nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for wednesday, august 10, 2011)

Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

FOX (5.67 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.9, #1) took home a narrow victory on Wednesday with the penultimate installment of "So You Think You Can Dance" (5.67 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #3).

CBS (6.67 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.8, #2) then was a competitive second place with a new "Big Brother 13" (7.23 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.7, #1) followed by repeats of "Criminal Minds" (5.61 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T6) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (7.16 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T6).

Next up was NBC (6.27 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.7, #3) with its mix of "Minute to Win It" (4.83 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.2, #10), "America's Got Talent" (9.34 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.4, #2) and "Love in the Wild" (4.63 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.5, #5).

Meanwhile, ABC (4.12 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.2, #4) offered up encores of "The Middle" (4.22 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.9, #12), "Modern Family" (4.46 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T6), another "Modern Family" (4.77 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.6, #4), "Happy Endings" (2.96 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.0, #11) and a new "Primetime Nightline" (4.17 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T6).

And finally, repeats of "America's Next Top Model" (1.15 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T13) and another "America's Next Top Model" (1.05 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T13) on The CW (1.10 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #5) closed out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Minute to Win It (9.1%), Big Brother 13 (8.0%), Love in the Wild (7.1%), So You Think You Can Dance (5.6%), Primetime Nightline (0.0%), America's Got Talent (0.0%).

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

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 2.5/6; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.0/5 with an encore; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 2.7/6; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.2/4.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.8/4; "Late Show," 0.5/2 with an encore; "Nightline," 0.9/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.3/4 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.0/4 with an encore). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.5/3 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.3/2 with an encore).

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

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (8/11/10):

NBC (7.55 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.1, #T1) took home top honors on Wednesday thanks to new episodes of "Minute to Win It" (6.41 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #5), "America's Got Talent" (10.45 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.7, #1) and a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (5.79 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.8, #6).

Sharing the adults 18-49 crown was FOX (6.06 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.1, #T1) with a new "So You Think You Can Dance" (5.95 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.2, #T3) and a second "So You Think You Can Dance" (6.17 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.2, #T3).

Next up was CBS (6.46 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.7, #3) with a new "Big Brother 12" (6.97 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.4, #2) followed by repeats of "Criminal Minds" (6.56 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.6, #7) and "CSI: NY" (5.85 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T8).

Meanwhile, repeats of "The Middle" (4.52 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T10), another "The Middle" (4.18 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T10), "Modern Family" (3.83 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T8), "Cougar Town" (2.52 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.0, #12) and "Castle" (3.91 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.9, #13) filled the night for ABC (3.81 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.1, #4).

And finally, The CW (1.27 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #5) rounded out the evening with a repeat of "America's Next Top Model" (1.30 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.6, #14) and a new "Plain Jane" (1.23 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.5, #15).

In late-night metered market ratings, NBC's "Leno" (2.9/7) took top honors over ABC's "Nightline" (2.8/6) and CBS's "Letterman" (2.2/5). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.3/4) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.2/4) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.4/5) and "Daly" (0.8/3) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research