Ratings News - 6th April 2012 *Full Tables Added*

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Metered Market Thursday Ratings
Fox Wins; Respectable Sampling for Scandal on ABC

Thursday 4/05/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 7.8/13
Fox 7.5/12
ABC 5.9/10
NBC 2.1/ 4
CW 0.7/ 1

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 4/07/11
ABC: +119, NBC: + 5, CBS: - 7, Fox: -30, CW: -59

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-Winners:
American Idol (Fox), The Big Bang Theory (CBS), Person of Interest (CBS), The Mentalist (CBS)

-Respectable Sampling:
Scandal (ABC)

-Fading:
Missing (ABC), Touch (Fox)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Community (NBC), 30 Rock (NBC), Up All Night (NBC), Awake (NBC)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
CBS led this first April Thursday in the overnights with its combination of The Big Bang Theory (#2: 9.0 rating/15 share), recent returnee Rules of Engagement (#2: 5.5/ 9), Person of Interest (#1: 8.4/14) and The Mentalist (#1: 7.8/13), which could be moved to Friday night season if the network expands its Thursday comedies to two hours. With retention of just 61 percent out of The Big Bang Theory, it is time for Rules of Engagement to officially conclude. The Big Bang Theory, Person of Interest and The Mentalist have been officially picked up for 2012-13.

Second overall for the evening was the home of American Idol, Fox, followed by ABC, distant NBC and a night of repeats on The CW.

In series-premiere news, drama Scandal on ABC opened with a 5.8/10 in the overnights at 10 p.m., which held a very respectable 89 percent of the 9:30 p.m. portion of lead-in Grey’s Anatomy (6.5/11). The last original episode of recent ABC Thursday 10 p.m. occupant Private Practice scored a 5.3/ 9 on March 15, with retention out of Grey’s Anatomy of only 71 percent. Opposite dramas The Mentalist and Awake, Scandal is expected to win the time period among adults 18-49. So, yes, Scandal was clearly sampled.

Earlier in the evening on the alphabet net was week four of older-skewing drama Missing (#3, 5.3/ 9 at 8 p.m.), which dipped by seven percent from one week earlier, followed by aforementioned Grey’s Anatomy at a second-place 6.5/11 from 9-10 p.m. Four-week overnight track for Missing: 7.8/13 – 6.3/10 – 5.7/ 9 – 5.3/ 9.

On Fox, the live American Idol Results Show led the 8 p.m. hour, with a 10.0/17 in the overnights. While dominance is always good, year-to-year Idol slipped by 30 percent (vs. a 14.3/23 on 4/07/11). In episode four news (and its third original telecast in the Thursday 9 p.m. hour), lead-out drama Touch with Kiefer Sutherland slipped to a series-low 5.0/ 9. Comparably, that was down by 14 percent from one week earlier, with retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of American Idol (10.8/18) of just 46 percent. Three-week overnight track for Touch: 7.3/13 – 5.8/10 – 5.0/ 9.

Moving to NBC, dismal was the observation from start to finish with its line-up of Community (#4: 2.3/ 4), 30 Rock (#4: 2.3/ 4), a repeat of The Office (#4: 1.9/ 3), Up All Night (#4: 2.0/ 3) and week six of drama Awake, which sunk to a series-low 2.0/ 4 at 10 p.m. Awake at this point has no chance of a second season. As for the network overall, what can you possibly say when the highest rated show of the evening scores a 2.3/ 4 in the overnights?

The CW capped off the evening with encore telecasts of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 0.9/ 1) and on-the-fence The Secret Circle (#5: 0.6/ 1), which was not the hit the network hoped for out of its highest rated series.

Source: Nielsen Media Research data

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights