Brian Damage
06-02-2005, 10:17 AM
http://www.filmstew.com/Content/Article.asp?ContentID=11601
Last week marked the official end of the 2004-2004 television season, which proved to be one of the most contentious and volatile races in the history of the medium. For the first time in its 20-year history, FOX emerged as the top-rated network for viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, beating long-standing champ NBC by not one but three spots, leaving the Peacock stranded in last place.
CBS, meanwhile, claimed victory over their key demographic, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54. Leading the pack with shows like CSI, CBS maintained dominance of that audience, but lost younger viewers to FOX, which ran ratings bonanzas like the Super Bowl and Americal Idol to superlative numbers over their competition.
NBC has historically been a victor by reason of their Thursday-night lineup, which has dominated ratings information for more than two decades. Shows like The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Friends won the night easily since the 1980s and 1990s, but NBC was unable to find a successful successor to fill those monster shoes. Executives noted the fact that the margin between individual rankings, much less first and fourth, was the closest competition ever, but theirs was the only network to make a marked decline from past seasons.
For the season, NBC plunged 19 percent in the 18-to-49 competition, finishing at a 3.5 rating, down from a 4.3 last season. Fox's winning rating was a 4.1, while CBS finished with a 4 rating and ABC had a 3.7. Among total viewers, NBC was also dead last, down 11 percent, to an average nightly audience of 9.8 million. Last year NBC averaged more than 11 million viewers a night. Each rating point in the 18-to-49 category is worth 1.3 million viewers. Fox narrowly beat them out with a total of 9.9 million viewers for the season, while CBS and ABC trounced them both with just under 13 million and over 10 million respectively.
Peter Liguori, newly installed as president of entertainment for FOX, credited their recent success to the decision to keep Fox's powerhouse series, American Idol, with just one contest a season; the strategy of holding off the hit drama 24 until winter so it could run straight through without repeats; the shift of the soap opera cult hit The O.C. to Thursday night, where it established a beachhead for Fox on television's most competitive night; and the return of the animated series Family Guy, which, though once canceled, had become a hit on DVD and was successfully revived by Fox this spring.
Last week marked the official end of the 2004-2004 television season, which proved to be one of the most contentious and volatile races in the history of the medium. For the first time in its 20-year history, FOX emerged as the top-rated network for viewers between the ages of 18 and 49, beating long-standing champ NBC by not one but three spots, leaving the Peacock stranded in last place.
CBS, meanwhile, claimed victory over their key demographic, viewers between the ages of 25 and 54. Leading the pack with shows like CSI, CBS maintained dominance of that audience, but lost younger viewers to FOX, which ran ratings bonanzas like the Super Bowl and Americal Idol to superlative numbers over their competition.
NBC has historically been a victor by reason of their Thursday-night lineup, which has dominated ratings information for more than two decades. Shows like The Cosby Show, Seinfeld and Friends won the night easily since the 1980s and 1990s, but NBC was unable to find a successful successor to fill those monster shoes. Executives noted the fact that the margin between individual rankings, much less first and fourth, was the closest competition ever, but theirs was the only network to make a marked decline from past seasons.
For the season, NBC plunged 19 percent in the 18-to-49 competition, finishing at a 3.5 rating, down from a 4.3 last season. Fox's winning rating was a 4.1, while CBS finished with a 4 rating and ABC had a 3.7. Among total viewers, NBC was also dead last, down 11 percent, to an average nightly audience of 9.8 million. Last year NBC averaged more than 11 million viewers a night. Each rating point in the 18-to-49 category is worth 1.3 million viewers. Fox narrowly beat them out with a total of 9.9 million viewers for the season, while CBS and ABC trounced them both with just under 13 million and over 10 million respectively.
Peter Liguori, newly installed as president of entertainment for FOX, credited their recent success to the decision to keep Fox's powerhouse series, American Idol, with just one contest a season; the strategy of holding off the hit drama 24 until winter so it could run straight through without repeats; the shift of the soap opera cult hit The O.C. to Thursday night, where it established a beachhead for Fox on television's most competitive night; and the return of the animated series Family Guy, which, though once canceled, had become a hit on DVD and was successfully revived by Fox this spring.