Ratings News - 26th February 2015

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)

Tables being updated live. Please refresh for updates.

Last Week Ratings

If you would like to see last weeks ratings for the same day so that you can compare, click this link.

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.

Metered Market Wednesday Ratings
Mixed Results for CBS Reality/Competition Season-Openers

Wednesday 2/25/15
Note: The Raleigh-Durham market is not included in the following averages.

Household
Fox 8.1/13
NBC 5.2/ 8
CBS 4.7/ 8
ABC 4.6/ 7
CW 1.5/ 2

-Percent Change from Year-Ago Evening – Wednesday 2/26/14:
NBC: +16, Fox: +12, ABC: + 7, CW: – 6, CBS: -22

———-

Note: The following labels are based on the household overnights and are subject to change given the availability of other pending data streams. These overnights are your first look at the ratings and a precursor to what could lie ahead. And we take into account other benchmarks including the expected demographic ratings, potential DVR usage, the critical acclaim (or lack of) and the social media presence.

-Winners:
“American Idol” (Fox), “Empire” (Fox), “Modern Family” (ABC)

-Honorable Mention:
“Survivor: World’s Apart” (CBS), “The Middle” (ABC), “The Goldbergs” (ABC), “Arrow” (CW)

-Disappointing:
“The Amazing Race” (CBS)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
“The 100” (CW)

———-

Ratings Breakdown:
The juggernaut on Fox called “Empire” scored its seventh consecutive week of overnight household growth, topping the night at a 9.2 rating/14 share from 9-10 p.m. Comparably, this was 28 percent above the second half of “American Idol” on the year-ago evening (7.2/11 on 2/26/14), and it built from the 8:30 p.m. portion of lead-in “Idol” (7.4/11) by 24 percent. Had Fox had a crystal ball, it would have ordered more than 12 episodes of “Empire” initially. Eight-week overnight track for “Empire”: 6.8/10 – 7.3/11 – 7.6/12 – 7.9/12 – 8.0/12 – 8.2/13 – 8.8/13 – 9.2/14. Worth repeating: unprecedented!

Aforementioned lead-in “American Idol,” meanwhile, scored a dominant 7.1/11 in the overnights from 8-9 p.m., which was on par from one year earlier.

In season-premiere news was the 90-minute “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” openers on CBS. “Survivor,” themed “World’s Apart,” scored a second-place 5.6/ 9 from 8-9:30 p.m., which fluctuated by only one-tenth of a rating point in the three half hours and was consistent from the two-hour (two episodes) season opener on the year-ago evening (5.7/ 9 on 2/26/14, themed “Brawn vs. Brains”). Expect a performance for the this welcome return of “Survivor” at an estimated 9.5 million viewers and a low-2 rating in adults 18-49, based on the Live + Same Day data.

“The Amazing Race,” however, lost considerable steam with a 3.8/ 6 in the overnights from 9:30-11 p.m. (which only fluctuated by two-tenths of a rating point in the three half-hours). Comparably, this was down by 28 percent from the year-ago season-premiere (5.3/ 8 on Sunday 2/23/14). Retention out of “Survivor” was 68 percent (or, in other words, down by 32 percent). And the 10-11 p.m. portion of “The Amazing Race” trailed competing “Chicago PD” on NBC (4.8/ 8) by 23 percent. In other words, consider this very disappointing.

“The Amazing Race” returns to its regularly scheduled Friday 8 p.m. hour tomorrow (into “Hawaii Five-O” and “Blue Bloods” from 9-11 p.m.).

On NBC, freshman “The Mysteries of Laura,” featuring a guest appearance by Debra Messing’s former “Will & Grace” co-star Eric McCormack, rose to its best household overnights (#3: 5.2/ 8 from 8-9 p.m.) since Dec. 10, 2014. Keep in mind that similar appeal “The Mentalist” on CBS concluded its series-run last week. And it led into the top-rated “Law & Order: SVU” (#4: 5.4/ 8 at 9 p.m.) since the Nov. 12, 2014 triple crossover (6.7/10) with “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago PD.”

Elsewhere, ABC had nothing unusual to report with its line-up of “The Middle” (#3t, 5.2/ 8), “The Goldbergs” (#4: 4.8/ 7), “Modern Family” (#2: 6.1/ 9), “black-ish” (#3: 4.5/ 7) and aforementioned “Nashville” (#3: 3.6/ 6). And sophomore “The 100” on The CW (#5: 1.1/ 2 at 9 p.m.) dipped by a typical 45 percent out of “Arrow” (#5: 2.0/ 3 at 8 p.m.). Needless to say, the network could do better in the Wednesday 9 p.m. hour.

While nothing has been announced for next season yet, ABC pairing ‘black-ish” with “Fresh off the Boat” on Tuesday and freeing up the Wednesday 9:30 p.m. half-hour (out of “Modern Family”) for a new sitcom could be a possibility. Stay tuned.

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 (We also where possible now post the 18-34 and 25-54 Demo Numbers).

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.

If you are new to ratings or still confused, we recommend you read this excellent
Ratings FAQ.

Don't forget to follow our Ratings Only Twitter Account for the latest Ratings News

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.