ratings news this week from its venerable reality series “The Bachelor.”

This season’s “Bachelor” finale hit a 3.3 rating Monday night, up from a 2.8 for the previous season. And its follow-up special, “After the Final Rose,” did even better, scoring a 3.8 rating, up from a 3.3 last year. The three-hour block was easily the best performer on television Monday night.

ABC is looking to ride the apparent popularity of this bachelor, Sean Lowe, to further ratings improvement. He has been cast on the next edition of “Dancing with the Stars,” which starts Monday.

The network also hopes to put the future wedding of Mr. Lowe and his rose choice, Catherine, in prime time, as soon as possible. (The couple announced on the special Monday night that they would sacrifice their privacy for a TV wedding spectacular.)

Soon might mean within this season, and give ABC a chance to catch NBC for third place (though that is still unlikely); but it would also give ABC the chance to televise the event before the relationship sours, as virtually all the “Bachelor” relationships have.

No matter what happens with Mr. Lowe, dancing or getting married, his block of programming is unlikely to reach the heights now routinely attained by “The Walking Dead” on AMC on Sundays. Once again, that show dwarfed all network competition this past week, scoring a 5.7 rating in the 18-49 group, with 11.46 million viewers.

Only “60 Minutes” on CBS had more viewers Sunday night, with 11.58 million. But cable has another blockbuster on Sundays: the second episode of “The Bible” on The History Channel came in third, with 10.82 million viewers.

That was down from 13.1 million for the show’s premiere, but still represents a huge number for cable. “The Bible” also scored a 2.5 rating among the 18-49 group, which was beaten only by “Family Guy” on Fox with a 2.7 rating.

Article source: http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/12/fall-season-brings-shift-in-tv-ratings-race/?partner=rss&emc=rss