A Strong First Week For ‘Katie’

By Alex Weprin 

As expected, Katie Couric’s new daytime talk show “Katie” was the strongest freshman talker last week, premiere week for most syndicated talk shows. “Katie” averaged a 2.3 rating/7 share, putting it about on par with its “General Hospital” lead-in and with the same time period last year. While that is strong, Disney was likely looking for more of a ratings bounce with a host as well-known as Couric.

B&C’s syndication ace Paige Albiniak has the details on how “Katie” and the other freshman performed, including a surprisingly strong performance form “Steve Harvey.”

Advertisement

Among daytime’s key women 25-54 demographic, Katie averaged a 1.2/7 for the week, popping back up on Friday to a 1.1/7 after dropping to a 0.8/5 on Thursday. After one week on the air, that’s down 14% from last year’s 1.4/8 and down 20% from its 1.5/9 lead in.

In fact, Steve Harvey, which Endemol USA produces at NBC’s WMAQ Chicago, was the only rookie to improve over both September 2011 time periods and over its lead-in among women 25-54, averaging a 0.9/6 for the week in the demo. That’s up 80% over last year’s 0.5/3 and up 28% over its 0.7/4 lead-in.

Advertisement