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Week 1 of the 2003/04 Season (9/22-9/28/03)

Primetime:

The race is on with the commencement of the new broadcast season and Cable continues to hold its own with 48% of all viewing to Cable this week. In fact, the share gap between Cable and Broadcast this week is the smallest its ever been for any premiere week with only a 2.4 share point difference in Broadcast's favor whereas in the years past it has ranged from 8-21 share points.

In its first week of the 03-04 season, Cable managed to deliver 31.4 million homes; 29.0 rating points; and a 47.5 share. Compared to year ago, Cable out-performed last year's levels by 2.6 million homes; 2.0 HH rating points, and a healthy 3.0 share points whereas Broadcast continued to erode - down 1.6 share points. In actual fact, each premiere week for Cable has out performed the prior years' level while Broadcasts has continued to decline season after season.

Even though five out of the total seven networks contributed to Broadcast's decline this week, NBC and Fox were the main drivers with share levels down significantly v. year ago. With premieres comprising 90% of NBC's schedule this week, NBC still managed to plummet 7% in household share. In addition, Fox which did not telecast any premieres this week, experienced a share decline of about 10% from year ago.

Cable shattered records with Third Quarter 2003, delivering its highest viewership, ratings, and share EVER. In Third Quarter 2003, Cable delivered a 54.3 share - outperforming the broadcast networks by a remarkable 17.2 share points. Compared to year ago, cable's share jumped about two share points while Broadcasts continued to erode. Broadcast's decline was driven by Fox's absence of American Idol. Fox's programming fell -10% among household share.

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Total Day:

For the third quarter, Ad-Supported Cable had a commanding lead over the broadcast networks. It ended with a 53.4 share, its highest share ever, and finished 19.1 points above Broadcast’s level. Ratings were up 0.9 points to finish at 17.0, and share increased 1.5 points from last year. The Broadcast Networks experienced a slight increase in viewership, held steady in ratings and suffered a decline in share.

Ad Supported Cable delivered 17.9 million homes in the 1st week of the 03/04 Season, representing an increase of 1.7 million viewers from last year on a Total Day basis. Cable’s household ratings increased 1.3 points from a year ago to 16.5 and the share increased by 2.3 points to end at 50.0. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being a solid 11.1 points. The broadcast networks were up in impressions but had declines in ratings and share.

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Source: Nielsen Galaxy.