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Week 25 of the 2002/03 Season (3/10-3/16/03)

Primetime:

For the second consecutive week, Ad Supported Cable outperformed the Broadcast nets collective audience measurements. As Cable’s share approached the 50 mark this week, Cable outdistanced Broadcast’s seven net share level by 4.1 points. Cable also surpassed Broadcast’s household delivery by 2.5 million homes and their collective HH rating by 2.4 points. Compared to year ago, Cable was up 2.0 million homes; its HH rating jumped up 1.6 points; and its share climbed 1.8 points to a 49.7 level for the week. For the second week in March, Broadcast’s share continued to erode, declining by 1.3 points. Broadcast’s decline was driven mainly by ABC and UPN. Fox was once again the noticeable share gainer for week, mainly because of its “American Idol” series.

To date this season, Cable is experiencing healthy gains delivering 30.4 million homes, garnering a 28.5 HH rating, and earning a 46.4 share. Broadcast on the other hand is down across all audience measures. The seven networks have lost 730,000 viewers so far and are experiencing rating and share losses compared to last year’s levels. NBC is the clear driver of the share loss experienced by the seven nets partly due to telecast’s of the Olympics last year.

Cable is performing great this First Quarter 2003 as Cable’s delivery is up more than two million homes vs year ago. Cable’s HH rating and share are also up considerably, up 1.6 and 2.2 points, respectively. Conversely, Broadcast ratings are eroding as audience measures are down significantly vs year ago. Broadcast’s loss is fueled by NBC as the network aired the Winter Olympics same period a year ago.

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Total Day:

Ad Supported Cable rose to 18.1 million homes this week, an increase of 1.7 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 2.9 points to finish at 51.1. Cable’s share was once again greater than that of the Broadcast Networks (4 Net.), with the difference being 13.1 points.

Cable, to date, in the first quarter, ended with a 49.9 share, 10.7 points above Broadcast’s level. Cable ratings were up 1.4 points to finish at 17.2, and its share increased 2.7 points from last year. The Broadcast Networks have experienced a decline in viewership.

For this season, cable rose to 17.7 million homes, up 1.2 million homes from last year. Cable’s rating increased by 0.8 points to end at 16.5 and its share increased to finish at 49.1, an increase of 1.7 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 1.9 points to 39.3.

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Source: Nielsen Galaxy.