A coalition of advertisers and media companies (my corporate master Time Warner included) today announced the name of a planned new ratings service to compete with Nielsen: the Coalition for Innovative Media Measurement, or CIMM. (Not actually sure how the acronym is pronounced, but “simm” works for my headline, so I’m sticking with it …
TV Ratings
…And Now Conan Beats Dave (Among Youngsters) Without Showing Up
The late-night ratings for the week before last showed that a week of David Letterman reruns had beaten Conan O’Brien originals in total viewers, although the Conan originals still won in various categories of younger viewers. Last week, Conan was in reruns and Dave was in originals and… pretty much exactly the same thing happened: …
Corporate Press Release Theater: Runway Pays Some Legal Bills
Looks like all that litigation was worth it for Lifetime. Though the return of Project Runway was delayed by the wrangling in the court as the cable network wrested the reality show from Bravo, last night’s season premiere was the highest rated ever, for Runway or any other Lifetime series, drawing over 4.2 million viewers. Excerpts from …
Viewers Mad for Men; PTC Mad at Men
The ratings for the first season 3 episode of Mad Men are in, and though AMC did not give the show the extravagantly expensive ad campaign it did in season 2, it scored its highest rating ever–2.8 million, up a third from last year. Granted that number wouldn’t be a minor hit on a big network, but it’s a jackpot for AMC.
Another sign …
Dave & Conan: Who's #1? Depends Who Counts
As Bill Carter reports at the New York Times, one side effect of Michael Jackson’s death has been a big jump in Nightline’s ratings, which seemed to come largely from Conan O’Brien. The night of Jackson’s memorial, The Tonight Show got about two million fewer viewers than Nightline, and a million less than Late Show With David …
31 Million (and More) for MJ Memorial
According to Nielsen, via The Live Feed, about 31 million people watched Michael Jackson’s memorial service on U.S. television. That compares with 35.1 million for Ronald Reagan in 2004 and 33.3 million for Princess Diana in 1997—but it’s also in an era of smaller audiences overall, not to mention Internet video, which presumably added …
Healthcare Special Ratings Sink: Should Have Brought Bo
The ratings are in for President Obama’s healthcare forum on ABC last night, and as they say on the doctor shows: we’ve checked the charts, and it doesn’t look good. Less than five million people tuned in for the earnest but dull Q&A session on the American health system, compared with the over nine million who watched NBC’s Brian …
Colbert in Iraq: Mission Accomplished
After Conan O’Brien’s ratings decline continued in the beginning of this week, I wondered whether the Tonight Show was being affected by Stephen Colbert’s highly publicized week of USO shows from Iraq. While it’s impossible to establish a direct cause and effect, Bill Carter of the New York Times reports that Colbert’s ratings were way …
Conan Definitively Beats Dave Forever! Not.
Tuesday, CBS’ Late Show with David Letterman beat The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien, and an NBC executive reminded us that late-night “is a marathon,” not a sprint.
Last night, Conan edged out Dave in the ratings, posting his first rating increase since he took over. And demographic ratings for last week came in, showing Conan …
That Was Quick: Letterman Overtakes O'Brien
Let’s do this by the numbers:
Rating of Conan O’Brien’s debut Tonight Show: 7.1
Rating of last night’s Tonight Show: 2.9
Rating of last night’s Late Show with David Letterman: 3.4
Episodes it took for Dave to pass Conan: 7
Time it took after ratings news for an NBC executive to use the line that late night “is a marathon,” not …
Ratings: Will Dave Catch Conan?
Conan O’Brien’s ratings fell throughout his debut week last week. That’s not unexpected: you would figure on a big tune-in out of curiosity, including a lot of viewers who are not regular late-night viewers. And while Conan’s ratings tailed off, they also showed signs of finding a level, as his ratings dropped by a lower percentage each …
Jon & Kate Plus 9.8 Million
That’s how many of us enablers viewers tuned to the season 5 premiere of reality show / marital implosion Jon & Kate Plus 8 last night, per the New York Times’ Brian Stelter. Making it the most watched show on TV—including broadcast networks—and more than doubling the 4.6 million who watched the season 4 finale in March.
I had …
Obama Presser: Diminishing Returns?
Like a much-hyped drama debut shedding viewers to find its level, President Obama’s press conferences are drawing fewer viewers each time out. The President’s Wednesday night outing drew 28.8 million viewers on all networks covering, down 29% from his March conference and down from 49.5 million for his first. Nielsen has the numbers. …