Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Katie Who? Ellen DeGeneres Crushes, Delivers Best Ratings Since 2003 - Hollywood Reporter

While Katie got off to a strong start, the best among the talk show newcomers, Ellen and Dr. Oz returned with season premieres that were also noteworthy.

Ellen scored a 3.0 in total households in metered markets, and its highest rating since the 2006-2007 season, (Full national numbers won’t be available until next week). That projects Ellen as taking an 8 percent share of the viewing audience, which would be her best in that measure since the show went on the air in 2003.

Warner Bros. and stations carrying Ellen have to be very pleased. Ellen was tops not only in households but also among women 25 to 54 (with a 2.2 rating among the key daytime audience demo), women 18 to 49 (1.7) and all adults 25 to 54 (1.4).

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A year ago Ellen had a 2.4 opening day rating in households, a 1.1 among women 18 to 49, a 1.3 among women 25 to 54 and a 0.9 among all adults 25 to 54.

Dr. Oz, despite being forced into time periods an hour earlier in some markets to make way for Katie Couric's new show, delivered a 2.8 rating to start its fourth season.  The Sony Pictures Television show improved on what was in that time period a year earlier by 33 percent.

That 2.8 rating for Oz is the same as the national household average in metered markets for Katie.

In the three markets where Dr. Oz is the lead in for Katie ( Los Angeles, Dallas and Nashville), Katie was the winner with a 3.5 household average, while Oz had a 2.8.

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In the ten markets where Katie and Dr. Oz go head to head, Oz was on top in households with a 3.1 while Katie has a 2.2 average.

That was easily the best among the new talk shows. Comparable numbers on Monday for Maury was 1.5, for Steve Harvey 1.5, , for Jerry Springer 1.2, for Jeff Probst 1, for Wendy Williams 1.0 and for Ricki Lake 0.8. Lake was hurt because of a dispute in the New York market which kept the show off as much as 40 percent of all TV sets there.

There was also good news for the revised Anderson Cooper show now called Anderson Live. It scored a healthy  1.3 rating Monday in metered markets in total households, which was up 18 percent over a year ago.

Steve Harvey continues to hold his own. He started last Tuesday with a 1.5, went to a 1.4 on Wednesday, a 1.3 on Thursday, a 1.6 on Friday and had a 1.5 again this Monday. Overall that means that his viewership has quickly found its level.  It is up 50 percent in households (on average for five days) over a year ago in the same time periods.  It is up about  100 percent in every key female demo.

The huge start for Katie is impressive, but there was some slight decline from one-quarter hour to the next so it is important to give the show at least a week or more to find its real level of viewership.  

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The reigning talk show top dog, Dr. Phil, was pre-empted Monday in many markets on CBS stations by the U.S. Open, so there is no comparable data. Dr. Phil makes his season debut Tuesday with a show that features interviews with friends of George Zimmerman. Dr. Phil on Friday will have Trayvon Martin’s parents on his show.

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