nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for wednesday, august 22, 2012)

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

NBC (6.29 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.7, #1) was Wednesday's top draw thanks to a new "America's Got Talent" (8.74 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.3, #1). Bookending the hour were repeats of "America's Got Talent" (5.58 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T3) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (4.56 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T5).

CBS (5.74 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T2) then took the number two spot with its mix of "Big Brother 14" (5.76 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.0, #2), "Criminal Minds" (5.80 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T5) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (5.65 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T8).

Sharing the silver was FOX (4.51 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T2) with another two-hour "So You Think You Can Dance" (4.51 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T3).

Meanwhile, ABC (3.73 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.0, #4) offered up repeats of "The Middle" (4.12 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.1, #T8), "Suburgatory" (3.30 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.9, #12), "Modern Family" (3.50 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.2, #7), another "Suburgatory" (2.64 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.0, #T10) and the season finale of "NY Med" (4.41 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.0, #T10).

And finally, week two of "Oh Sit!" (1.16 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #13) and a repeat of "Supernatural" (0.71 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.3, #14) closed out the night on The CW (0.93 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #5). In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), "Oh Sit!" delivered a 0.5 rating at 8:00/7:00c and "Supernatural" a 0.3 rating at 9:00/8:00c.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+4.55% - America's Got Talent
0.00% - NY Med (vs. 8/21/12)
-4.76% - Big Brother 14
-11.76% - So You Think You Can Dance
-20.00% - Oh Sit!

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+66.67% - So You Think You Can Dance (vs. Buried Treasure/House (Repeat))
0.00% - Oh Sit! (vs. America's Next Top Model (Repeat))
-17.86% - America's Got Talent
-23.08% - NY Med (vs. Primetime Nightline)
-28.57% - Big Brother 14

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," 2.6/7; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.1/6; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 2.8/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.3/4.

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

· At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.3/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.0/3 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 0.3/2 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 (8/24/11):

NBC (7.28 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.0, #1) was the network to beat on Wednesday with fresh installments of "Minute to Win It" (5.68 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T5) and "America's Got Talent" (10.73 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T1) followed by a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (5.44 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.6, #4).

CBS (6.33 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.8, #2) then claimed the silver with a new "Big Brother 13" (7.70 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T1) alongside repeats of "Criminal Minds" (5.22 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T8) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (6.08 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T8).

Next up was ABC (4.22 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.4, #3) with encores of "The Middle" (4.27 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.2, #11), "Modern Family" (4.59 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.5, #T5), "Modern Family" (4.80 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.9, #3) and a special "Happy Endings" (3.11 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.4, #7) followed by a new "Primetime Nightline" (4.28 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.3, #T8).

Meanwhile, FOX (3.05 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.9, #4) was out of the hunt despite the launch of "Buried Treasure" (3.65 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.0, #12) and a repeat of "House" (2.46 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.8, #13).

And finally, repeats of "America's Next Top Model" (1.13 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T14) and another "America's Next Top Model" (0.88 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T14) on The CW (1.01 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #5) closed out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Minute to Win It (25.0%), America's Got Talent (16.7%), Primetime Nightline (0.0%), Big Brother 13 (-9.7%).

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," 2.4/6 with an encore telecast; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 2.7/7 with an original; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.1/8; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.2/4 with an encore.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 0.8/4 with an encore; "Late Show," 0.6/3 with an original; "Nightline," 1.0/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/3 with an encore.

At 12:35 a.m., an encore telecast of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.1/4 in metered-market households) trailed a first-run of CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.2/4). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.5/3 in 18-49 with an encore) topped an original "Late Late Show" (0.3/2).

At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.7/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.3/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Source: Nielsen Media Research