Nielsen Ratings: Wednesday February 07, 2007

Superbowl Sunday CBS bet on CRIMINAL MINDS to win, when they placed the first half of a two part episode immediately following the big game, last night we found out how that paid off fo the network when the thrilling conclusion aired. Would it pump CBS into a higher number two slot? (number one not available due to AMERICAN IDOL.) The new episode piled in a 5.0/12 which is about twice the number of those who have been watching the reruns in weeks previous, a good indicator….or is it? The rerun of the first half pulled in 2.5/7 which is nearly identical to what the shows reruns have been pulling in up until now. Seems the Superbowl push may not have had the desired effect, though up against a show like AI, a 12 share doesn’t suck. What does all this mean? No clue, Im just typing to fill space. Other big news from last night the return of LOST, which garnered a 6.4/15…which is nearly identical to HEROES numbers. . . the battle rages on.

For a complete listing of last nights ratings, stick around after the jump . . .

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.