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In New Season Crossover Week When Broadcast Networks Began Fall Launches, Cable Still Dominated Primetime
Ad-Supported Cable Records A 51.6 Share, Topping Broadcast By More Than 8 Points
September 24, 2003
NEW YORKEven during a week in which the broadcast networks launched 19 Fall series, ad-supported cable continued to dominate primetime viewership. According to a Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau analysis of Nielsen data for September 1521, ad-supported cable had an average primetime U.S. household delivery of 33.1 million homes (+8.7 percent compared to the same period the year before) versus 27.9 million homes (3.5 percent) for the seven national broadcast networks combined. In other primetime audience measures for the week, cable posted a 30.6 rating (+7.0 percent) and 51.6 share (+6.4 percent) versus the broadcast networks collective 25.7 rating (5.0 percent) and 43.4 share (5.2 percent).
All told, ad-supported cable outperformed the broadcast networks by 5.2 million homes, 4.9 rating points and 8.2 share points. Individually, six of the seven national broadcast networks experienced across-the-board audience declines during the week, with NBC posting the largest absolute losses.
For the 2003 calendar year-to-date, cable has topped a 50 primetime share of viewing in 22 of 37 weeksan all-time record for the medium.
PRIMETIME VIEWERSHIP |
2003 vs. 2002 |
AD-SUPPORTED CABLE VIEWERSHIP VS. BROADCAST |
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Primetime=Mon thru Sat 811pm/Sun 711pm |
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U.S. HH DELIVERY (000) |
U.S. HH RATING |
U.S. HH SHARE |
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2003 |
2002 |
%Diff |
2003 |
2002 |
%Diff |
2003 |
2002 |
%Diff |
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Ad-Supported Cable |
33,130 |
30,482 |
+ 8.7 |
30.6 |
28.6 |
+ 7.0 |
51.6 |
48.5 |
+ 6.4 |
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ABC |
6,829 |
7,091 |
3.7 |
6.3 |
6.6 |
4.5 |
10.7 |
11.3 |
5.3 |
CBS |
7,214 |
6,590 |
+ 9.6 |
6.7 |
6.2 |
+ 8.1 |
11.3 |
10.5 |
+ 7.6 |
NBC |
6,121 |
7,140 |
14.3 |
5.6 |
6.7 |
16.4 |
9.5 |
11.3 |
15.9 |
FOX |
5,706 |
5,802 |
1.7 |
5.3 |
5.4 |
1.9 |
8.8 |
9.1 |
3.3 |
UPN |
2,868 |
3,181 |
9.8 |
2.6 |
3.0 |
13.3 |
4.4 |
4.9 |
10.2 |
WB |
2,551 |
2,631 |
3.0 |
2.4 |
2.5 |
4.0 |
3.9 |
4.1 |
4.9 |
PAX |
715 |
993 |
28.0 |
0.7 |
0.9 |
22.2 |
1.1 |
1.6 |
31.3 |
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4 Bdcst Nets* |
24,341 |
24,843 |
2.0 |
22.5 |
23.3 |
3.6 |
37.9 |
39.5 |
4.1 |
Weighted Gross |
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7 Bdcst Nets** |
27,910 |
28,931 |
3.5 |
25.7 |
27.1 |
5.0 |
43.4 |
45.8 |
5.2 |
Weighted Gross |
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* ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX |
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** ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, UPN, WB, PAX |
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Source: Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau analysis of Nielsen data, 9/15/03-9/21/03 vs. 9/16/02-9/22/02 |
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