Averages 10.1 million viewers over 90 minutes
By Toni Fitzgerald
Nov. 8, 2006In the
first election for new anchors Brian Williams at NBC, Katie Couric at CBS and Charles Gibson at ABC, it was Gibson who drew the most viewers, though he has Mario Lopez and the rest of the network’s shimmying stars to thank for it.
ABC decided late yesterday to preempt an episode of sitcom “Help Me Help You” and instead go right from mega-hit “Dancing with the Stars” into election coverage. That helped give Gibson, the only one of the three network anchors with a big lead-in, an advantage he never relinquished.
Gibson averaged 10.1 million viewers during 90 minutes of primetime, peaking at 9:30 p.m. with 12.8 million, according to Nielsen overnights.
The “World News” anchor, who took over the job in May, averaged 8.7 million at 10 p.m., when NBC and CBS began their election coverage. NBC averaged 7.2 million viewers that hour and CBS averaged 7.1 million.
In the key adults 25-54 demographic, NBC and ABC tied with a 2.9 for the hour, followed by CBS at 2.7.
Cable news, led by Fox News Channel and CNN, is expected to generate big ratings for the night as well.
But considering how much buzz this election has gotten, with control of the House of Representatives changing hands, it was a relatively quiet evening on broadcast. In fact, one might argue that the night’s real winner was Fox’s “House,” which was up 17 percent week to week among 18-49s to an impressive 6.8 rating in its second episode after a baseball layoff.
That helped Fox win the night among 18-49s, averaging a 4.5 rating and 11 share. ABC was second at 4.2/10, followed by CBS at 3.3/8, NBC at 2.4/6, Univision at 1.7/4, and the CW at 1.6/4.
ABC led with a 5.4 for “Dancing” at 8 p.m., followed by CBS’s “NCIS” at 4.2, NBC’s still-struggling “Friday Night Lights” at 2.5, Fox’s “Standoff” at 2.3, Univision’s “La Fea Mas Bella” at 2.2, and the CW’s “Gilmore Girls” at 1.9.
At 9 p.m., Fox’s “House” jumped ahead with a 6.8, followed by ABC’s “Dancing” (6.2) and election results (3.3) at a combined 4.8, CBS’s “The Unit” at 3.5, NBC’s “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” at 2.5, Univision’s “Mundo de Fieras” at 1.6, and CW’s “Veronica Mars” at 1.3.
At 10 p.m., ABC and NBC tied for first at 2.3 with election coverage, followed by CBS’s 2.1. Univision was fourth with a 1.3 for “Lo que No Vio de Los Latin Grammy.”
ABC easily won the night in households with a 10.2/15, followed by CBS at 7.2/11, Fox at 6.6/10, NBC at 4.7/7, the CW at 2.4/4, and Univision at 2.1/3.
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Toni Fitzgerald is a staff writer for Media Life.
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© 2006 Media Life Magazine |
