• by Wayne Friedman , October 16, 2008

Compared to last year's C3 numbers, Fox and CW are the most improved.

A day after commercial ratings were released by the TV networks for the first week of the new season, data has been released on how they fared versus last year's C3 ratings. Networks now have the first apples-to-apples comparison to last year's data--the first year that C3 was instituted.

For the first week, Fox and CW were the only two networks to improve in commercials ratings plus three days of DVR playback (C3) versus a year ago. As previously been reported, ABC still has the best score overall for C3 ratings against the most popular 18-49 viewer demographic--a 3.49 average rating--for the first week.

CW improved in virtually ever demographic, with a 14% gain among its key 18-34 demographic to a 1.3 rating. It also gained healthy numbers across 18-49 viewers: 9% to a 1.12 rating average, and even a 7% hike among 25-54 viewers to a 1.02 rating.

Among the top four networks, Fox showed the only improvement versus a year ago--albeit small hikes: a 2% gain to a 2.65 rating among 18-49 viewers and a 3% climb to a 2.83 rating among 25-54 viewers.

The biggest loser has been NBC so far: a 9% drop among 18-49 viewers to a 3.14 rating and a 12% loss among 25-54 viewers to a 3.4 rating. NBC only lost 2% among young viewers--18-34, to a 2.96 rating.

CBS also suffered--a 7% drop among 18-49 viewers to a 2.83 number, and a 6% decline among older 25-54 viewers to a 3.73 number. Its most glaring decline was a 20% fall to a 1.69 rating among younger 18-34 viewers.

ABC had more modest declines--just a 2.5% slip to a 3.49 rating among 18-49 viewers; a 3.4% fall to a 4.09 rating among 25-54 viewers and a 1.3% drop to a 2.86 rating for 18-34 viewers.

In addition to viewing for adults 18-49 for the first week, ABC also was tops among viewers 25-54 and in households with a 7.24 rating--down 2% versus a year ago. NBC won the first week among 18-34 viewers with a 2.96 rating.