Ratings: Monday February 19, 2007

I went away on a long birthday weekend and have been a smidgen behind on ratings updates, but I am back on track now and just in time for a thrilling ratings ride. Last night 3 networks were within inches of one another in the point system. DEAL OR NO DEAL & HEROES ranked high for the peacock, while PRISON BREAK & 24 aided in the FOXtastic Monday night. But it was TWO AND A HALF MEN, RULES OF ENAGEMENT (shocking) and CSI:SUCKASS pulled CBS to finish as the number one network of the night. Each of the three networks pulled either an 11 or a 12 share finish on what is proving to be the most diversely watched night of the week.

For the complete Nielsen ratings from last night, stick around after the jump. . .

(Friday & Sunday ratings will be up shortly)

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.