Fox Wins Thursday May Sweeps Night, CBS Gets Closer

by Wayne Friedman, May 4, 2012, 4:55 PM

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Closing in on the end of the season, the second week of the big May sweeps period gave Fox another Thursday night win. But second-place CBS got closer to the top spot versus the week before. 

All CBS shows gained versus the week before: “The Big Bang Theory” was up 12% to a Nielsen preliminary 4.6 rating/15 share among 18-49 viewers -- the highest-rated Thursday show of the night; “Rules of Engagement” tacked on 8% to a 2.7/8; “Person of Interest” picked up one-tenth of a rating point to a 2.5/7; and “The Mentalist” rose 9% to a 2.4/7.

All this pushed CBS up to a 2.8/8, from a 2.6/7 the week before.

Fox’s Thursday “American Idol," its results show -- now the second-best-rated series of the night -- slipped one-tenth from the week before to a 3.9/12 at 8 p.m. where it runs head to head with “Big Bang.” At 9 p.m., Fox’s new “Touch” drama picked up a nice 11% gain among 18-49 viewers, now at a 2.1/6.

All this had Fox moving up week-to-week, now at a 3.0/9 -- up from a 2.9/8.

ABC’s venerable “Grey’s Anatomy” was still tops in the 9 p.m. hour with a 3.2/9, down from a 3.3 rating the week before. The good news continued with “Scandal,” its new midseason 10 p.m. drama -- up to a 2.1/6 from a 2.0 the week before.

It was a different story with ABC’s 8 p.m. “Missing” -- up against the heavy competition of “Big Bang” and “Idol.” It lost 21% from the week before to a 1.1/4. ABC was at a 2.1/6, down from a 2.2/6. 

NBC continued to seek answers on Thursday, as its comedies struggled. In additon, its midseason and decently reviewed “Awake” is now at a 0.7 rating/2 share – just a third of the audience that ABC’s midseason “Scandal” delivers. NBC remained the same as a week ago, with a 1.4/4.

Univision tied NBC with a 1.4/4. The Spanish-language network was down one-tenth of a rating point versus the week before.

The CW's “Vampire Diaries” was the same versus the week before, with “Secret Circle” slightly improved. But the network remained the same in both key demographic categories --  0.8/2 among 18-49 viewers and 0.9/3 among younger 18-34 viewers. Total average viewers rose a bit to 1.83 million from 1.71 million.

 

Scoreboard	FOX	CBS	ABC	NBC	UNI	CW
Adults 18-49: Rating/Share	3.0/9	2.8/8	2.1/6	1.4/4	1.4/4	0.8/2
Adults 18-34: Rating/Share	1.9/7	1.6/5	1.6/5	1.5/5	1.4/5	0.9/3
Total Viewers (million)	10.95	12.32	7.353	3.07	3.56	1.83

 

Scoreboard	FOX	CBS	ABC	UNI	NBC	CW
Adults 18-49: Rating/Share	2.9/8	2.6/7	2.2/6	1.5/4	1.4/4	0.8/2
Adults 18-34: Rating/Share	1.8/6	1.0/4	1.7/5	1.5/5	1.4/5	0.9/3
Total Viewers (million)	10.464	11.595	7.716	3.730	3.097	1.711

 

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