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Week 39 of the 2002/03 Season (6/16-6/22/03)

Primetime:

As the temperature rose, Cable ratings heated up. Cable surpassed the seven Broadcast networks across all of its household audience measurements this week as delivery, rating, and share outperformed Broadcast by a remarkable 46%. This also marked the fourth consecutive week Cable hit the 50 share mark. Compared to year ago, Cable’s delivery rose 1.3 million homes as Broadcast’s only grew 756,000 homes and Cable’s HH rating grew .8 point as Broadcast’s inched up .5 points. Reality programming has been faring well for Broadcast, holding its viewers as usually repeats are telecasted during the hot summer months. Broadcast’s share decline was driven by CBS’s poor performance as the networks’ share level toppled off 11%. As the Hut level grew from year ago, viewers flocked to premium pay. As HBO’s “Sex In The City” season premiered, viewers congregated to catch Sarah Jessica Parker as premium pay experienced a significant gain this week.

In Second Quarter 2003 to date, Cable is outperforming Broadcast’s seven collective household share level by a healthy 6.8 points. Cable’s household delivery is 4.2 million above Broadcast’s and its household rating is surpassing Broadcast’s by 4.0 points. Compared to year ago, Cable is up a healthy 1.4 share points while Broadcast continues to erode. Five out of the total seven networks are down in household share with Fox being the only sole gainer this Quarter thanks to telecasts of “American Idol”.

To date this season, Cable is experiencing healthy gains vs year ago delivering 31.1 million homes, garnering a 29.1 HH rating, and earning a 48.1 share. Broadcast on the other hand is down across all audience measures. The seven networks have lost 638,000 viewers so far and are experiencing significant rating and share losses compared to last year’s levels. NBC is the main driver of the share loss partly due to telecast’s of the Olympics last year.

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Total Day:

Ad Supported Cable delivered 18.0 million homes in the 39th week of the 02/03 Season, representing an increase of 1.1 million viewers from last year on a Total Day basis. Cable’s household ratings increased 0.9 points from a year ago to 16.9 and the share increased by 0.5 points to end at 53.3. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being a commanding 19.7 points. The broadcast networks were up in viewership and ratings, but suffered a decrease in share.

Cable, to date, in the second quarter, has a strong lead over the broadcast networks. It ended with a 52.9 share, 17.1 points above Broadcast’s level. Ratings were up 1.4 points to finish at 17.2, and share increased 2.2 points from last year. The Broadcast Networks have experienced a slight increase in viewership and ratings in comparison to last year, and it has seen its share decrease.

For this season, cable rose to 18.0 million homes, up 1.4 million homes from last year. Cable’s ratings increased by 1.2 points to end at 16.9 and its share rose to 50.6, an increase of 2.1 points from last year. The broadcast networks continued to experience declines from last year. It sustained losses across the board, as impressions fell by 39,000 homes, ratings declined by 0.2 to end at 12.7 and share decreased by 1.8 points to end at 38.1.

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Source: Nielsen Galaxy.