USA Rides Five Homegrown Strips to Ratings Win

USA Network continues to reign as king of cable’s Muscle Beach, outgunning rival TNT in the weekly prime time ratings showdown.Per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings data, USA drew 3.05 million total viewers in prime during the week ended August 1, besting TNT by some 704,000 viewers. USA also repeated as the top draw among the two major TV demos, averaging 1.3 million adults 25-54 and 1.19 million viewers 18-49.The NBCU powerhouse enjoyed big returns from its suite of original series, as Burn Notice served up 5.38 million viewers Thursday night at 9 p.m., while lead-out Royal Pains retained 94 percent of that delivery (5.07 million). Burn Notice also drew 2.52 million adults 25-54 and 2.2 million viewers 18-49; with an average draw of 2.35 million 25-54s and 1.96 million 18-49s, Royal Pains wasn’t far behind its Thursday night partner. On Tuesday night, newcomer Covert Affairs scared up 4.83 million viewers, down 7 percent from the prior week’s 5.21 million, but more or less flat from its premiere delivery (4.88 million). Through three episodes, the Piper Perabo CIA drama is averaging 4.97 million total L+SD viewers.On Wednesday night, a new episode of the buddy comedy Psych drew 3.74 million viewers in its Wednesday 10 p.m. slot, and on Tuesday night, sophomore strip (and Covert lead-in) White Collar delivered 3.72 million viewers. After returning for its second-season run to 4.29 million viewers (July 13), White Collar fell 8 percent in week two, averaging 3.96 million viewers. The July 27 delivery marks a 6 percent drop from the prior week and a 13 percent decline from the season opener, still well within the standard deviation of –20 percent to –25 percent for a third installment.Along with all its original scripted series, USA’s Monday night wrestling showcase continued to shine last week, as WWE Raw averaged 5.19 million viewers between 9 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. TNT retained second place, thanks in large part to its robust Monday night lineup. In what’s becoming cable’s most popular summer night, TNT continued to draw a crowd with the one-two punch of The Closer and Rizzoli & Isles, as the Kyra Sedgwick drama drew 6.75 million viewers at 9 p.m., while the newcomer averaged 6.55 million viewers in the lead-out slot. Both shows were among the most-watched on basic cable last week, trailing only Nickelodeon’s hugely popular iCarly (7.74 million).The Closer dropped just 3 percent from its July 19 run, when it averaged 6.97 million viewers. Rizzoli & Isles fell 10 percent from its prior-week delivery (7.27 million). The Boston-based R&I also drew 2.34 million adults 25-54, down 14 percent from the prior week’s 2.71 million, while The Closer led off the night in front of 2.22 million adults 25-54, marking a 98 percent retention rate among the key demo. Sunday night’s installment of Leverage scared up 3.49 million viewers at 9 p.m. Freshman Jason Lee strip Memphis Beat drew 3.18 million viewers Tuesday at 10 p.m., improving on its Hawthorne lead-in by 21 percent.On the week, TNT averaged 2.35 million total viewers in prime, of which 970,000 were members of the 25-54 demo. The network finished fourth among viewers 18-49, averaging 804,000.Fox News Channel held onto third place, drawing 1.73 million viewers in prime, of which 436,000 were members of the core news demo (adults 25-54). The network notched its biggest program delivery off the week with Tuesday night’s O’Reilly Factor (2.75 million viewers).Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite averaged 1.61 million viewers, thanks in large part to the aforementioned iCarly. The new episode “iGot a Hot Room” gave fans a peek at Carly’s bedroom, which had hitherto been as shrouded in mystery as Alice’s bedroom on The Brady Bunch. Along with those 7.74 million total viewers, the half-hour episode also beat all comers in the kid and ‘tween demos.Nick also had cause to celebrate in total-day, winning the week with 2.68 million total viewers, of which 1.5 million were kids 2-11.Discovery Channel closed out the top five with an average draw of 1.59 million viewers, of which 901,000 were in the 18-49 demo. That delivery was good for a second-place finish. The network also took third among 25-54s (882,000) and finished fourth with viewers 18-34 (435,000). In the run-up to Shark Week, Discovery got a bump from Deadliest Catch, drawing 4.9 million viewers Tuesday night at 9 p.m. Catch also hooked huge demos for Discovery, luring a first-place 3.21 million adults 25-54, while taking second with the 18-49 set (3.02 million).Discovery’s first Shark Week entrée, Ultimate Air Jaws, drew 3.55 million viewers Sunday night at 9 p.m., followed by lead-out Into the Shark Bite (2.92 million). The airborne great whites scared up 2.07 million viewers 18-49, while Bite clamped down on 1.86 million members of the demo. On the week, the top 10 outlets serving the primary TV demo were: USA, which averaged 1.19 million viewers 18-49; Discovery Channel (901,000); TBS (847,000); TNT (804,000); MTV (710,000); FX (672,000); A&E and Comedy Central (655,000) History (654,000); Food Network (644,000) and ESPN (592,000).The returning program that made the biggest splash last week was the season premiere of MTV’s Jersey Shore, which sucked in 5.25 million viewers Thursday night at 10 p.m. Snooki, JWoww and The Situation helped MTV post the week’s most jacked-up demo deliveries, as the Miami-based Shore crew served up 3.43 million adults 18-49 and 2.73 million viewers 18-34. Oddly enough, the season premiere of GTL finished eighth among adults 25-54, averaging 2.25 million members of the graying demo.

Convergent TV

USA Rides Five Homegrown Strips to Ratings Win

Anthony Crupi

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Anthony Crupi