DAILY DIGEST – 3.15.18

SURVIVOR: GHOST ISLAND holds steady for another week on CBS; History Channel unveils 100 documentaries on 100 years of history and sets date for EVEL LIVE

BROADCAST RATINGS:

Network Average:

WEDNESDAY, 3.14.18	FOX	CBS	NBC	ABC	CW
Adults 18-49 rating/share	1.2/5	1.1/4	1.1/4	0.9/3	0.3/1
Total Viewers (millions)	4.74	6.18	6.0	3.72	0.9

 

Broadcast Primetime Live + Same Day – Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Time	Show	Adults 18-49 rating/share	Viewers (millions)
8 p.m.	Survivor (CBS)	1.7/7	8.23
	The Blacklist (NBC)	0.9/4	5.45
	Speechless (ABC)	0.9/4	4.07
	The X-Files (FOX)	0.8/3	3.0
	Riverdale (The CW)	0.4/2	1.18
8:30 p.m.	Speechless (ABC)	0.9/4	3.7
9 p.m.	9-1-1 (FOX)	1.6/7	6.48
	Law & Order: SVU (NBC)	1.3/5	6.01
	Modern Family (ABC) – R	1.0/4	3.52
	NCIS (CBS) – R	0.6/2	4.65
	Life Sentence (The CW)	0.2/1	0.62
9:30 p.m.	American Housewife (ABC)	1.0/4	3.62
10 p.m.	Chicago PD (NBC)	1.2/5	6.55
	Criminal Minds (CBS)	0.9/4	5.65
	Designated Survivor (ABC)	0.7/3	3.7

Ratings Report:

• Following up on LIFE SENTENCE on the CW, which premiered last week to a soft 0.3 in preliminary ratings and less than a million viewers. In its second week, the freshman dramedy dropped another tenth, hovering around 0.2 and just over 600K viewers, about in line with DYNASTY at the same time slot. I’ll be keeping an eye on this spot in CW’s schedule, as it seems to be a problem area for them the past few seasons – the time slot was hovering around a 1.0-1.1 since 2012 (with a dip in 2013 with THE TOMORROW PEOPLE, which earned a 0.5 average), but sank in 2016 with the poor performance of FREQUENCY and has yet to recover (and still faces stiff competition during the hour from the other broadcasters). Earlier in the evening RIVERDALE earned its usual 0.4.
• Fox led the night overall, with breakout Ryan Murphy hit 911 buoying the broadcaster for the night and even with last week, earning a 1.6. X-FILES continues to fade into the sunset, dropping another tenth and down to 0.8 for the night, while total audience continues to shrink (3 million this week vs. 3.45 million last week).
• CBS’ SURVIVOR: GHOST ISLAND nabbed the top rating among adults 18-49 for the night, scoring a 1.6 and holding steady with last week. A new episode of CRIMINAL MINDS (0.9) also matched last week’s numbers.
• ABC continues to slip, with all of its comedies falling in ratings week-to-week. Back to back episodes of SPEECHLESS earned a pair of 0.9s, with the 8pm episode half a point down from when THE GOLDBERGS aired in the same timeslot, and dipped .3 from last week’s episode at 8:30pm. AMERICAN HOUSEWIFE (1.0) was off a tenth, while DESIGNATED SURVIVOR ticked up slightly to 0.7.
• NBC’s night was a mixed bag: both THE BLACKLIST (0.9) and CHICAGO PD (1.2) were down a tenth, while LAW & ORDER: SVU (1.3) came up a tenth from last week.

 

CABLE RATINGS:

Top 25 Original Programs on Cable – Tuesday, March 13, 2018

Show	Net	Time	Total viewers (000s)	18-49 rating
WWE SMACKDOWN	USA	8:00 PM	2,771	0.9
TRU NCAA BSK	TRUTV	9:07 PM	1,705	0.6
REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEV HILLS	BRAVO	9:00 PM	1,613	0.6
FIXER UPPER	HOME	9:00 PM	2,822	0.6
CHALLENGE: VENDETTAS	MTV	9:00 PM	833	0.5
HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS	OWN	9:00 PM	2,083	0.5
TRU NCAA BSK	TRUTV	8:51 PM	1,223	0.5
ANDERSON COOPER 360	CNN	10:00 PM	1,821	0.4
CURSE OF CIVIL WAR GOLD	HISTORY	10:03 PM	1,560	0.4
RACHEL MADDOW SHOW	MSNBC	9:00 PM	3,413	0.4
FORGED IN FIRE	HISTORY	9:00 PM	1,243	0.4
UNSOLVED	USA	10:00 PM	1,012	0.4
LAST WORD W/L. ODONNELL	MSNBC	10:00 PM	2,962	0.4
DETOUR, THE	TBS	10:30 PM	1,066	0.4
INK MASTER	PARAMOUNT	10:00 PM	839	0.4
MARRIED AT FIRST SIGHT	LIFETIME	9:00 PM	926	0.4
TRU NCAA BSK	TRUTV	6:30 PM	1,022	0.4
CHOPPED	FOOD	10:00 PM	1,062	0.4
ANDERSON COOPER 360	CNN	9:00 PM	1,573	0.4
AMERICAS NEXT TOP MODEL	VH1	8:00 PM	738	0.4
MOONSHINERS	DISCOVERY	9:00 PM	1,158	0.3
ANDERSON COOPER 360	CNN	11:00 PM	1,409	0.3
HOUSE HUNTERS	HOME	10:00 PM	1,566	0.3
INGRAHAM ANGLE, THE	FOX NEWS	10:00 PM	2,712	0.3
ANDERSON COOPER 360	CNN	8:00 PM	1,424	0.3

Of Note:

• WWE SMACKDOWN once again kept the top slot in cable ratings on Tuesday; the live broadcast scored a 0.9 in adults 18-49 with 2.77 million viewers, a tenth above last week’s show. Coverage of NCAA March Madness tournament action boosted TruTV into the number 2 spot, earning a 0.6, while THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS nabbed the number 3 spot, ticking up a tenth from 0.5 to 0.6.
• MTV’s THE CHALLENGE: VENDETTAS continues to perform solidly week to week, once again holding on to its 0.5 rating for the week, while the second episode of History Channel’s THE CURSE OF CIVIL WAR GOLD predictably dropped a tenth to 0.4.
• In scripted cable, USA’s UNSOLVED: THE MURDERS OF TUPAC AND THE NOTORIOUS BIG held steady with another 0.4.
• With a special election being held in Pennsylvania’s 18^th District, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC all made appearances on the top 25 Tuesday night, with Anderson Cooper on CNN (at 10pm) and Rachel Maddow on MSNBC neck and neck for the top rating of the night, while Maddow scored the largest overall audience for the night, with 3.4 million watching. Following closely behind was LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, also earning a 0.4 and retaining most of the lead-in audience from Maddow, with a total viewership of just under 3 million for his 10pm broadcast. Only Laura Ingraham managed to get into the top 25 for Fox News, although audience sizes for the channel’s three popular blowhards (Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, and Hannity) all had audiences double or more of those watching CNN (Fox News hovered around the 2.5-3 million mark for viewership, while CNN stayed closer to 1.4-1.8 million).

 

OTHER NEWS:

• History Channel unveiled two major projects today:
  • HISTORY 100 | lengths and creative teams vary
    • 100 documentaries cover the last 100 years of history, mostly from a US perspective
    • Most notable topics include Watergate, the history of the video game industry, the battle of Coke vs. Pepsi, and the Mercury 13 groups of prospective female astronauts that sparked an early public debate on gender equality.
  • EVEL LIVE | 3-hour LIVE event (8 July) | Nitro Circus Media Productions
    • Motorsports icon Travis Pastrana honors Evel Knievel by attempting three of the legendary daredevil’s most dangerous feats. During the live event in Las Vegas, Pastrana will try to break Knievel’s record of jumping more than 50 cars on a motorcycle, jumping over 14 full size busses, and will attempt to become the first person to successfully jump the length of Caesar Palace’s fountain.
    • Mixed into the live event will be packages of interviews with Pastrana, his family, and members of the Knievel family, along with archive footage of Evel’s most famous stunts.
  • MTV International has greenlight a 10×30 US version of its reality format EX ON THE BEACH. Hosted by rapper Romeo, the show features 10 reality stars from across a wide swath of reality programming who will appear alongside everyday people who think they’re there for a run of the mill dating show, only to be confronted by (sometimes multiple) exes from their past. Described as “the ultimate relationshit show” (no kidding), this is the first time MTV International has developed a format for the flagship US station. Check out the international promo HERE.