or


[04/30/11 - 08:57 AM]
Friday's Broadcast Ratings: Royal Wedding Sparks CBS, ABC
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for friday, april 29, 2011)

Here are the highlights of the 11 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

CBS (9.18 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.7, #1) snagged the top spot on Friday thanks to its "The Royal Wedding: Modern Majesty" (8.59 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T1) special followed by new episodes of "CSI: NY" (9.19 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.7, #T1) and "Blue Bloods" (9.77 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.6, #3).

ABC (5.99 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.4, #2) then claimed the silver with a new "Shark Tank" (4.59 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T7) followed by its "20/20: A Modern Fairy Tale" (6.69 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.5, #4) special.

Next up was FOX (3.39 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.3, #3) with fresh installments of "Kitchen Nightmares" (3.29 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T5) and "Fringe" (3.49 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T5).

Meanwhile, NBC (4.24 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.0, #4) offered up new episodes of "Friday Night Lights" (2.99 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.6, #11) and "Dateline NBC" (4.87 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T7).

And finally, new episodes of "Smallville" (1.94 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.8, #10) and "Supernatural" (1.94 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.9, #9) on The CW (1.94 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.9, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): 20/20 (25.00%), Fringe (8.30%), Blue Bloods (6.70% vs. 4/8/11), CSI: NY (6.30% vs. 4/8/11), Supernatural (0.00%), Smallville (-11.10%), Kitchen Nightmares (-13.30% vs. 4/15/11), Shark Tank (-14.30%), Dateline NBC (-14.30%), Friday Night Lights (-40.00%).

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets (the Birmingham market is delayed), household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.8/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.4/6; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.2/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.4/4.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.8/4; "Late Show," 0.6/4; "Nightline," 0.9/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.4/4 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.3/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.5/3 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.3/2).

At 1:35 a.m., Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.8/3 in metered-market households and a 0.3/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.


Here are the highlights of the 11 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (4/30/10):

NBC (6.19 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.5, #1) was the network to beat on Friday thanks to the season finale of "Who Do You Think You Are?" (5.21 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.2, #7) and a new two-hour "Dateline NBC" (6.67 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.6, #1).

CBS (6.52 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.4, #2) then had to settle for second place with new episodes of "Ghost Whisperer" (6.52 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.5, #2), "Medium" (6.33 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T3) and "Miami Medical" (6.72 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T5).

Next up was ABC (3.84 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.2, #3) with a new "Wife Swap" (3.41 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T8), a second hour of "Wife Swap" (3.73 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T5) and a new "20/20" (4.39 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T3).

Meanwhile, FOX (2.77 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.9, #4) offered up another encore of the two-hour season premiere of "House" (2.77 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T8).

And finally, a new "Smallville" (2.37 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T8) lead into a repeat of "America's Next Top Model" (1.50 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.6, #11) on The CW (1.93 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.7, #5).

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [april 2011]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
     


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[07/08/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 30: "Squid Game" Season 3 Leads Top 10 Globally, Climbs to No. 3 on Most Popular
Plus: "The Waterfront" maintained its Top 10 empire as the No. 1 English show in its third week with 5.6 million views.

[07/03/25 - 02:33 PM]
ABC News Same-Day Primetime Special "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" Is No. 1 in Adults 18-49 and Adults 25-54
Versus the competition in the time period, "Verdict: The Diddy Trial" outperformed NBC by +40% in Adults 18-49 (212,000 vs. 151,000) and +22% in Adults 25-54.

[07/02/25 - 06:44 PM]
Tyler Perry's "Divorced Sistas" Quickly Rises to Become BET+'s Most Watched Original Series in Platform History
Just halfway through the eight-episode season, existing subscribers and new fans of the show have boosted the drama series to the most-watched series premiere on BET+ in just three weeks.

[07/02/25 - 02:38 PM]
Hallmark Channel Earns #1 Most-Watched Network on Weekends Throughout June with "Passport to Love" Programming Event
"Passport to Love" helped elevate Hallmark Channel to be the #1 most-watched network on weekends throughout the month of June.

[07/01/25 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Week of June 23: "Squid Game" Season 3 Takes Over with Record-Breaking Global Debut at No. 1
"The Waterfront" was a Top 10 hit once more as the No. 1 series on the English TV list (11.6 million views).

[07/01/25 - 10:26 AM]
ESPN Formula 1 Viewership Notes After Austrian Grand Prix
ESPN's live telecast on Sunday, June 29, averaged 1.1 million viewers, a two percent gain over last year's race and the largest audience ever for the event on U.S. television.

[07/01/25 - 09:16 AM]
ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball" Featuring the Minnesota Twins vs. Detroit Tigers Averaged 2 Million Viewers - Up 66% from Last Year's Comparable Game
The audience peaked with 2,304,000 viewers in the 9:15 p.m. ET quarter hour.

[06/27/25 - 02:29 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Gears Up for Summer Rising Week to Week in All Key Measures
Wednesday, June 11, was the most-viewed day of the week among Total Viewers (2.164 million).

[06/27/25 - 10:31 AM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night in Adults 18-49 for Third Week in a Row
Winning three of five nights in Kimmel's final week before summer guest hosts, Thursday, June 19, was the show's strongest night among Adults 18-49 (0.35 rating).

[06/25/25 - 11:55 AM]
Prime Video Finishes Groundbreaking First Season of Exclusive NASCAR Coverage
According to Nielsen, NASCAR on Prime posted a season average of 2.16 million viewers (AMA P2+) across five events, and attracted droves of younger viewers to its live coverage.

[06/25/25 - 07:58 AM]
ABC News Primetime Special "Karen Read: The Verdict - A Special Edition of 20/20" Ranks #1 Across All of Broadcast and Cable in Adults 18-49
Plus: "Karen Read: The Verdict" placed No. 1 based on views among all titles on Hulu on Thursday (6/19), Friday (6/20) and Saturday (6/21).

[06/24/25 - 03:03 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Target Demos 18-49 vs. CBS' "After Midnight" and NBC's "Late Night with Seth Meyers" for 2nd Consecutive Week, and Claims Top Spot in Total Viewers for the 5th Straight Week
On Monday (6/16/25), "Nightline" scored its most-watched telecast (1.112 million) in 5 months.

[06/24/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of June 16: "Tyler Perry's Straw" Leads Top 10 for Third Week, "The Waterfront" Swims to No. 1
Plus: "Ginny & Georgia" Season 3 racked up another 8.1 million views and felt peachy keen at No. 2, while Season 2 landed at No. 8 and Season 1 at No. 10, with an additional 2.7 million views each.

[06/24/25 - 08:42 AM]
Third Most-Watched WNBA Game Ever on ESPN: Indiana Fever vs Las Vegas Aces Averaged 1.7 Million Viewers, Up 52% from Last Year's ESPN Average
Said coverage peaked at 2.2 million viewers.

[06/23/25 - 12:09 PM]
Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Game 7 on ABC and ESPN+ Is Most-Watched NBA Finals Game in Six Years
The seven-game series averaged 10,266,000 viewers and delivered the seven most-watched broadcasts on all of television since the first week of May.