April Dampens Basic Cable Ratings

April was a soggy affair for a quarter of the leading ad-supported cable players, as no fewer than 10 networks withstood double-digit ratings declines.According to Nielsen ratings data for the period spanning March 29-April 25, exactly 25 percent of the top 40 ad-supported cable networks weathered downturns of 10 percent or greater in prime time versus the year-ago period, while a mere six channels posted double-digit gains. On a percentile basis, the biggest drops were registered by: VH1, which saw its monthly deliveries drop 43 percent to 536,000 total viewers; CNN, down 38 percent to 569,000 viewers; Hallmark Channel, down 37 percent to 684,000 viewers; Spike TV, off 25 percent to 855,000 viewers; and Fox News Channel, down 19 percent to 1.92 million viewers.Headline News suffered a 17 percent drop in prime versus its April 2009 deliveries, averaging 512,000 viewers, while FX (1.12 million), Comedy Central (978,000), TV Land (755,000) and National Geographic Channel (395,000) all absorbed declines of 13 percent. All told, the first- and second-tier cable nets accounted for an aggregate decrease in nightly deliveries of less than 2 percent, as some significant momentum shifts in the other direction helped lift the overall average. Boosted by its original unscripted series Pawn Stars and the first installment of the six-night special America: The Story of Us, History posted the biggest gains in April. The network grew its prime time deliveries by 58 percent, averaging 1.81 million viewers, good for a fourth-place finish. ESPN bested its April 2009 deliveries by 13 percent, finishing seventh with 1.73 million nightly viewers.Cartoon Network beefed up its nightly audience by 20 percent, averaging 1.44 million total viewers, while TLC improved 11 percent to 948,000. Other gainers were: E!, up 15 percent to 587,000 viewers and Versus, which skated to a 22 percent gain thanks to a strong slate of early NHL Playoff games. The Comcast-owned sports net averaged 391,000 viewers. As expected, USA Network took two of the three major demos and total viewers, averaging 1.3 million adults 25-54 (down 10 percent versus the year-ago period), 1.19 million viewers 18-49 (down 14 percent year-over-year) and 3.02 million total viewers, a decline of 3 percent from the year-ago 3.13 million.TNT ascended a rung to second place, averaging 2.1 million viewers, a gain of 5 percent. The Turner net grabbed second place among the three demos, averaging 1.03 million viewers 18-49 (up 4 percent), 1.01 million adults 25-54 (up 1 percent) and 525,000 viewers 18-34 (up 9 percent).TNT’s momentum coincided with the start of the 2010 NBA Playoffs.Third place went to Fox News Channel. The network registered a 13 percent drop-off among adults 25-54, averaging 485,000 members of the core demo. Despite the declines, FNC remained comfortably ahead of its cable news rivals, as MSNBC averaged 239,000 adults 25-54 (down 13 percent), while CNN plunged 41 percent in prime to 148,000. Headline News actually surpassed its sibling net, averaging 166,000 25-54s, a drop of 28 percent from the year-ago period.History catapulted 10 places to close out the week in the four spot. The network posted its best performance among adults 25-54, growing 59 percent to a third-place 893,000 viewers. History also finished fourth among 18-49s (825,000, up 59 percent) and claimed seventh place among the 18-34 crowd (358,000, a leap of 66 percent).Pawn Stars accounted for three of the top 10 most-watched programs on ad-supported cable, and the first two hours of America: The Story of Us took the silver in the race for total viewers. History’s dramatization of the country’s labor pains drew 5.67 million viewers on April 25, trailing only ESPN’s opening night of NFL Draft coverage. (Bristol’s first-ever prime time telecast of the league’s annual lottery drew 7.29 million on April 22, of which a whopping 4.24 million were members of the 18-49 demo.)Nick-at-Nite retained fifth place on the month, drawing an average crowd of 1.79 million viewers between 8 p.m. and 11 p.m., marking an 8 percent increase. In total day, NAN precursor Nickelodeon beat all comers, averaging 2.14 million viewers.Rounding out the top 10 in prime were: TBS, which averaged 1.78 million viewers, a dip of 1 percent; ESPN, which grew 13 percent to 1.73 million viewers; Cartoon Network, up 20 percent to 1.44 million viewers; A&E, which improved 2 percent in prime to 1.39 million viewers and Discovery Channel, which averaged 1.37 million viewers, a gain of 2 percent year-over-year.Tops among the core TV demo were: USA, TNT, TBS, History, ESPN, Discovery Channel, A&E, Comedy Central, FX and MTV. Non-ad-supported Disney Channel took second place among all basic-cable networks, averaging 2.35 million viewers in prime, up 2 percent versus the prior-year period. The Mouse maintained a comfortable lead among the kids demos, averaging 976,000 K6-11 (up 2 percent) and 1.3 million K2-11 (up 6 percent). One area that continues to tighten is with ‘tweens 9-14. Disney slipped 5 percent in the demo, drawing 766,000 ‘tweens, while runner-up Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite closed to within 111,000 viewers.Disney drew its strongest deliveries of the month on the night of the 4th, as the premiere of the new series Good Luck Charlie averaged 5.1 million viewers in the Sunday 8:30 p.m. slot.

Convergent TV

April Dampens Basic Cable Ratings

Anthony Crupi

About

Subscriptions

Events

Publications

WORK SMARTER - LEARN, GROW AND BE INSPIRED.

Subscribe today!

Anthony Crupi