Ratings News - 28th February 2014

Today's Early Overnight Ratings

This table shows the early overnight ratings. These ratings are normally adjusted later in the day when all the ratings have been consolidated to take into account any local preemptions and/or overruns. You can find all the final adjusted numbers in our Ratings Database. (See the About section below for details about ratings)

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Early Ratings Analysis

The analysis below is based on the early household numbers and are NOT the same as the numbers that will be posted in the above table later. (See the About section below)

For more information on the Nielsen Ratings see this Wikipedia Entry.

NOTE: The opinions expressed here are NOT those of SpoilerTV but of the Author of this Article, Marc Berman.

Thursday 2/27/14 Metered Markets
Solid Returns for “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” on ABC

Household
Rating/Share
CBS 6.8/11
ABC 5.8/ 9
Fox 4.5/ 7
NBC 2.4/ 4
CW 1.4/ 2

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Thursday 2/28/13:
ABC and CW: +100 each, CBS: +11, ABC: + 9, Fox: -47

—–

-Winners:
“The Big Bang Theory” (CBS), “Grey’s Anatomy” (ABC), “Two and a Half Men” (CBS), “Scandal” (ABC)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
“Countdown to the Oscars” (ABC), “Community” (NBC), “Parks and Recreation” (NBC), “The Crazy Ones” (CBS), “Hollywood Game Night” (NBC), “Rake” (Fox), “Parenthood” (NBC)

—–

-Ratings Breakdown:
Led by “The Big Bang Theory,” CBS had no trouble winning this final Thursday in February. But the network may have sprung a leak at 9:30 p.m. Sheldon and Leonard and company opened with an 11.4 rating/18 share in the household overnights at 8 p.m., which topped the night with ease. Next was freshman “The Millers” at a typical 6.8/11, which was a hefty 40 percent below “The Big Bang Theory” but still enough to inch past the second half of competing “American Idol” on Fox (6.7/11) by one-tenth of a rating point.

At 9 p.m., relocated “Two and a Half Men” was perfectly compatible out of “The Millers” with a second-place 6.6/10. But also relocated “The Crazy Ones” slipped to a 4.7/ 7 (#2) at 9:30 p.m., which was 29 percent below renewal worthy “Two and a Half Men.” Sophomore drama “Elementary” perked up to a 5.7/10 in the overnights at 10 p.m., but that trailed the return of “Scandal” on ABC (6.9/12) by 17 percent. And “Scandal” will, no doubt, have a larger advantage in the key demos.

Of the three remaining new comedies on CBS this season (“We Are Men” was axed after two painful episodes last fall), “Mom” on Monday seems the most likely to return.

Over at ABC, 8 p.m. special “Countdown to the Oscars” did not take the ratings gold, with a third-place 3.5/ 6 at 8 p.m. But the return of veteran “Grey’s Anatomy” rose to first in the 9 p.m. hour with a 7.0/11. And it led into aforementioned “Scandal” at a very compatible 6.9/12.

On Fox, tired “American Idol” slipped to second with a 6.5/10 at 8 p.m., which was 23 percent below the 8.5/14 one year earlier. And it led into struggling Greg Kinnear drama “Rake” at a fourth-place 2.4/ 4 at 9 p.m. Tick, tock…the cancellation clock is ticking.

Elsewhere, NBC remained out of the competitive Thursday loop with its line-up of comedies “Parks and Recreation” (#4: 2.0/ 3) and “Community” (#4: 2.1/ 3), relocated “Hollywood Game Night” (#3: 2.5/ 4) and family drama “Parenthood” (#3: 2.5/ 4), which has not made an impact at all on this evening this season.

The CW capped off the evening with already renewed dramas “The Vampire Diaries” (#5: 1.5/ 2) and “Reign” (#5: 1.2/ 2), which doubled the year-ago overnight average because “The Vampire Diaries” and then Thursday 9 p.m. occupant “Beauty and the Beast” were in repeats.

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Source:

Marc Berman@tvmediainsights

About the Daily Ratings

Each day (except Sunday) during the main TV Season we post the TV Ratings for the previous nights primetime shows for the major broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX, NBC). Cable Network ratings will be added to the Ratings Database.

The first item that gets posted (normally around 2pm GMT) is the early overnight analysis based on the early household numbers (these are not the same as the Total Viewers and 18-49 Demo numbers that are posted later).

Next, if available, we will post the Top 25 Market 18-49 Ratings to give you a rough idea of the ratings to following.

Later on (normally between 4pm-5pm GMT) we post the official early overnight Total Viewers and 18-49 Demo numbers in the table above.

Finally, later in the evening (10pm-11pm GMT) or the following day, the final adjusted ratings numbers are released, these are then posted in the Ratings Database. The Final Adjusted numbers are what we use for all our Renew/Cancellation Tables, Full Season Tables, Ratings Scorecards etc (see below). Friday's Final Adjusted Ratings are normally available on the following Monday.

Additional Ratings Resources

If you’re interested in Ratings/Renewals/Cancellations then we have a number of resources here at SpoilerTV that we recommend you check out.

Renew/Cancel

Our Cancellation/Renewal predictions for the current season.

Ratings Database

Historical Ratings Database for nearly all major US shows going back to their first episodes.

Full Season Tables

The current season full ratings tables for both Total Viewers and 18-49 Demos

Ratings Scorecard

See how all the shows stack up against each other in the Ratings Scorecard Table.