With the end of group play at the World Cup, let’s take a closer look at the countries, other than the US, that are earning the highest ratings to date on ABC and ESPN during the tournament.   Group Stage Ratings by Featured Nations (among ESPN & ABC matches) Persons 2+ Demo Ratings Adult 18-49 […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  ROOKIE BLUE narrowly avoided a new series low by finding an extra 0.1 in final numbers. THURSDAY CABLE:  Sports ruled the day and night.  As detailed in today’s WORLD CUP SKEDBALL report, the US vs. Germany match had a big 3.0 rating despite the 11AM Eastern start time of the telecast (and […]

Ratings for Thursday’s matches on ESPN and ESPN2 are in and of course the Germany vs USA match was the highest-rated match of the day, but only the third-highest USA match in World Cup 2014 because ESPN rated 187 minutes for the entire coverage (pre-match, post-match, halftime and the game itself) instead of the usual 150-minute […]

  If Thursday night ticket sales are any guide, TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (Paramount) may not have the weekend opening that will change the face of this so-so box office summer, as many had hoped and even expected.  With shows starting at 9PM, including IMAX, Transformers 4 took in $8.75M.  That’s better than X-Men: Days […]

Ratings for Wednesday’s matches on ESPN and ESPN2 have arrived and the two on ESPN2 are the lowest-rated matches of 2014 so far (ranking #43 and #44), while the 3:30 pm telecast on ESPN (Ecuador and France in a fascinating 0-0 draw) was halfway respectable, ranking at #27.  Of course, the big numbers will be […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  MOTIVE crept up 0.1 to 0.8. WEDNESDAY CABLE:  The fall of DUCK DYNASTY (A&E) hasn’t reached bottom, as the show crumbled another 0.3 to 1.2, below FAMILY GUY and BIG BANG THEORY reruns.  Its companion show BIG SMO fell 0.1 to 0.7.  CATFISH (MTV) dropped 0.1 to 0.9.  On USA, SUITS and […]

Weekend #26 of 2014 (the halfway mark for the year already) is looking like $175 million for the top 12 films this weekend, 8% below the norm for this weekend and 4% below the same weekend last year, which featured two moderate openers rather than one big one (The Heat and White House Down).  Although Transformers should […]

  NETWORK UPDATE:  No changes at all. TUESDAY CABLE:  Despite weeks of hype, TYRANT didn’t have much of a launch for FX with 0.6 (subsequent re-airings added 0.3 and 0.15)–and given its quality issues and lack of critical support, its arrow may not be pointing up.  USA’s plight continues, with the season premiere of COVERT […]