Ratings News - 2nd March 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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METERED MARKET THURSDAY RATINGS
Fox Leads; Modest Sampling for Awake on NBC

Thursday 3/01/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
Fox 12.3/20
CBS 6.4/10
NBC 3.6/ 6
ABC 2.6/ 4
CW 0.7/ 1

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 3/03/11
NBC: +57, CBS: + 5, ABC: - 7, Fox: -21, CW: -22

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-Winners:
American Idol (Fox), The Big Bang Theory R (CBS)

-Could Be Better, Could Be Worse:
Awake (NBC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
30 Rock (NBC), Parks and Recreation (NBC), Up All Night (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
Mirroring the prior two evenings, Fox led the Thursday overnight troops care of American Idol. But year-to-year, the singing competition remains down by double-digit percentages. Idol scored a dominant 12.3 rating/20 share in the overnights from 8-10 p.m. (which competed with repeats on ABC and CBS).
One year earlier, it averaged a notably stronger 15.6/24 on 3/03/11, which puts it at a loss of 21 percent.

Here is the half-hour breakdown:

American Idol (Fox)
8:00 p.m.: 11.1/18 (#1)
8:30 p.m.: 12.6/20 (#1)
9:00 p.m.: 12.5/20 (#1)
9:30 p.m.: 12.9/20 (#1)

For a review of last night’s episode of American Idol by TVMI Forum guru Douglas Pucci, click on the following: http://www.tvmediainsights.com/2012/03/american-idol-finalists-chosen/.

In series-premiere news, NBC drama Awake finished second in the overnights with a 4.6/ 8 at 10 p.m. While that may not sound all that impressive, it did build by anemic lead-in Up All Night (#3: 2.7/ 4 at 9:30 p.m.) by 70 percent. It matched NBC’s season-high in the time period (which was the series-premiere of failed Prime Suspect on 9/22/11). And it outperformed the time period premiere of recent occupant The Firm (2.9/ 5 on 1/12/12) by 59 percent. Let’s see what happens next week…and beyond.

Earlier in the evening on NBC was the rotation of 30 Rock #3: 3.0/ 5), Parks and Recreation (#3t, 2.8/ 5) and The Office (#3: 3.6/ 6) from 8-9:30 p.m. Upcoming on NBC, three-year-old Community will return to its former Thursday 8 p.m. time period on March 15, leading into relocated 30 Rock at 8:30 p.m., which temporarily replaces Parks and Recreation. Parks and Recreation moves into the Thursday 9:30 p.m. half-hour (out of The Office) effective on April 19 after current occupant Up All Night concludes its freshman season run. Sadly, there is no reason to believe these changes will make a difference.

In season (or series) finale news, sitcom Rob on CBS finished second at 8:30 p.m. with a below-average 5.8/ 9. It underperformed because The Big Bang Theory at 8 p.m. (#2: 7.8/13) was a repeat. Retention for Rob out of the encore telecast of The Big Bang Theory was 74 percent. That said, chances of renewal for a second season are 50-50. While the overall ratings for Rob look positive on paper, the retention is only similar to former time period occupant Rules of Engagement, and that is not all that good.

CBS capped off the evening with repeats of Person of Interest (#2: 6.3/10) and The Mentalist (#1: 6.0/11) from 9-11 p.m.

Elsewhere, ABC populated this first Thursday in March with repeats of Wipeout (#4: 2.9/ 5), Grey’s Anatomy (#4: 2.6/ 5) and Jimmy Kimmel Live: After the Academy Awards (#3: 2.5/ 5). And The CW aired encore telecasts of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 0.8/ 1) and Supernatural (#5: 0.7/ 1).

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights