The Ratings Report for Sunday, October 22, 2006

The preliminary numbers for last night's ratings have just come down from the Nielsen National Data. Now, before I begin, ratings right now makes and breaks a show. They're extremely crucial to the numbers game that is played in Hollywood, as you need to score a number of viewers to get a certain ad rate. If you get 20 million viewers a week, you obviously get more dollars for that show then a show that just gets 8 million viewers a week. Also, the other number that the networks look at is the 18-49 demographic, which is the demo that the advertisers want as they're the most influential and most likely to actually buy something.

Now, if you're new to the ratings game then you're going to look at the numbers and be rather confused. What the heck does it mean when my favorite show got 8.3/10? That's too confusing! Well, the purpose of this little post is to break it down so you can understand it. I'll always post it in the millions of viewers for both overall viewers and the demographic I described above. Eventually, I'll be able to explain the numbers in a why that will make sense for you, but first we have to be able to gauge the numbers so that they make sense to you.

So, let's start with last night's slate of shows.

Overview

Fox is going to feeling pretty happy this morning as they were able to win the night courtesy of Game Two of the World Series which saw the Detroit Tigers defeat the St. Louis Cardinals. The numbers for Fox came back as a 10.2/16 because of the World Series and the late ending NFL games. What that means is that Fox came down with approximately 11.3 million households watched the game, and roughly sixteen million viewers. Obviously, that number will change as the time goes on due to the fact that it was a live broadcast, and numbers are normally flimsy in that department. Also, I'm not privy to the actual number of viewers watch each network so I have to go with my best estimates based on other numbers and math. So, if I'm wrong, I'll let you know, and weekly I'll try to give you an update on the actual numbers that come down from the Nielsen.

ABC and CBS would tie for second with ABC having more viewers overall. Overall, they both end up with an 8.4/13 to come out with 9.35 households and an average of thirteen million viewers a piece. NBC came in fourth with a series of re-runs that brought in a 3.3/5 which comes out to 3.6 million households and five to six million viewers. Finally, the CW came in last with a 1.6/2 which comes out to be 1.8 million households and roughly a little over two million viewers. Now, let's break it down show by show for each hour.

At the 7PM hour, Fox came in first thanks to the ending of NFL games and the World Series pre-game show. That came in at a 9.6/16 for fifteen million viewers. Then, came 60 Minutes for CBS which got an 8.1/14 for about 12.9 million to 13 million viewers to place second in the hour. Following that, we have ABC's America's Funniest Home Videos with a 5.5/9 or about eight million viewers. Then came Football Night in America on ABC that brought in

At the 8PM hour, the start of Game 2 of the World Series brought in 10.5/16 for another fifteen million, though a bit higher then before as it was shown in more households. ABC would then move in second thanks to Extreme Makeover: Home Edition with a 7.4/11 for a nice ten million viewers. The Amazing Race would come in third place for CBS with a 6.8/10 for nine million viewers. Finally, the first of three repeats of Heroes over on NBC would get a 3.7/6 to begin with a little less than five million viewers while the CW's 7th Heaven brought in the rear with 2.1/3 for 2.5-2.9 million viewers for the network.

At the 9PM hour, the gears would shit as Desperate Housewives would take first place with a 12.4/18 as they show continues to decline and gets a rough 19 million viewers, if not dipping slightly into the 18 millions. However, Desperate Housewives was still the number one show for the evening. The World Series would pull in a second place with 10.7/16, continuing to climb as it's in the high fifteen million range, maybe even getting 16 million viewers depending on what the final numbers are. CBS claimed third thanks to Cold Case which got 9.2/13 for twelve million viewers while Heroes drew a 3.5/5 for four million viewers, and CW's America's Next Top Model repeat got a 1.3/2 for roughly 1.5 million viewers.

Finally, at the 10PM hour, we see Fox take the lead once again with a 10.1/16, losing some households, and holding steady right around fifteen million viewers. Without A Trace brought CBS into second with a 9.5/15 for 13.9 million viewers approximately. Then came the new show from ABC, Brothers and Sisters, to pull in a respectable 8.3/13 for roughly twelve million viewers. Finally, NBC pulls in the rear with the third of their repeats of the hottest new show of the season, Heroes, with a 3.7/6, gaining more viewers, to have a nice 4.5-5.0 million viewers.

I'm going to bring you the demographic numbers later on in the day as they're harder to pin down in terms of actual viewers, and take a little bit longer to verify. If you have any questions, news, reports, or anything you want to offer, please send them to thepulseattelevision@gmail.com and I'll get back to you.

Thanks.

The Pulse