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Bet, Call or Raise? (05/06 Premiere Week Primetime Review)
The game commenced at the start of the new Broadcast Season with Ad-Supported Cable seizing the center pot – capturing more than half of total TV viewing in Primetime during premiere week. Ad-Supported Cable presented a strong hand with a 54.3 share, outperforming Broadcast by 9.3 share points – its largest spread to date.
With Ad-Supported Cable’s continuous investment into its high-quality content, Cable continues to experience impressive rating gains across the board during Broadcasts’ premiere week with viewership up more than 3.0 million homes; rating climbing 2.6 points; and share level up 2.3 points v. same period a year ago. Broadcasts seven continued to slide despite airing sixteen more premieres this season with share level plummeting to a 45.0 – lowest level to date during any premiere week. Broadcasts’ drop was primarily payable to CBS’s, NBC’s, and WB’s weak performances this past week.
PREMIERE WEEK'S PRIMETIME RATINGS ANALYSIS |
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AD-SUPPORTED CABLE |
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BROADCAST -NET |
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HH |
HH |
HH |
Share Point |
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HH |
Share Point |
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Cable's Spread Over |
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(OOO) |
AA% |
SHARE |
(+/-) v. YAG |
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SHARE |
(+/-) v. YAG |
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Broadcast Share |
9/19-9/25/05 |
37,436 |
34.0 |
54.3 |
2.3 |
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45.0 |
-1.6 |
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9.3 |
9/20-9/26/04 |
34,425 |
31.4 |
52.0 |
4.5 |
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46.6 |
-3.3 |
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5.4 |
9/22--9/27/03 |
31,437 |
29.0 |
47.5 |
3.0 |
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49.9 |
-2.6 |
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-2.4 |
9/23-9/29/02 |
28,837 |
27.0 |
44.5 |
0.2 |
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52.5 |
-0.6 |
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-8.0 |
9/24-9/30/01 |
28,883 |
27.4 |
44.3 |
n/a |
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53.1 |
n/a |
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-8.8 |
Source: CAB analysis of Nielsen Galaxy.
With majority of the Broadcast networks laying their cards out, telecasting their premieres, who is going to take home the big pot? It is too premature to tell which show will succeed and which will fold but the odds do not fare too well for Broadcast. With sixteen more premieres this season, the seven nets are only averaging a 3.4 among advertiser’s most coveted target A18-49 – down 6% from last year. NBC and CBS which premiered the bulk of their fall lineup are in trouble with premieres down significantly from last year. In fact, the only network to experience a gain is ABC with nine premieres averaging a 6.0. Place your bets as it is anyone’s game.
PRIMETIME PREMIERE AVERAGES BY NETWORK |
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05/06 |
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04/05 |
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05/06 v. 04/05 |
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# of |
A18-49 |
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# of |
A18-49 |
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(+/-) # of |
(+/-) |
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Premieres |
AA% |
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Premieres |
AA% |
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Premieres |
A18-49 AA% |
ABC |
9 |
6.0 |
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15 |
3.6 |
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-6 |
2.4 |
CBS |
19 |
3.7 |
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17 |
4.5 |
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2 |
-0.8 |
NBC |
21 |
3.4 |
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9 |
4.3 |
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12 |
-0.9 |
FOX |
4 |
1.8 |
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1 |
2.3 |
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3 |
-0.5 |
WB |
7 |
1.4 |
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4 |
2.3 |
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3 |
-0.9 |
UPN |
9 |
2.0 |
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8 |
1.6 |
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1 |
0.4 |
PAX |
1 |
0.1 |
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0 |
n/a |
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1 |
n/a |
AVG |
70 |
3.4 |
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54 |
3.6 |
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16 |
-0.2 |
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Source: CAB analysis of Nielsen Galaxy. |
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9/19-9/25/06 & 9/20-9/26/04. |
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With little surprise, ABC’s Desperate Housewives – the networks royal straight flush – ranked in first place with a 12.3 among A18-49 followed closely by Lost. In fact, ABC has found its winning streak placing six in the Top 10. New comers to the Top 10 list include: ABC’s Invasion and NBC’s My Name Is Earl. Fair game: do you raise or fold?
PREMIERE WEEK PRIMETIME PROGRAM RANK |
9/19-9/25/05 |
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A18-49 |
Rank |
Net |
Program |
# TC |
US AA% |
1 |
ABC |
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES |
1 |
12.3 |
2 |
ABC |
LOST |
1 |
10.2 |
3 |
CBS |
CSI |
1 |
10.2 |
4 |
ABC |
GREY'S ANATOMY |
1 |
8.3 |
5 |
ABC |
EXTREME MAKEOVER:HOME ED. |
1 |
6.9 |
6 |
ABC |
INVASION |
1 |
6.8 |
7 |
CBS |
CSI: MIAMI |
1 |
6.7 |
8 |
CBS |
CBS NFL NATL POST GUN |
1 |
6.6 |
9 |
NBC |
MY NAME IS EARL |
1 |
6.6 |
10 |
ABC |
NFL MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL |
1 |
6.5 |
Source: CAB analysis of Nielsen Galaxy.
Viewers continued to flock to Ad-Supported Cable in droves as each night of the week in Primetime sustained considerable gains – up over a million more viewers among A18-49 in six out of the total seven nights. Thursday night was a big winner with 4.2 million more viewers from year ago. Despite Broadcast telecasting its strongest programming this week, Wednesday and Thursday nights performed poorly mainly thanks to CBS’s and NBC’s weak performances.
As the game persists with players raising and calling their bets, one thing is for sure – Ad-Supported Cable will continue to shatter records and set the standard of achievement across the board. Ad-Supported Cable is a sure bet!
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