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Week 19 of the 2002/03 Season (1/27-2/2/03)

Primetime:

Ad Supported Cable surpassed the Big 4 by 5.2 share points and tied the seven networks combined share level at 46.1. Cable delivered 31.1 million homes this week, 2.7 million more than last year. Also Cable’s rating and share jumped up 2.2 and 3.2 points, respectively, compared to last year. In contrast, Broadcast (7-net) experienced losses across all its audience measurements. Broadcast’s (7-net) viewership fell by 11.3% and its rating (-12.3%) and share (12.7%) plummeted considerably. The seven networks loss was primarily driven by Fox which experienced a vast share decline due to the Super Bowl telecast last year. UPN was the other network to experience a significant share loss this week as well.

To date this season, Cable is experiencing minimal gains delivering 30.1 million homes, garnering a 28.2 HH rating, and earning a 46.1 share. Broadcast on the other hand is down across all audience measures. The seven networks have lost 427,000 viewers so far and are experiencing rating and share losses compared to last year’s levels. In fact, five out of the total seven networks are experiencing share losses compared to same period a year ago with Fox and UPN experiencing the greatest losses.

Cable is off to a great start in First Quarter as Cable’s delivery is up over a million homes vs year ago. In conjunction, Broadcast is also experiencing some gains as rating and share are up slightly. Broadcast’s gain is being mainly fueled by ABC whose share gain is up 1.4 points.

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Total Day:

Ad Supported Cable rose to 18.1 million homes this week, an increase of 1.6 million viewers from last year on a Total Day basis. Cable’s ratings increased to a 17.0, up 1.4 points from last year and the share increased 2.5 points to finish at 49.4. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being 10.2 points.

Cable, to date, in the first quarter, ended with a 49.5 share, 10.0 points above Broadcast’s level. Cable ratings were up 1.1 points to finish at 17.2, and its share increased 1.9 points from last year. The Broadcast Networks have experienced a decline in viewership.

For this season, cable rose to 17.4 million homes, up 843,000 homes from last year. Cable’s rating increased by 0.6 points to end at 16.3 and its share increased to finish at 48.8, an increase of 1.2 points from last year. The broadcast networks continued to experience rating decreases from last year. Ratings were down 0.4 to end at 13.2 and share was down 1.7 points to 39.5.

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Source: Nielsen Galaxy.