Fast National ratings for Wednesday, March 14, 2012.
The Spring Forward Bandit took viewers from “American Idol,” but the FOX talent show held up relatively well against bigger drops for ABC’s comedies, NBC’s “Are You There, Chelsea?” and CBS’ “Criminal Minds.” The result was that FOX won Wednesday night easily in all key measures.
[Reminder: In the aftermath of Sunday morning’s time change, most primetime early-evening numbers will likely be lower-than-usual this week, a peculiar phenomenon that occurs every year.]
Among adults 18-49, FOX averaged a 5.3 rating, far ahead of CBS’ 2.8 rating and the 2.2 rating for ABC in the key demographic. There was a big drop to NBC’s 0.8 rating and then only a small drop to The CW’s 0.6 rating.
Overall, FOX averaged an estimated 17.88 million viewers to go with a 10.5 rating/17 share for Wednesday primetime. CBS was far back in second with 11.05 million viewers and a 6.9/11. ABC took third with a 4.1/7 and 6.37 million viewers, beating the 2.0/3 and 2.86 million viewers for NBC. The CW averaged a 0.9/1 and 1.27 million viewers for the night.
[Univision averaged 3.4 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 for Wednesday primetime.]
8 p.m. – “American Idol” started primetime in first with 16.745 million viewers and a 4.9 rating among adults 18-49, off by under a million viewers and 0.4 key demo points from the same hour last week. CBS’ “Survivor” lost only a few viewers to 10.31 million and slipped to a 2.9 key demo rating. Taking bigger drops, percentage-wise, were ABC’s “The Middle” (6.99 million and a 2.1 key demo rating) and “Suburgatory” (6.3 million and a 2.1 key demo). NBC’s “Whitney” (4.01 million and a 1.4 key demo) fell slightly, while “Are You There, Chelsea?” (2.9 million and a 1.0 key demo) fell more. The CW’s “One Tree Till” averaged 1.5 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating, basically unchanged.
9 p.m. – The second hour of “American Idol” rose to 19.01 million viewers and a 5.7 rating among adults 18-49 to dominate the 9 p.m. hour for FOX. CBS was second overall with 11.33 million viewers and third with a 2.8 key demo rating. ABC was third overall and second in the key demo with “Modern Family” (10.52 million and a 4.4 key demo) and “Happy Endings” (5.51 million and a 2.4 key demo rating), with the latter comedy rising over last week when “Modern Family” was away (but falling from two weeks ago). NBC averaged 2.52 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating for a repeat of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.” On The CW, a new “America’s Next Top Model” averaged what we assume will be a series low 1.05 million viewers and a 0.5 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – CBS took over first place for the 10 p.m. hour with 11.52 million viewers and a 2.7 rating among adults 18-49. ABC’s “Revenge For Real” was second with 4.46 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating. NBC’s “Rock Center” averaged only 2.6 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.