nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for wednesday, january 11, 2012)

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

ABC (8.83 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.2, #1) remained the top demo draw on Wednesday with new episodes of "The Middle" (9.59 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.0, #3), "Suburgatory" (8.96 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.9, #4), "Modern Family" (12.33 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 5.1, #1), "Happy Endings" (7.07 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 3.1, #2) and "Revenge" (7.51 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 2.4, #6).

CBS (8.88 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.3, #2) however was the most-watched network with a repeat of "Criminal Minds" (8.87 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T9) and its presentation of "The 38th Annual People's Choice Awards" (8.88 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.5, #5).

Next up was NBC (7.75 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.9, #3) with the Wednesday debut of "Whitney" (6.06 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 2.1, #8) followed by the premiere of "Are You There, Chelsea?" (6.43 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 2.3, #7) and new episodes of "Harry's Law" (8.65 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.4, #11) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (8.36 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.0, #T9). Said demo numbers marked the Peacock's highest Wednesday average of the season.

Next up was FOX (3.04 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.1, #4) with an encore of "Mobbed" (2.73 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T13) followed by an original "Mobbed" (3.34 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.3, #12).

And finally, the return of "One Tree Hill" (1.75 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.9, #T13) and an encore of "One Tree Hill" (0.82 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.3, #15) on The CW (1.29 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.6, #5) closed out the evening. In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), "Hill" posted a 1.8 rating at 8:00/7:00c and a 0.5 rating at 9:00/8:00c.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+16.67% - Harry's Law (vs. 12/7/11)
+10.53% - Whitney (vs. 12/8/11)
+8.33% - Mobbed
+5.26% - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (vs. 12/7/11)
0.00% - The Middle
0.00% - Suburgatory
-4.00% - Revenge
-6.06% - Happy Endings
-8.93% - Modern Family

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+85.71% - Mobbed (vs. FOX News Special/Kitchen Nightmares)
+43.75% - Are You There, Chelsea? (vs. Minute to Win It (Repeat)/NBC News Special)
+41.67% - Modern Family (vs. ABC News Special/Modern Family)
+31.25% - Whitney (vs. Minute to Win It (Repeat))
+28.57% - One Tree Hill (vs. Nikita (Repeat))
+16.00% - Suburgatory (vs. The Middle/ABC News Special)
+9.09% - Revenge (vs. Off the Map)
0.00% - Harry's Law (vs. NBC News Special/Minute to Win It)
-3.23% - The Middle
-16.22% - Happy Endings (vs. Modern Family (S))
-20.00% - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

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," 3.2/8; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.6/7; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.5/8; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.7/5.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 1,0/4; "Late Show," 0.7/3; "Nightline," 1.1/5; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.7/6 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.2/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.6/3 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.3/2).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 1.0/4 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 22 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (1/12/11):

ABC (9.03 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.9, #1) was the network to beat last night with its mix of "The Middle" (10.50 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.1, #3), "The Middle/ABC News Special" (8.26 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.5, #T4), "ABC News Special/Modern Family" (10.27 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.6, #2), "Modern Family" (10.14 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.7, #1) and the premiere of "Off the Map" (7.51 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.2, #6).

NBC (6.31 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.8, #2) then took home the silver with its combination of "Minute to Win It" (5.57 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.6, #T7), "Minute to Win It/NBC News Special" (5.35 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.6, #T7), "NBC News Special/Minute to Win It" (5.25 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T11), "Minute to Win It" (4.90 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T11) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (8.39 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.5, #T4).

Next up was CBS (6.17 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.4, #3) and its revised lineup of "The Big Bang Theory" (6.14 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.5, #10), "Rules of Engagement/CBS News Special" (5.57 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T14), "CBS News Special/Live to Dance" (6.36 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T14), "Live to Dance" (5.93 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T14), "Live to Dance/The Defenders" (6.90 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.6, #T7) and "The Defenders" (6.13 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.4, #T11).

Meanwhile, FOX (2.43 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.8, #4) had its own last-minute mix of "Raising Hope" (3.16 million viewers, #17; adults 18-49: 1.0, #17), "Raising Hope/FOX News Special" (2.19 million viewers, #20; adults 18-49: 0.6, #21), "FOX News Special/Kitchen Nightmares" (2.53 million viewers, #18; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T18) and "Kitchen Nightmares" (1.85 million viewers, #21; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T18).

And finally, repeats of "Nikita" (2.42 million viewers, #19; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T18) and "Hellcats" (1.80 million viewers, #22; adults 18-49: 0.5, #22) on The CW (2.11 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.6, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes, due to the overall disruption to last night's lineups, will not be posted today.

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.2/7) took top honors over CBS's "Letterman" (2.1/6, delayed by news coverage) and NBC's "Leno" (2.9/7). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.8/6) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.2/5, delayed by news coverage) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.3/4) and "Daly" (0.8/3) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research