Ratings News - 30th March 2011

Prime-Time Metered Market Tuesday Ratings:
Dancing Ignited ABC Wins; Solid Sampling for ABC’s Body of Proof

Tuesday 3/29/11
Note: The overnight data now includes DVR playback until 3 a.m. local time. One year earlier it was based on Live data only. All times are ET/PT.

HH
Rtg/Shr
ABC 10.6/17
CBS 9.8/15
NBC 4.2/ 7
Fox 2.6/ 4
CW 0.5/ 1

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-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening (Tuesday, 3/30/10):
Note: American Idol aired on Fox on the year-ago evening.
ABC: +41, CBS: +48, NBC: -14, CW: -50, Fox: -82

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-Yesterday’s Winners:
Dancing with the Stars (ABC), NCIS (CBS), NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS), Body of Proof (ABC)

-Yesterday’s Losers (excluding repeats):
Traffic Light (Fox), Parenthood (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Ignited by two-hours of Dancing with the Stars, ABC beat normally dominant CBS on this final Tuesday in March by eight percent in the overnights. In the distant No. 3 spot was NBC, followed by Fox and yet another evening of repeats on The CW.

CBS hit NCIS remained just that, with a dominant 11.8 rating/19 share in the overnights at 8 p.m. But competing ABC was on the map care of a Dancing with the Stars: The Story So Far at a healthy second-place 9.0/15. One week into the new season and ABC already aired a retrospective of Dancing with the Stars. That is what you would call milking a hit!

Third in the 8 p.m. hour was the first half of The Biggest Loser on NBC (4.4/ 7), followed by a repeat of Fox’s Glee (3.2/ 5) and a repeat of One Tree Hill on The CW (0.6/ 1).

ABC moved into overnight winners circle at 9 p.m. care of the live Dancing With the Stars Results Show at a hefty 13.3/20 in the overnights -- the highest rated show of the evening. Compared to one year earlier (10.5/16 at 8 p.m. on March 30, 2010), this was an increase of 27 percent. Next was NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS at a solid 10.0/15, which proves there is room for more than one hit series in a time period. Third was the second half of The Biggest Loser on NBC (5.0/ 8), followed by Fox’s combination of a repeat of Raising Hope (2.3/ 3) and an original installment of recent entry Traffic Light (1.8/ 3), and a repeat of Hellcats on The CW (0.5/ 1). Here is the half-hour breakdown for The Biggest Loser:

The Biggest Loser (NBC)
8:00 p.m.: 4.4/ 7 (#3)
8:30 p.m.: 4.4/ 7 (#3)
9:00 p.m.: 4.7/ 7 (#3)
9:30 p.m.: 5.3/ 8 (#3)

In series-premiere news, long-awaited ABC crime solver Body of Proof was amply sampled at a dominant 9.4/16 in the overnights at 10 p.m. Although retention out of Dancing with the Stars was modest at 70 percent, this was an increase of a hefty 84 percent over year-ago occupant V (5.1/ 9 on March 30, 2010). Second behind Body of Proof was CBS’ The Good Wife at a 7.7/13, followed by NBC’s struggling Parenthood at a distant 3.2/ 5. To the readers complaining how I always describe The Good Wife as older skewing, I for one have no qualms with a show attracting viewers over age 50. Just because you have some “snow on the roof” does not mean you don’t have money to spend.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data (R = repeat)

Source: pifeedback