Big Four Numbers Down Year-to-Year in Week No. 27

NEW YORK: Fewer folks watched the Big Four broadcast networks during prime time for the week ending July 19 than the same period mid-summer last year. Fox, ABC, CBS and NBC were all down slightly among all households as well as people 18 to 49. Only CBS retained its season-to-date gain over last year in all households.

Wachovia’s ad market update: “The cable and network TV upfronts remain at a standstill with no change to our view on CPMs--TV networks down low- to mid-singles and top tier cable CPMs down low-singles. We don’t expect much commentary from Viacom’s 2Q results next Tuesday given the lack of demand in the marketplace.”

“Who’s Watching” tracks the weekly and season-to-date, year-to-year change in average household viewing data for broadcast (live plus same day) and audience data for cable nets (live plus same day); STD is prime time unless otherwise noted, e.g. Food and HDTV.

-- Disney (ABC): Prime-time average household (HH) rating was -8 percent for total HHs and -12 percent for P18-49. Season-to-date average audience was -7 percent and -8 percent, respectively.

-- CBS (CBS): PT avg. HH rating was -5 percent for total HHs and -6 percent for P18-49. STD avg. audience was +7 percent and +3 percent, respectively.

-- News Corp (Fox): PT avg. HH rating was -10 percent for total HHs and -12 percent for P18-49. STD avg. audience was -15 percent and -18 percent, respectively.

-- GE (NBC): PT avg. HH rating was -5 percent for total HHs and -11 percent for P18-49. STD avg. audience was -9 percent and -5 percent, respectively.

-- Viacom:
BET PT avg. audience was +56 percent for P2+ and +68 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was +22 percent for P2+ and +26 percent for P25-54.
Comedy Central PT avg. audience was flat for P2+ and +7 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was -1 percent and -3 percent, respectively.
MTV PT avg. audience was -5 percent for P2+ and -7 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was -21 percent and -12 percent, respectively.
VH1 PT avg. audience was +1 percent for P2+ and -12 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was -3 percent and -2 percent, respectively.
Nickelodeon PT avg. audience was -9 percent for P2+ and +4 percent for P2-11. STD avg. audience was +8 percent and +9 percent, respectively.

-- Discovery:
Discovery Channel PT avg. audience was +6 percent for both P2+ and P25-54. STD avg. audience was also +6 percent for both.
TLC PT avg. audience was +34 percent for P2+ and +24 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was +14 percent and +6 percent, respectively.
Animal Planet PT avg. audience was +3 percent for P2+ and +29 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was +6 percent and +16 percent, respectively.

-- Scripps:
HGTV PT avg. audience was -2 percent for P2+ and -7 percent for P25-54. STD PT avg. audience was +2 percent and -2 percent, respectively. STD total day avg. audience was -2 percent for both.
Food Network PT avg. audience was +12 percent for P2+ and +1 percent for P25-54. STD PT avg. audience was +16 percent for P2+ and +15 percent for P25-54. STD total day avg. audience was +10 percent for P2+ and +7 percent for P25-54.

-- Disney:
ESPN PT avg. audience was -7 percent for P2+ and -14 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was flat for both.
Disney Channel PT avg. audience was +34 percent for P2+ and +36 percent for P2-11. STD avg. audience was -4 percent for both.

-- News Corp.:
Fox News Channel PT avg. audience was +22 percent for P2+ and +43 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was +44 percent and +52 percent respectively.
F/X PT avg. audience was -6 percent for P2+ and +5 percent for P25-54. STD avg. audience was +4 percent for P2+ and +5 percent for P25-54.
National Geographic PT avg. audience was -5 percent for P2+ and flat for P25-54. STD avg. audience was +11 percent and +9 percent, respectively.

(Image by Endemoniada)