ABC Captures November Sweeps Crown
Barely edge out CBS, thanks to a record audience for DWTS finale
ABC earned a November sweeps win, slipping past CBS thanks to a record-breaking "Dancing With the Stars" finale.
However, total audiences for November were down 6 percent from the year before, despite the continued strength from both ABC and CBS in dominating the overall schedule.
The Disney-owned network picked up a 15.5 rating/26 share for its "Dancing" finale, according to Fast National overnight ratings from The Nielsen Co. That's the highest rating of any non-news, non-event television program this season, and was just enough to give ABC a 7.2/12 for November, ahead of CBS' 7.1/12.
ABC had already crossed a high mark for Tuesday in the first hour of "Dancing," when the show earned a 13.9/22, a 22 percent improvement over the hour's average. However, audiences in the second hour grew another 12 percent to top off a very easy win for the network.
In the 9 p.m. hour for ABC, "Dancing" is nearly doubling the timeslot for its 2009-10 average. The high ratings also took a toll on the competition, as expected. "NCIS: Los Angeles" dropped 5 percent for CBS to a 9.0/4 while "The Good Wife" tumbled to a season low of 6.5/11, some 17 percent off its average.
Both the second hour of "The Biggest Loser" and "Parenthood" suffered season lows for NBC as well. "Biggest Loser" clocked in with a 3.9/6, losing 9 percent from its previous week (and eroding the audience from the first hour of "Biggest Loser," something the show rarely does). "Parenthood" hit 2.8/5, nearly 18 percent off its season average.
The final week of November sweeps wasn't without its pre-emptions, allowing "Mike & Molly" to be the lone new show in the top 10 for the second week in a row, despite a small slip to a 7.9/12. It is now the most successful new show of the season, surpassing "Hawaii Five-0," which has been stumbling a bit after a strong start.
The Nov. 22 episode of "Mike & Molly" earned a 7.9/12, which was nearly 10 percent better than the show's freshman average. It's still not beating the timeslot year-over-year, but it's not losing much from its "Two and a Half Men" lead-in, keeping 93 percent of its audience this past week.
However, "Hawaii Five-0" is barely keeping the numbers going despite its strong lead-in. It's losing more than 1 percent of its "Mike & Molly" lead-in, and is 11 percent off its year-over-year pace.
Top Networks, November Sweeps (Average)
| 1. | ABC | 7.2/12 |
| 2. | CBS | 7.1/12 |
| 3. | NBC | 3.5/6 |
| 4. | Fox | 3.3/5 |
| 5. | The CW | 1.4/2 |
Top 10 Network Shows, November Sweeps, Week 4 -- [Audience Loyalty Index]
| 1. (1) | Dancing With the Stars (ABC) | 15.5/26 | [73.8] |
| 2. (2) | Dancing With the Stars (ABC) | 14.4/22 | [86.9] |
| 3. (4) | Dancing With the Stars (ABC) | 13.9/22 | [73.8] |
| 4. (3) | NCIS (CBS) | 11.1/18 | [97.3] |
| 5. (-) | Dancing With the Stars (ABC) | 9.5/15 | [90.1] |
| 6. (6) | The Mentalist (CBS) | 9.0/16 | [94.9] |
| 7. (5) | NCIS: Los Angeles (CBS) | 9.0/14 | [95.2] |
| 8. (9) | CSI (CBS) | 8.5/13 | [95.1] |
| 8. (8) | Two and a Half Men (CBS) | 8.5/13 | [94.6] |
| 10. (10) | Mike & Molly (CBS) | 7.9/12 | [89.9] |
Top 10 New Shows, November Sweeps, Week 4 -- [ALI]
| 1. (1) | Mike & Molly (CBS) | 7.9/12 | [89.9] |
| 2. (3) | Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) | 7.6/13 | [82.9] |
| 3. (2) | Blue Bloods (CBS) | 7.0/13 | [87.8] |
| 4. (4) | $#*! My Dad Says (CBS) | 6.2/10 | [85.9] |
| 5. (-) | Skating With the Stars (ABC) | 4.7/8 | [NA] |
| 6. (8) | No Ordinary Family (ABC) | 4.4/7 | [77.6] |
| 7. (8) | Better With You (ABC) | 4.1/7 | [91.4] |
| 8. (13) | Chase (NBC) | 3.5/6 | [71.1] |
| 9. (11) | The Event (NBC) | 3.3/5 | [63.4] |
| 9. (10) | Outsourced (NBC) | 3.3/5 | [79.8] |
Bottom 10 Big Four Network Shows, November Sweeps, Week 4 -- [ALI]
| 1. | The Good Guys (Fox) | 1.6/3 | [94.1] |
| 2. | School Pride (NBC) | 1.8/3 | [89.5] |
| 3. | The Apprentice (NBC) | 2.5/4 | [81.8] |
| 4. | Community (NBC) | 2.7/5 | [88.9] |
| 5. | Parenthood (NBC) | 2.8/5 | [68.2] |
| 5. | Supernanny (ABC) | 2.8/5 | [92.9] |
| 5. | Hell's Kitchen (Fox) | 2.8/5 | [89.2] |
| 8. | American Dad (Fox) | 2.9/4 | [81.9] |
| 8. | Cleveland Show (Fox) | 2.9/4 | [86.6] |
| 8. | Chuck (NBC) | 2.9/4 | [92.1] |
Fast Nationals usually provide a snapshot of what Americans are watching by pulling numbers from the top urban markets that include both live viewing and same-day timeshifted viewing. A rating point generally represents more than 1.1 million households while the share indicates the percentage of televisions turned on that was tuned to the specific program. These numbers typically shift when final ratings are issued.
Data collected from The Nielsen Co., as distributed by Zap2it. BlipNetwork tracks non-news, non-event programming, and figures for this story reflect airing of new episodes only. For more information on the Audience Loyalty Index, click here.
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