Turner: Ad-Supported Cable Booming In 3Q

TNT's Raising the Bar Even with the disruptions of last year's writers' strike, television viewing has never been stronger, as the third quarter of this year attests.

Turner Broadcasting's Turner Research says total viewing average hours per person per week are now 32.4--up from 31.1 hours in the third quarter of 2007. The same trend exists for key 18-49 viewers, growing to 29.8 hours per person per week from 28.8 the year before.

Turner says ad-supported cable networks are a big part of this growth, although the four broadcast networks also showed gains. ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox had a collective 7.5 hour average versus a 7.0 average the year before for all viewers. Among 18-49 viewers, networks witnessed a climb to 6.1 hours from 5.8 hours. Other national TV--Spanish-language, mini-broadcast network, syndication, PBS and pay-TV--also rose to 9.1 hours from 8.4 hours.

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Turner notes that it had a pretty good third quarter itself, especially CNN for its political convention coverage and its new drama "Raising the Bar."

CNN grew 39% in total viewer total day coverage to 689,000 during the conventions versus four years ago, and 46% in key 25-54 viewers to 240,000. Still, its main competitor--industry leader Fox News--also made gains of 17% to an industry best: 1.1 million viewers. Fox did drop 12% to 287,000 among 25-54 viewers.

In prime time, Fox News was 22% better in total viewers to 2.1 million, but among 25-54 viewers, it was at the same level as four years ago: 532,000. CNN climbed 44% to 1.3 million overall viewers while gaining on Fox in 25-54 viewers: 442,000, a big 71% leap. MSNBC had even better growth: 95% in prime time to 826,000 total viewers; and a 127% rise in 25-54 viewers to 324,000.

The third quarter was also good for Turner's TNT network when it came to launching its new Steven Bochco drama "Raising the Bar," which grabbed the best-ever ad-supported cable series launch with 7.735 million viewers.

After three episodes during the period, the show was still the top new cable show, at 5.7 million average viewers. USA Network's "In Plain Sight" was in second place, with 5.3 million viewers after 12 episodes. ABC Family's "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" was in third at 3.9 million for 11 episodes.

Among 18-49 viewers, "In Plain Sight" was No. 1 with 2.3 million; "Raising the Bar" was next at 2.0 million; and "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" was at 1.8 million.

Among comedies, Turner's TBS network had five of the top comedies in the fourth quarter: "House of Payne," "The Office," "Family Guy," "My Name is Earl" and "The Bill Engvall Show."

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