IDOL‘S RATINGS CONTINUE TO FALL

With CBS preempting its regular Thursday-night shows (including its tough-to-beat card The Big Bang Theory) with March Madness coverage, there was little competition for Fox’s weakened but still-potent American Idol and the returning drama Touch. American Idol won its 8:00 p.m. time period — as well as the night — with a 10.7 rating and […]

RATINGS DROP FOR TONYS

As usual, Broadway’s Tony Awards was not a ratings winner Sunday night. The awards ceremony, usually the lowest rated of all the show-biz trophy presentations, drew an estimated 6.9 million viewers, according to overnight Nielsens, down slightly from last year’s 7 million viewers and 2009’s 7.4 million. (It was a triumphant night for The Book […]

NBA GAME SETS RATINGS RECORD

TNT’s telecast of Game 1 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls drew 11.1 million viewers, making it the most-watched basketball game on cable television in history. It broke a record set in 2003 when 10.8 million viewers watched Michael Jordan playing in his last All-Star Game. The […]

MARCH MADNESS STRIKES AMERICAN IDOL

Airing on CBS and three cable networks — Time Warner/Turner-owned TBS, TNT, and truTV — the NCAA men’s basketball tournament scored a combined 17 million viewers and drew viewers away from their regular Thursday-night programs. All four major broadcast networks recorded significant drops in ratings. In particular, Fox’s American Idol fell to a season low. […]

BASKETBALL GETS BIG TIP-OFF ON ESPN

It’s not just football that is generating enormous ratings growth for ESPN. According to Nielsen, the Disney-owned sports cable network has averaged 2,546,000 viewers over six NBA telecasts — up 74 percent versus the first six NBA telecasts last season. Nielsen also noted that last Wednesday’s Kia NBA Countdown averaged 1,232,000 viewers on ESPN, making […]

CBS, TURNER IN 14-YEAR PACT FOR “MARCH MADNESS”

In an extraordinary 14-year deal, CBS and Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting have agreed to pay at least $10.8 billion to carry the N.C.A.A. men’s basketball tournament — “March Madness.” The partnership gives each entity the right to carry the regional finals, the Final Four and the championship game, CBS through 2015, Turner from 2016 to […]

NCAA SEMIFINALS DRAW BIGGEST RATINGS IN 5 YEARS

Once again calling into question the policy of the major networks of dumping reruns and failing shows into their Saturday night schedule, CBS’s coverage of the NCAA men’s basketball Final Four doubleheader on Saturday averaged a whopping 15.09 million viewers, peaking in the first half hour with 19.36 million. It scored a hefty 4.4 rating […]