Ratings News - 14th September 2012 *Full Tables Posted*

Metered Market Thursday Ratings
NBC and Fox Share Leadership; Fox Poised for A18-49 Victory

Thursday 9/13/12
Metered Market Results

Household
Rating/Share
NBC 6.0/10
Fox 6.0/10
CBS 4.1/ 7
ABC 2.1/ 3
CW 0.6/ 1

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-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 9/15/11
NBC: +173, Fox: +107, CBS: -25, ABC: -36, CW: -74

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-Countdown to the Official Start of the 2012-13 TV Season: 10 days

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-Down But Still a Winner:
America’s Got Talent (NBC), The X Factor (Fox)

-Respectable:
Glee (Fox)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Wipeout (ABC), The Next (CW)

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Ratings Breakdown:
It was the battle of NBC versus Fox last night, with the two tied for first in the overnights (and Fox likely to win among adults 18-49 because of older skewing Rock Center With Brian Williams on NBC). A one-hour edition of The X Factor dominated the 8 p.m. hour, with a 6.4/11 versus a 6.2/10 for the first half of the America’s Got Talent season-ender on NBC. While you have to give The X Factor credit, do keep in mind that the year-ago Thursday opener of the singing competition scored an 8.3/13 (from 8-10 p.m.) on 9/22/11. This is a loss of 23 percent.

Leading out of The X Factor was the fourth season-premiere of Glee at a still respectable (and second-place) 5.6/ 8 in the overnights at 9 p.m. Comparably, this was down by 15 percent from the year-ago season-opener (6.6/10 on Tuesday, 9/20/11), with retention out of the 8:30 p.m. portion of The X Factor (6.7/11) of 84 percent. The prognosis on Fox last night: Down, but far from out.



On NBC, two hours of the America’s Got Talent season-ender averaged 6.9/11 from 8-10 p.m., peaking in the 9 p.m. hour with a 7.6/12. Comparably, this declined by a notable 26 percent from the year-ago finale (9.3/15 on Wednesday 9/14/11). Unfortunately, America’s Got Talent got off on the wrong foot this season by opening during the traditional TV season, and the arrival of new judge Howard Stern did not help.



Leading out of America’s Got Talent was the season-premiere of Rock Center With Brian Williams, which won the 10 p.m. hour (opposite repeats of Scandal on ABC and Person of Interest on CBS) with a 4.1/ 7 in the overnights. Retention out of the 9:30 p.m. portion of lead-in America’s Got Talent was, however, lacking at 54 percent and the newsmagazine will skew considerably older. Consider Rock Center With Brian Williams at 10 p.m. a missed opportunity, NBC.

Elsewhere, CBS remained steady despite facing the increased competition with its combination of repeats of The Big Bang Theory (#3: 5.0/ 9) and Two and a Half Men (#3: 4.0/ 6) from 8-9 p.m., the final Thursday telecast of the season of Big Brother (#3: 4.0/ 6 at 9 p.m.) and a repeat of aforementioned Person of Interest (#2: 3.8/ 7 at 10 p.m.). Needless to say, backstabber Dan is now the official “Russell Hantz” of Big Brother, which concludes with a 90-minute edition next Wednesday, September 19 (from 9:30-11 p.m.).

ABC opened with an original installment of tired Wipeout (#4: 2.4/ 4 at 8 p.m.), followed by a repeat of Grey’s Anatomy (#4: 2.1/ 3) at 9 p.m. At 10 p.m. was the return of Shonda Rhimes drama Scandal at a third-place 1.8/ 3 with an encore telecast.

The CW capped off the evening with a repeat of The Vampire Diaries (#5: 0.8/ 1) and singing competition dud The Next (#5: 0.5/ 1).

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source: Marc Berman@TVMediaInsights