Ratings News - 29th March 2011

Prime-Time Metered Market Monday Ratings:
Huge Victory for Dancing with the Stars Ignited ABC

Monday 3/28/11
Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only.

HH
Rtg/Shr
ABC 13.3/20
CBS 4.3/ 7
NBC 3.9/ 6
Fox 2.9/ 4
CW 0.5/ 1

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-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Monday 3/29/10):
NBC: no change, ABC: - 4, CBS: -22, Fox: -42, CW: -64

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Dancing with the Stars (ABC)

-Honorable Mention:
Castle (ABC), Harry’s Law (NBC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
All Together Now: A Celebration of Service (NBC), The Event (NBC)

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Note: The fast affiliate results for Monday will be posted at PIFeedback by 12 p.m. ET. Go to the website, click on Ratings Box (the first category), then Last Night’s Results, and Monday, March 29, 2011.

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-Ratings Breakdown:
It was all about ABC last night, which beat the four competing networks combined thanks to mega-hit Dancing with the Stars. The dance extravaganza averaged a whopping 15.5 rating/23 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m., with the half-hour breakdown as follows:

Dancing with the Stars (ABC)
8:00 p.m.: 14.1/22 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 15.3/23 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 16.4/24 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 16.1/24 (#1)

My pick for the first to go tonight: “Psycho” Mike Catherwood, who will not benefit by both his lack of dancing skills and lack of notoriety.

ABC lead-out Castle also dominated, with an 8.7/14 in the overnights at 10 p.m. But retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of Dancing with the Stars was only 54 percent.

Excluding recent entry Mad Love, CBS was in all repeats last night. Both the encore of How I Met Your Mother and an original installment of Mad Love averaged a 4.0/ 6 from 8-9 p.m., each finishing in the distant No. 2 spot. Next were repeats of Two and a Half Men (#2: 5.3/ 8), must see Mike & Molly (#2: 4.8/ 7) and Hawaii Five-O (#3: 4.0/ 6) from 9-11 p.m. To anyone who might think Two and a Half Men is ending without Charlie Sheen, CBS is not about to let this cash cow go.

NBC opened the evening with one-hour special All Together Now: A Celebration of Service, which was not so special at 8 p.m. with a fourth-place 2.9/ 5 in the overnights. Next was waiting-to-be axed The Event (#3: 3.1/ 5 at 9 p.m.), followed by older-skewing Harry’s Law at a second-place 5.9/10 at 10 p.m. Worth noting for Harry’s Law, which is a shoo-in for renewal, was growth of a hefty 97 percent out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of The Event (3.0/ 4).

Elsewhere, Fox filled the evening with repeats of House (#3: 3.1/ 5) and Chicago Code (#4: 2.7/ 4). And The CW aired encore telecasts of 90210 (#5: 0.6/ 1) and Gossip Girl (#5: 0.4/ 1).

Source: Nielsen Media Research data


Source: pifeedback