By Anya Khait
Ad-supported cable television opened the new 2000/2001 television season with significant gains in both primetime and total day viewership, while the collective audience for
broadcast TV continued to shrink, according to Cabletelevision Advertising Bureau analysis of Nielsen data for the season premiere week (10/2-10/8/00).
Ad-supported cable's average primetime
U.S. household delivery climbed to 25.1 million (+5.7% versus last season's premiere week), rating increased 4.3% to 24.5, and share grew by 2% to 39.8. On a total day basis for Week #1 of the new
season, ad-supported cable's delivery rose 9.2 percent to 13.7 million homes, rating climbed 7.2% to 13.4, and share rose 4.9% to 42.6.
In contrast, CAB analysis of preliminary Nielsen data for
Week #1 shows that the collective primetime U.S. household delivery of the seven broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, UPN, WB, PAX) declined by more than 500,000 homes versus last season's premier
week, rating slipped by 2% and share dropped by almost 4%. On a total day basis, the gross delivery of ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX affiliates declined by 2.1%, rating shrank by 3.4% and share decreased by 6.1%.
The top ten ad-supported cable networks in week#1 ranked by percent growth from 1999 in primetime delivery were: Fox News Channel (652,000 HH, +318%), Bravo (133,000 HH, +108%), TNN (953,000
HH, + 90%), Food Network (205,000 HH, +90%), CNN (942,000 HH, +81%), Court TV (250, 000 HH, +59%), MSNBC (275,000 HH, +55%), A&E (1,209,000 HH, +53%), Travel Channel (125,000 HH, +51%), SCI-FI
(541,000 HH, +38%), and the Weather Channel (340,000 HH, +38%).
The top ten ad-supported cable networks in week#1 ranked by absolute growth from 1999 in primetime delivery were: Fox News
Channel (+496,000 HH), TNN (+452,000 HH), A&E (+420,000 HH), CNN (+420,000 HH), Cartoon Network (+294,000 HH), Discovery (+206,000 HH), History Channel (+149,000 HH), SCI-FI (+148,000 HH), HGTV
(+119,000 HH), and MSNBC (+98,000 HH).
The top ten ad-supported cable networks in week#1 ranked by percent growth from 1999 in total day delivery were: Fox News Channel (209,000 HH, +158%), Bravo
(67,000 HH, +97%), Food Network (132,000 HH, +83%), Court TV (132,000 HH, +59%), Travel Channel (57,000 HH, +58%), ESPN (919,000 HH, +42%), MSNBC (163,000 HH, +39%), FX (291,000 HH, +36%), Animal
Planet (152,000 HH, +32%), and the Cartoon Network (764,000 HH, +26%).
The top ten ad-supported cable networks in week#1 ranked by absolute growth from 1999 in total day delivery were: ESPN
(+273,000 HH), Cartoon Network (+159,000 HH), Fox News Channel (+128,000 HH), Nickelodeon (+117,000 HH), FX (+77,000 HH), History Channel (+63,000 HH), Food Network (+60,000 HH), Lifetime (+59,000
HH), CNN (+58,000 HH), and TNT (+56,000 HH).
- MediaPost staff writer Anya Khait may be reached at anya@mediapost.com