Take a look at Mitch Metcalf’s Ratings Charts post today for a detailed explanation of the effect that last night’s NFL Preseason Football had on the night’s local ratings and why. Viewers are so thrilled that some form of football is back on the air that they’ll flock even to these relatively meaningless games, and for the most part, numbers that appear to be up 0.2-0.3 from last week are due to preemptions for those games.
NBC: An excellent example of the NFL Preseason effect, as the 0.4 and 0.3 increases for THE WINNER IS and HOLLYWOOD GAME NIGHT are likely to evaporate when final numbers are in this afternoon.
CBS: As Mitch Metcalf noted, CBS is least affected by the NFL preeemptions, because its stations airing the games are largely on the west coast. Therefore BIG BROTHER held at last week’s 2.5, although that could slip too in final numbers.
ABC: Preemptions are the probable cause of 0.2 increases for MOTIVE and ROOKIE BLUE–but even with the help, WIPEOUT fell 0.1 to 1.1.
FOX: The night’s reruns are currently at 0.8, and likely to dropo from there.
CW: The only non-football network aired 0.3/0.3 reruns.
The football preemptions continue tonight, including a Jets game on WCBS in New York (still blacked out on Time Warner Cable as well), and Saturday (including a Giants game on WNBC in New York). However, NBC doesn’t have a national football game on Sunday, when the only network preemption is on FOX for the TEEN CHOICE AWARDS. Cable will be very busy in the next few days: tonight Starz airs the series finale of MAGIC CITY and a “preview” of its new THE WHITE QUEEN, which officially premieres on Saturday, and Cinemax has the season premiere of STRIKE BACK. On Saturday, the official White Queen debut is joined by the season premiere of HELL ON WHEELS on AMC and HBO’s Larry David/Jon Hamm comedy CLEAR HISTORY. Sunday cable features the long-awaited premiere of the final 8 episodes of BREAKING BAD, followed by the debut of the thriller LOW WINTER SUN.
About the Author
