BROADCAST NETS DOWN, CABLE UP IN 2011

The major broadcast networks continued to see an erosion of their audiences in 2011, while cable networks saw theirs expand, according to TVbytheNumbers.com. The website said on Thursday that while ABC, CBS, Fox, and NBC saw their total household audience decline 3 percent this year, the audience for ad-support cable as a whole was up [...]

STUDY: BROADCASTERS AIDED BY DVR; CABLERS, NOT SO MUCH

The DVR has slowed, if not halted, the exodus of viewers from broadcast TV to cable, a study by Nomura Securities analyst Michael Nathanson would seem to indicate. The study, covering DVR viewing over the past four years, found that viewers use their DVRs to watch broadcast TV shows via the devices about half the [...]

FIRST TWO WEEKS OF SEASON A NET LOSS FOR NBA

The NBA on Monday canceled the first two weeks of the 2011-12 basketball season due to begin on Nov. 1, amid signs that additional weeks, if not the season itself, will likely be canceled unless some magical formula can be found to break the current stalemate between the team owners and the players. For the [...]

WHERE DID ALL THE SUNDAY VIEWERS GO?

There were disappointments galore Sunday night as the new season saw returning shows and new entrants draw relatively weak overnight ratings. Versus the same night a year ago, CBS’s 60 Minutes was down 16 percent, The Amazing Race down 21 percent, The Good Wife down 12 percent and CSI Miami down a whopping 31 percent. [...]

BROADCAST NETWORKS MAKE STRONG SHOWING AT EMMYS

After being trounced by the cable networks for years, the broadcast networks made a comeback Sunday night, collecting a slew of Emmy awards for such shows as ABC’s Modern Family, PBS’s Downton Abbey, and CBS’s The Big Bang Theory, Mike & Molly, and The Good Wife. One would be tempted to add DirecTV’s Friday Night [...]

SUMMER IS GREAT FOR CABLE, BAD FOR BROADCAST

Cable TV networks are ending the summer with a number of big successes — surprisingly with scripted TV shows, while no broadcast show introduced during the summer months has made it, USA Today indicated today (Thursday). (On Wednesday, Fox’s newest entrant, Buried Treasure, became the latest broadcast reality show to be buried in the ratings.) [...]

OBAMA’S SPEECH ON AFGHANISTAN NOT A BIG DRAW — FOR HIM

President Obama’s 15-minute address to the nation on Afghanistan Wednesday night was watched by 25 million viewers on nine networks, Nielsen Research reported on Thursday. It was the smallest audience for any Obama address during his presidency. (His announcement of the death of Osama bin Laden last month drew 56.5 million viewers despite the fact [...]

ADVERTISERS NOW SPENDING AS MUCH ON CABLE AS ON BROADCAST

Although advertisers have increased their upfront spending for broadcast television by about 10 percent, they have increased them even more — by about 15 percent — for cable networks, the Wall Street Journal reported today (Monday). The result: advertisers for the the first time are spending as much on cable networks as on broadcast networks. [...]

BROADCAST TV CONTINUES TO CLOBBER CABLE

Say what you will about television audiences deserting broadcast television and switching to cable instead, a new analysis of Nielsen data indicates that broadcasters have little to worry about — at least at the moment. As reported by MediaPost.com, of the 100 top-rated television shows among 18-49-year-old viewers over the last season that ended last [...]

ROYAL WEDDING ATTENDED BY 23 MILLION IN U.S.

Despite being broadcast at the ungodly hour of 3:00 a.m. on the West Coast and 6:00 a.m. on the East Coast, the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was watched by nearly 23 million Americans, according to preliminary ratings released late today (Saturday) by Nielsen Research. The figure represents the combined average of [...]

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