NETWORK UPDATE:  The BILLBOARD MUSIC AWARDS adjusted up by 0.1 in final numbers, as did the season finale of THE SIMPSONS. CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  Although it was far from the highest-rated show of the night, MAD MEN nevertheless got a fine send-off, jumping by 0.44 from last week to a 1.08 exit.  The lord of the […]

  CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  Even on a night without an NBA Playoffs game, sports was king on Saturday.  FOX Sports 1’s NASCAR SPRINT CUP RACE was at 0.82, and the various segments of HBO’s BOXING were at 0.59-0.26.  HBO preceded boxing with its original movie BESSIE at 0.40.  On Adult Swim, KILL LA KILL rose a […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  The season finale of THE AMAZING RACE gained an extra 0.1 in final numbers, but the already-canceled THE MESSENGERS fell 0.1 to a tiny 0.2. CABLE HIGHLIGHTS:  ESPN’s NBA PLAYOFFS doubleheader ruled the night at 1.99/1.20.  Discovery’s BERING SEA GOLD was up a tick to 0.54, and UNEARTHED was down a tick […]

  Once again, viewers opt for a live event. DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the age of 2). Ratings analysis and […]

The ratings below are household ratings from the 56 television markets with local Nielsen meters for Saturday May 16 and Sunday May 17, 2015. The 56 markets (out of 210 total) cover about 70% of the US television population. Click here for a look at sports ratings from the same weekend last year. Triple Crown: […]

  OPENINGS:  PITCH PERFECT 2 (Gold Circle/Universal) blew past even the highest of expectations, outgrossing the entire US run of its predecessor with a $70.3M weekend, and proving not to be all that frontloaded with a 12% Saturday drop.  In addition, with a gradual international roll-out in just 29 markets, the movie earned $26.9M, which […]

WORLDWIDE STUDIO SCORECARD.     YEAR TO DATE BOX OFFICE. Looking at North American box office, 2015 to date is still +5% above last year and +7% above the average for this point the past four years ($3.249 billion).  Over the same period, Hollywood films have grossed $9.8 billion worldwide when we add overseas box office (that’s […]

Based on Friday’s and Saturday’s grosses, weekend #20 of 2015 now looks like $178 million for the top 12 films Friday-Sunday, a little better than yesterday’s estimate ($172 million) and now solidly above the norm for this weekend. Opening at 3,473 theaters Friday, Pitch Perfect 2 from Universal is now on track for a $70.3 million opening three-day weekend (well […]