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Week 11 of the 2003/04 Season (12/1/03-12/7/03)

Primetime:

Cable hit the 50 share mark for the second consecutive week in its 11th week of the 02/03 Broadcast season, outshining Broadcast by an impressive 5.3 share points. In addition, Cable broke last week's record and achieved its highest delivery (34.4 million) and HH rating (31.7) to date this season. Along the way, Cable out-delivered Broadcast by a remarkable 3.5 million homes and recorded 3.2 more HH rating points than the combined seven networks. Not only did cable outshine Broadcast this week, it delivered higher viewing levels than same period a year ago. Compared to year ago, Cable’s share jumped up about two share points while Broadcast experienced very minimal gains thanks mainly to CBS.

Cable is performing great in fourth quarter 2003, as viewership is up about a quarter of a million homes from year ago; rating rose 1.8 points; and share climbed about three share points to a 48.1 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 10%.

As the new 03-04 season continues to unfold - Cable manages to capture 48% of total TV viewing. In fact, the spread between Cable and Broadcast has decreased to two share points. In addition, Cable has experienced significant gains across all of its audience measurements from year ago –delivering more than 2.4 million more homes; +1.8 HH rating points; and +2.8 HH share points.

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Total Day:

Ad Supported Cable delivered 19.0 million homes in the 11th week of the 03/04 Season, representing an increase of 1.4 million viewers from last year on a Total Day basis. Cable’s household ratings increased by 1.1 points to end at 17.6 and the share increased by 1.8 points to end at 50.7. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being a solid 12.0 points. The broadcast networks made gains in impressions and ratings, while it experienced a decline in share.

Cable, to date, in the fourth quarter, has a strong lead over the broadcast networks. It ended with a 50.0 share, 10.4 points above Broadcast’s level. Ratings were up 1.0 point to finish at 16.9, 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.

For this season, cable rose to 18.3 million homes, up 1.4 million homes from last year. Cable’s ratings increased by 1.0 point to end at 16.9 and its share rose to 50.0, an increase of 2.0 points from last year. The broadcast networks experienced an increase in impressions and ratings, while share declined by 0.5 points to end at 39.5.

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Source: Nielsen Galaxy.