Nielsen Fast Nationals From Wednesday, May 9, 2007

I know that at some point you’re going to start thinking, “Hmmm! Is he just copying and pasting Tuesday and Wednesday nights because there’s only one winner every week.” Alas, I wish it were to be true, for then I could give any given week a different winner. FOX comes in first with American Idol having 11.4/29 Wow!. That’s kicking some serious booty — is that how you spell booty in terms of a butt or is that the spelling for what pirates find as they roam the oceans. Coming in second was ABC’s Lost having 5.1/14. Also, FOX had Bones coming in third with 3.6/11. And rounding out forth place was CBC’s Criminal Minds having 3.7/9.

My Two Cents:

Could I use my credit card for my two cents today? I didn’t think so! I don’t watch Lost on the night that it airs on, because I first have someone that I work with, recap the episode while we smoke. I’m generally lost when she’s explaining it to me, but I have no problem understanding once I actually view it. If I don’t have a chance to get my recap from her, then I truly will be lost watching any episode.

Nielsen Fast Nationals

From Wednesday, May 9, 2007

* Signifies repeat

Who Won The Night

How do I read these ratings?

A Nielsen rating may look like this:

8pm – NBC – TVgasm The TV Show – 10.0/18

Focus on the 10.0/18. The RATING, 10.0, on the left represents the actual number of households that watched a show. One rating point equals 1,102,000 households. The SHARE, 18, on the right represents the show’s proportion of the total households watching television at that time.

For example, TVgasms TV Show has a 10 rating/18 share. That means 11,020,000 households are tuned in to the show and 18% of all the households with a TV turned on are watching that show.

Ratings and Share are customarily broken down for various DEMOs — a demographic grouping of viewers, like 18-49 adults or 2-12 children or 18-34 women, etc. Advertisers, and therefore networks, covet the 18-49 adult demo, and so tend to concentrate on that number.