Where You Are: Home > CAB Research > '02/03 Weekly Audience Measures

Week 16 of the 2002/03 Season (1/6-1/12/03)

Primetime:

Ad Supported Cable delivered a 45.9 share this week and surpassed the Big 4 networks for the seventh consecutive week this Broadcast season. Compared to year ago, cable’s delivery was up 1.5 million homes and its rating and share experienced a 1.1 and a 1.6 point hike. Broadcast on the other hand, experienced erosion as delivery fell 1.4 million homes and the rating and share declined 1.7 and 2.9 points, respectively. Broadcast's decline was primarily driven by ABC which was down 36% in HH share thanks to telecasts of football playoff games last year. In fact, five out of the total seven networks experienced share loses this week. On a different note, Fox was the big gainer this week with a 55% share gain thanks to telecasts of Fox's NFC Playoff and Joe Millionaire.

To date this season, Cable is experiencing minimal gains delivering 30.0 million homes, garnering a 28.1 HH rating, and earning a 46.2 share. Broadcast on the other hand is down across all audience measures. The seven networks have lost 530,000 viewers so far and are experiencing significant rating and share losses compared to last year’s levels.

First Quarter is off to a great start as Cable is up 731,000 homes. Broadcast is also experiencing gains as rating and share are up slightly. Broadcast’s gain is being driven primarily by Fox which is up 2.4 share points from year ago. In fact, CBS, Fox, and WB are the only share gainers this quarter to date.

Download Primetime Spreadsheet

Total Day:

Ad Supported Cable rose to 17.6 million homes this week, an increase of 1.3 million viewers from last year on a Total Day basis. Cable’s ratings increased to a 16.4, up 0.9 points from last year and the share increased 1.8 points to finish at 48.2. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being 7.8 points.

Cable, to date, in the first quarter, ended with a 49.6 share, 10.1 points above Broadcast’s level. Cable ratings were up 0.7 points to finish at 17.3, and its share increased 1.2 points from last year. The Broadcast Networks were up slightly in households but experienced declines in ratings and share.

For this season, cable rose to 17.3 million homes, up 697,000 homes from last year. Cable’s rating increased by 0.5 points to end at 16.2 and its share increased to finish at 48.6, an increase of 0.9 points from last year. The broadcast networks continued to experience rating decreases from last year. Ratings were down 0.4 to end at 13.1 and share was down 1.6 points to 39.5.

Download Total Day Spreadsheet

Source: Nielsen Galaxy.