'American Idol' Returns With Smaller Audience
PLUS: NBC struggling to find viewers for new mid-season replacements
Fox returned with its high-rated reality competition series, and took advantage of the fact that both ABC and NBC didn't, to capture the No. 2 spot among the networks this week and earn its best weekly ratings since Sept. 16.
"American Idol" is back, averaging a 9.7 rating/15 share, according to Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. That is down 16 percent, however, from the 11.5/18 the show earned in its premiere the year before. And like last year, CBS pulled away most of its competition for the opening week, letting "American Idol" get its promising opening week numbers before going head-to-head the next week.
Neither ABC nor NBC wanted to challenge "American Idol" much either, at least not with their big guns of "Dancing With the Stars" and "The Voice." Yet, NBC is not even planning on returning "The Voice" anytime soon, setting that show up for a March debut.
Without "The Voice," NBC seems to be back to its old ways. Few of its new shows are gaining traction (and the one that is, "Revolution," also won't return until March). "Deception," with Meagan Good and Tate Donovan, followed a weak premiere with a 26 percent audience drop into its second week. It's also now losing a similar amount of audience from its "Biggest Loser" lead-in.
Another new NBC mid-season show, "1600 Penn," is not registering with audiences either. After losing 43 percent from its off-night premiere, the White House comedy dropped another 17 percent for its second airing on its regular night. It's losing 20 percent of its lead-in audience from "The Office," and is well behind what NBC was doing in the timeslot last year by 21 percent.
The only upside to what's happening with "1600 Penn," however, is that it's doing about the same numbers that "Parks and Recreation" did in that timeslot in the first half of the season.
Through the week of Jan. 13, CBS is by far leading the pack overall with a 7.2/11, down just 1 percent from last year. ABC and Fox are both down significantly from the previous year, with ABC losing 11 percent of its audience and Fox parting ways with 28 percent.
The only two networks to post year-over-year gains at this point are NBC, which is up 17 percent, and The CW, which has gained 9 percent over the previous year, thanks to the introduction of "Arrow."
The top shows for each network this week were "Modern Family" for ABC with a 6.7/10, "NCIS" for CBS with a 13.9/21, "American Idol" for Fox with a 10.2/16, "Biggest Loser" for NBC with a 3.8/6, and a tie at the top for The CW between "Arrow" and "Vampire Diaries," each with a 1.8/3.
Top Networks, Week of Jan. 13 -- [Audience Loyalty Index rating]
| 1. (1) | CBS | 7.7/12 | [55.3] |
| 2. (4) | Fox | 4.3/6 | [42.0] |
| 3. (2) | ABC | 3.9/6 | [58.8] |
| 4. (3) | NBC | 2.8/4 | [74.6] |
| 5. (5) | The CW | 1.2/2 | [65.1] |
Top Network Shows, Week of Jan. 13 -- [ALI]
| 1. (1) | NCIS (CBS) | 13.9/21 | [84.2] |
| 2. (3) | NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) | 10.9/16 | [89.3] |
| 3. (-) | American Idol (Fox) | 10.2/16 | [100] |
| 4. (-) | American Idol (Fox) | 10.2/15 | [100] |
| 5. (-) | American Idol (Fox) | 9.5/14 | [100] |
| 6. (-) | American Idol (Fox) | 9.0/14 | [100] |
| 7. (-) | Criminal Minds (CBS) | 8.1/12 | [91.9] |
| 8. (-) | 2 Broke Girls (CBS) | 7.4/11 | [85.2] |
| 9. (-) | CSI (CBS) | 7.3/12 | [87.2] |
| 10. (9) | Blue Bloods (CBS) | 7.2/12 | [94.9] |
Top New Shows, Week of Jan. 13 -- [ALI]
| 1. (2) | Vegas (CBS) | 7.1/12 | [76.5] |
| 2. (5) | Nashville (ABC) | 4.3/7 | [71.5] |
| 3. (6) | Malibu Country (ABC) | 3.8/6 | [74.4] |
| 4. (4) | Neighbors (ABC) | 3.7/6 | [90.9] |
| 5. (8) | Last Resort (ABC) | 3.2/5 | [70.1] |
| 6. (6) | Deception (NBC) | 2.8/4 | [86.8] |
| 7. (9) | Go On (NBC) | 2.7/4 | [68.3] |
| 8. (12) | The New Normal (NBC) | 2.2/3 | [66.7] |
| 9. (11) | 1600 Penn (NBC) | 2.0/3 | [91.7] |
| 10. (-) | Arrow (CW) | 1.8/3 | [86.4] |
Least-Watched Big Four Network Shows, Week of Jan. 13 -- [ALI]
| 1. | Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23 (ABC) | 1.2/2 | [92.9] |
| 2. | Ben & Kate (Fox) | 1.4/2 | [68.9] |
| 3. | Happy Endings (ABC) | 1.5/2 | [94.1] |
| 4. | The Mindy Project (Fox) | 1.6/2 | [68.0] |
| 5. | Cleveland Show (Fox) | 1.7/2 | [81.6] |
| 6. | Don't Trust the B in Apt. 23 (ABC) | 1.8/3 | [72.8] |
| 7. | Happy Endings (ABC) | 1.9/3 | [66.4] |
| 7. | Fringe (Fox) | 1.9/3 | [89.6] |
| 9. | Fringe (Fox) | 2.0/3 | [89.6] |
| 9. | 1600 Penn (NBC) | 2.0/3 | [91.7] |
Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that include both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.
Data collected from The Nielsen Co., as distributed by Zap2it. GenreNexus tracks non-news, non-event programming, and figures for this story reflect airing of new episodes only. For more information on the Audience Loyalty Index, click here.
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