Where You Are: Home > CAB Research > '03/04 Weekly Audience Measures

Week 9 of the 2003/04 Season (11/17-11/23/03)

Primetime:

In the ninth week of the 03/04 season, Cable practically tied Broadcast's share in Primetime - delivering a 48.1 v. 48.8 for Broadcast. In addition, Cable earned its highest delivery and household rating to date for the season, 32.8 million homes and 30.2, respectively. Compared to year ago, Cable continued to experience considerable gains as its share jumped almost five share points whereas Broadcast's fell four. In fact, five out of the total seven nets experienced declines this week.

Cable is performing great in fourth quarter 2003, as viewership is up more than 2.4 million homes from year ago; rating rose 1.8 points; and share climbed about three share points to a 47.3 level. Conversely, Broadcast’s share level is down this year v. year ago greatly thanks mainly to NBC’s poor performance with its new programming line up as viewership is down more than 12%.

As the new 03-04 season continues to unfold - Cable manages to capture 47% of total TV viewing. In fact, the spread between Cable and Broadcast has decreased to only about four share points. In addition, Cable has experienced significant gains across all of its audience measurements from year ago –delivering more than two more million homes; +1.8 HH rating points; and +2.9 HH share points.

Download Primetime Spreadsheet

Total Day:

Ad Supported Cable delivered 18.6 million homes in the 9th week of the 03/04 Season, representing an increase of 2.0 million viewers from last year on a Total Day basis. Cable’s household ratings increased by 1.6 points to end at 17.1 and the share increased by 3.1 points to end at 49.8. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being a solid 10.2 points. The broadcast networks made gains in impressions, remained the same in ratings and declined in share.

Cable, to date, in the fourth quarter, has a strong lead over the broadcast networks. It ended with a 49.6 share, 9.8 points above Broadcast’s level. Ratings were up 0.9 points to finish at 16.7, and share increased 1.9 points from last year. The Broadcast Networks have experienced a slight increase in viewership and ratings, while share has declined slightly.

For this season, cable rose to 18.0 million homes, up 1.3 million homes from last year. Cable’s ratings increased by 0.9 points to end at 16.6 and its share rose to 49.6, an increase of 1.9 points from last year. The broadcast networks experienced an increase in impressions and ratings, while share declined by 0.6 points to end at 39.7.

Download Total Day Spreadsheet

Source: Nielsen Galaxy.