ION Television July 2010 -- Without a Trace Joins Line-Up

[JulieSomoski]

I guess you just can't please everyone, which is what Pavan said. Personally, though, if he's going to continue to sticky the ION monthly updates, he should start making monthly stickies for Hallmark as well.

[Pavan]

All of the updates are on this board and the blog. Who cares what is stickied or not. Not everything can be on a silver platter for you. Just a month or two ago everyone was ripping Hallmark, and now all of a suddent they want the threads stickied? Bottom line is, Hallmark only makes changes last minute and almost always have their monthly schedules the same (minus maybe the fall).

[Du Mont]

ION had a strong Week 39, beating The CW for the third week in a row in both measures, and coming just 40,000 A18-49 viewers from tying The CW in the young adult measure. ION's 1,230,000 P2+ viewer average was their second highest viewer average of the season, just 10,000 viewers shy of their Week 15 (Dec.28-Jan.03) 1,240,000 P2+ average.

Week 39
ION: 0.8HH/2%, 0.3 A18-49 (450,000), 1,230,000 P2+
The CW: 0.6HH/1%, 0.4 A18-49 (490,000), 920,000 P2+

2009-10 Summer Season-to-Date
ION: 0.8HH/1%, 0.3 A18-49 (433,000), 1,217,000 P2+
The CW: 0.6HH/1%, 0.40 A18-49 (497,000), 940,000 P2+

These numbers are an all the more remarkable achievement given that The CW has more than double the number of affiliates than does ION.

Of huge concern to The CW have to be those dreadfully dismal numbers being posted by the Monday-Tuesday teen soaps, which are so small that they would probably be shelved by ION in their summer programming. So far this summer season:

'Life Unexpected': 0.5HH/1%, 0.30 A18-49, 653,000 P2+
'90210': 0.5HH/1%, 0.27 A18-49, 710,000 P2+
'One Tree Hill': 0.5HH/1%, 0.25 A18-49, 630,000 P2+
'Gossip Girl': 0.3HH/1%, 0.20 A18-49, 560,000 P2+

Not since the worst days of the MyNetworkTV telenovellas have Mondays and Tuesdays seen such sparse numbers, even in summertime. The CW should take a page from the ABC playbook and substitute cheap reality or theatrical films on Mondays instead of airing these non-viewed melodramas.

[VisualSensation]

Pavan, does Ion ever send out press releases about the Ion Life sub-channel? It's started showing movies during primetime and this seems like a good place to show their classic sitcom library (if they still have the rights to it).

[clj2]

Originally Posted by VisualSensation

Pavan, does Ion ever send out press releases about the Ion Life sub-channel? It's started showing movies during primetime and this seems like a good place to show their classic sitcom library (if they still have the rights to it).

I would love to know if they still have access to the libraries. I've asked several times but never gotten a response, so I guess nobody can say.

[Du Mont]

ION had another strong summer week in Week 40, once again beating The CW (for the fourth week in a row) in P2+ viewers and households.

Week 40
ION: 0.8HH/2%, 0.3 A18-49 (410,000), 1,150,000 P2+
The CW: 0.6HH/1%, 0.4 A18-49 (490,000), 900,000 P2+

2009-10 Summer Season-to-Date
ION: 0.8HH/1%, 0.3 A18-49 (428,000), 1,200,000 P2+
The CW: 0.6HH/1%, 0.40 A18-49 (495,000), 930,000 P2+

These ION summer season numbers are an all the more remarkable achievement given that The CW has more than double the number of affiliates than does ION. I'm sure that once the 'Without a Trace' stripping begins on ION in early July, ION will vault ahead of The CW in the A18-49 measure, and at this point, ION is poised to prevail over The CW in all measures for the July Sweep and the overall 2009-10 summer season which will be a first-time achievement for the network.

[Pavan]

READY TO TACKLE THE TOUGHEST MISSING PERSONS CASE?

ION TELEVISION LAUNCHES INTERACTIVE MICROSITE ON IONTELEVISION.COM TODAY, THURSDAY JULY 1ST AND GIVES VIEWERS AND FACEBOOK USERS THE CHANCE TO BE PART OF THE INVESTIGATION



Award-Winning Primetime Drama “Without a Trace”
Premieres on ION Television Monday, July 5 with Special Marathon ;

Moves to Regular M-F Timeslot on Tuesday, July 6 at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM , ET


West Palm Beach, FL - July 1, 2010 -- For seven years, viewers analyzed and did their best to crack the toughest missing persons cases on television as they watched the hit primetime drama “Without a Trace,” which aired on the CBS Television Network until 2009. Now, ION Television viewers will be treated to an opportunity to help crack cases on their own, as the network kicks-off the Monday, July 5 premiere of the award-winning crime drama series with the launch of a multi-tiered interactive web experience that will invite viewers to take part in their own investigation. The microsite (www.iontelevision.com/withoutatrace) goes live on iontelevision.com today, Thursday, July 1st.

Using Facebook, the site heightens the user’s personal experience as it draws them into a fictitious missing persons case. After the user logs in via Facebook Connect, the Investigator asks a series of personal questions that are linked to the case, while video of the questioning integrates Facebook content. The user is asked to help get other people involved by inviting Facebook friends. Users not linked to Facebook can still take part in the story and are also encouraged to share the experience with friends and family. The site launch will be supported by an advertising campaign on Facebook in an effort to engage both current ION Television fans as well as new users.

“Without a Trace” premieres on ION Television on Monday, July 5 as a special marathon running from 3:00 PM to 12:00 midnight , ET. Its regularly scheduled weekday (Monday through Friday) timeslot will begin on Tuesday, July 6 at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM , ET.

Set in New York City , “Without a Trace,” follows a special FBI task force known as the Missing Persons Squad, dedicated to finding missing persons by applying advanced psychological profiling techniques. They peel back layers of the victims’ lives and trace their whereabouts in an effort to discover whether they’ve been abducted, are missing by choice, were murdered, have committed suicide or are very simply accident victims. Using the vast resources of the bureau, the team, led by Agent Jack Malone (series star Anthony LaPaglia), races against time in the tight 72-hour window after a disappearance while hope of a recovery is still typically possible. The stories also focus on the personal lives of the team members, and illustrate how their different experiences give them insight--and sometimes traumatic reactions--to certain cases.

The series stars Anthony LaPaglia (“Frasier,” “Summer of Sam”), who was nominated for an Emmy® Award and won a Golden Globe for his work as Jack Malone, Poppy Montgomery (“Blonde,” 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover”), Marianne Jean-Baptiste (“Secrets & Lies”), Enrique Murciano (“Traffic,” “Black Hawk Down”), Roselyn Sanchez (“The Game Plan,” “Rush Hour 2”) and Eric Close (“Now and Again,” “Taken”).“Without a Trace” is from Jerry Bruckheimer Television in association with CBS Television Studios and Warner Bros. Television. The series was executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer (the “ CSI ,” series, the upcoming “Chase,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” films), Jonathan Littman (the “ CSI ” series, the upcoming “Chase” and “The Whole Truth”), Hank Steinberg (“61*,” “RFK”), Greg Walker (“Smallville,” “The X-Files”), Jan Nash (“Ellen,” “Caroline in the City”), Ed Redlich (“The Practice,” “Felcity”) and David Amann (“The X-Files,” “Chicago Hope”), and was created by Steinberg.

[Pavan]

ION TELEVISION CONTINUES RATINGS GROWTH TREND IN 2ND QUARTER 2010

PRIMETIME HH RATINGS UP 56%, AND TOTAL VIEWERS UP 60%, OVER LAST YEAR, REACHING AN AVERAGE OF OVER ONE MILLION TOTAL VIEWERS

Second Quarter 2010 Ratings Success Driven by Primetime Off-Network Hits

Criminal Minds, NCIS and Ghost Whisperer


West Palm Beach, FL - July 8, 2010 -- ION Television achieved continued ratings growth in second quarter 2010, up every single night of the week in primetime (Monday through Sunday, 8:00-11:00 PM), versus last year this time. Year over year, ION Television’s primetime household ratings were up 56%; up 58% among Household Impressions (809,000 vs. 512,000); and up 60% in total viewership, bringing in an average of 1,050,000 total viewers (vs. 657,000 in 2009). Second quarter 2010 also marked ION Television’s most watched primetime night ever (Monday through Sunday, 8:00-11:00 PM) among households, delivering 1,520,000.

In addition, ION Television’s ratings for key demos were up 57% among Adults 25-54 and up 76% among Adults 18-49. Household impressions were up 56% among Adults 25-54 (448,000 vs. 287,000); and up 76% among Adults 18-49 (391,000 vs. 222,000).

The primetime rating surge was driven by the continued success of ION Television’s hit off-network series.


· Criminal Minds’ household rating doubled the time period year over year, and more than doubled the time period in key demos for Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49. Total viewers household impressions doubled year over year, jumping from 522,000 to 1,062,000.

· The year over year household rating time period increase for NCIS was an impressive 150%. Ratings for Adults 25-54 were up 119%, while the rating for Adults 18-49 more than doubled; and total viewers were up 140%. The year over year household impressions for NCIS increased an impressive 151% year over year (1,096,000 vs. 437,000).

· Ghost Whisperer also grew its time period year over year. The series was up 33% in ratings among households; up 29% for Adults 25-54; and up 53% for Adults 18-49; plus total viewers were up by 35%. The series showed 34% growth among household impressions (598,000 vs. 447,000).


Source: NMR Galaxy Explorer, Live+SD, Strict Daypart Q2 2010 (03/29/2010-06/27/2010), Q2 2009 (03/30/2009-06/28/2009). Primetime based on Mon-Sun 8-11P.

[Du Mont]

ION fell off a bit in A18-49s during Week 40 to 0.2, which does not auger well for their newly debuting off-network series 'Without a Trace' (I haven't seen the hourly breakdowns for 'WaT' yet). The last time that ION averaged 0.2 A18-49 was in Week 28.
Week 43
ION: 0.7HH/2%, 0.2 A18-49 (330,000), 1,030,000 P2+

2009-10 Summer Season-to-Date
ION: 0.8HH/1%, 0.29 A18-49 (399,000), 1,146,000 P2+

If the 'Without a Trace' debut turns out to be as weak as I fear, it does not auger well for MyNetworkTV, which plans to turn Thursday nights over to 'Without a Trace' season one encores starting this fall. Maybe Warner Television will have to go back to its vast library and find another series to sub instead.