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Week 30 of the 2002/03 Season (4/14-4/20/03)

Primetime:

For the seventh consecutive week, Ad Supported Cable outshined the collective Primetime audience measures of the seven Broadcast networks. Also in the 30th week cable surpassed the 50 share mark for the fifth consecutive week. Cable outperformed the seven networks by 4.8 million homes, 4.5 HH rating points; and 7.8 share points this week. Compared to year ago, Cable’s ratings were up slightly across all its audience measures. Broadcast also experienced some delivery gains this week which was solely driven by Fox and NBC’s strong performances. These networks’ delivery gains can be attributed to Fox’s telecasts of “American Idol” and NBC’s airing of “Friends” & “Law and Order” episodes.

For the first three weeks of Second Quarter 2003, Cable is outperforming Broadcast’s seven collective household share level by an impressive 9.5 points. Compared to year ago, Cable is up a healthy 3.2 share points while Broadcast continues to erode. Six 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 29.2 HH rating, and earning a 47.5 share. Broadcast on the other hand is down across all audience measures. The seven networks have lost 929,000 viewers so far and are experiencing rating and share losses compared to last year’s levels. While four out of the seven nets are down in share, NBC is the clear driver of the share loss partly due to telecast’s of the Olympics last year.

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Total Day:

Ad Supported Cable rose to 18.6 million homes this week, an increase of 2.1 million viewers from last year on a Total Day basis. Cable’s ratings increased to a 17.5, up 1.8 points from last year and the share increased 3.2 points to finish at 54.0. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being 19.0 points. It should be noted that cable’s strong gains this week in comparison to last year can be partly attributed to viewers tuning in to the cable news networks (i.e. CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC) for continued updates on the war in Iraq and its aftermath. The broadcast networks were down across all audience measures in comparison to last year.

Cable, to date, in the second quarter, has gotten off to a great start. It ended with a 55.4 share, 20.6 points above Broadcast’s level. Ratings were up 2.8 points to finish at 18.7, and share increased 4.9 points from last year. The Broadcast Networks have experienced a slight increase in viewership, but have seen declines in ratings and share.

For this season, cable rose to 18.1 million homes, up 1.5 million homes from last year. Cable’s ratings increased by 1.3 points to end at 17.0 and its share rose to 50.2, an increase of 2.4 points from last year. The broadcast networks continued to experience declines from last year. It sustained losses across the board as impressions fell by 168,000 homes, ratings declined by 0.3 to end at 13.1 and share decreased by 2.0 points to end at 38.7.

Download Total Day Spreadsheet

Source: Nielsen Galaxy.