THE SKED: Summer Broadcast Ratings Update August 1-7

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>The broadcast week just concluded (August 1-7) had ABC and FOX battling for first place in Adults 18-49 (such as first place is in the dead of summer).  FOX came down because Sunday’s animated comedies (usually around a high-1 rating and occasionally a 2 rating) were replaced by the Teen Choice Awards (a meager 1.1 rating).    ABC came up to FOX’s level for the week thanks to the Bachelorette finale night Monday and two original Wipeout episodes.  NBC fell to a summer low.  Although America’s Got Talent on Tuesday remains hot, the results show on Wednesday fell to Big Brother’s level and there is nothing else on NBC Wednesday to make the night a dominant one. 

On Saturday (a night rarely worth talking about), NBC tried an original movie (“Who Is Simon Miller?”), one of those advertiser-supplied masterpieces.  While great for the advertiser and cheap for the network, these efforts are more often than not creatively weak (to put it nicely).  Despite fairly decent on-air network promotion, the movie did a 0.5 rating each half hour from 8-10 pm, which is somewhat below what the network does in that time period.  This movie isn’t the main reason the week was a bad one, but it certainly didn’t help.  Click on “Read more” the see the complete chart.

Week of     ABC   CBS   NBC   FOX   CW
June 13     1.2   1.1   2.0   1.6   0.3
June 20     1.3   1.1   1.8   1.4   0.3
June 27     1.3   1.0   1.6   1.2   0.3
July 4      1.4   1.2   1.6   1.3   0.3
July 11     1.3   1.3   1.4   1.7   0.3
July 18     1.3   1.4   1.3   1.5   0.3
July 25     1.3   1.3   1.3   1.6   0.3
Aug  1      1.4   1.3   1.2   1.4   0.3

The second chart below lists the hit network shows by night (those programs at a 2.0 Adult 18-49 rating or higher). One note, starting this week Bachelor Pad will replace Bachelorette on the ABC Monday schedule. These are the shows we concentrate on in our study of on-air promotion priorities for each network. The series promoted within the highly-rated real estate tells a lot about the commitment to each fall show. The next update on On-Air Promotion Priorities will be available tomorrow.