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SATURDAY 3/17/12
Fast Affiliate Results

-Total Viewers:
CBS: 6.16 million, ABC; 4.11, NBC; 2.58, Fox: 1.36

-Adults 18-49:
CBS: 2.1 rating/7 share, ABC: 1.0/ 4, NBC: 0.5/ 2, Fox: 0.4/ 1

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-Honorable Mention:
NCAA Basketball (CBS)

-Losers (excluding repeats):
Que Viva! The Chosen (Fox)

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-Ratings Breakdown:
The ongoing NCAA Basketball Tournament (Third Round) led CBS to Saturday victory with an estimated 6.55 million viewers and a 2.2 rating/ 8 share among adults 18-49 for the primetime portion from 8-10:30 p.m. One year earlier, basketball on 3/19/11 averaged 4.77 million viewers and a 1.5/ 5 in the demo.

Results for any live sporting event, of course, are always approximate. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

2012 NCAA Basketball (CBS) – Second Round
8:00 p.m. – Viewers: 5.69 million (#1), A18-49: 1.9/ 8 (#1)
8:30 p.m. – Viewers: 6.19 million (#1), A18-49: 2.1/ 8 (#1)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 6.51 million (#1), A18-49: 2.2/ 7 (#1)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 8.41 million (#1), A18-49: 3.0/10 (#1)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 5.93 million (#1), A18-49: 2.0/ 6 (#1)

Also on CBS, the first half of a delayed 48 Hours Mystery followed with 4.25 million viewers (#2) and a 1.2/ 4 in the demo (#1) at 10:30 p.m.

Over at ABC, an encore telecast of Shark Tank, which is a shoo-in for renewal for 2012-13 at this point, finished second among adults 18-49 (0.9/ 3) and third in total viewers (3.13 million) at 8 p.m. The Shark Tank encore led into two more repeat episodes of 20/20, themed My Strange Affliction, at an average 4.61 million viewers (#2) and a 1.1/ 4 in the demo (#2) from 9-11 p.m. Here is the half-hour breakdown:

20/20: My Strange Affliction (ABC)
9:00 p.m. – Viewers: 4.57 million (#2), A18-49: 1.1/ 4 (#2)
9:30 p.m. – Viewers: 4.78 million (#2), A18-49: 1.2/ 4 (#2)
10:00 p.m. – Viewers: 4.62 million (#2), A18-49: 1.2/ 4 (#2)
10:30 p.m. – Viewers: 4.47 million (#1), A18-49: 1.1/ 4 (#2)

Elsewhere, NBC filled the evening with repeats of Harry’s Law (Viewers: 3.77 million; A18-49: #3t, 0.4/ 2 from 8-9 p.m.), Fashion Star (Viewers: #3, 1.87 million; A18-49: 0.4/ 1 from 9-10:30 p.m.) and the pilot episode of Betty White’s Off Their Rockers (#3, 2.23 million; A18-49: #3, 0.6/ 2 at 10:30 p.m.). And Fox was barely on the map care of week three of Que Viva! The Chosen just 1.36 million viewers (#4) and a 0.4/ 1 among adults 18-49 (#3t) from 8-10 p.m. Enough is enough with all these reality competitions.

As a reminder, Off Their Rockers With Betty White will inherit the Wednesday 8 p.m. half-hour on April 4, leading into Best Friends Forever at 8:30 p.m., the comedic tale of a woman (Jessica St. Clair) who moves in with her best friend (Lennon Parham) after her husband files for divorce. Off Their Rockers With Betty White and Best Friends Forever replace Whitney and Are You There, Chelsea?, which will have completed their first season runs.

Betty White’s Off Their Rockers was the surprise. A 0.6 for a show no one knew was repeating and three months past its debut? NBC has a lot of potential with this show. It’s well scheduled Wednesdays at 8 PM and can finally get that comedy block established. Fashion Star also did well considering it debuted to roughly 4.5 million people on Tuesday. Harry’s Law could literally show originals on Saturday and get close to their Sunday ratings. That’s either a positive or negative depending on how you view the series. It has an audience, but it’s never going to pull in the demos.

20/20: My Strange Affliction did very well. It’s time for ABC to push 20/20 and all of their other newsmagazines to Saturday. They could have a night of original programming that does a low 1 in the demo and they’d remain competitive on the night. It also opens up Friday more.

NBC basketball did well. Q’Viva: The Chosen! didn’t.

Seems like the only FOX can use to bring in any viewers on SATURDAY’s is Cops or AMW specials

Quote from wlcmzapatatexas on March 18, 2012, 17:52
Basically, by 2013, I expect networks to be absolutely dominated by these talent competitions.

And, that’s a good thing???!

It’s only one other reason why cable viewing keeps growing while the broadcast nets lose viewers.

Quote from ragincajun on March 18, 2012, 19:37

And, that’s a good thing???!

It’s only one other reason why cable viewing keeps growing while the broadcast nets lose viewers.

Depends on how you view reality shows. However, it’s the neccessary thing for networks. For the most part, the only programming that is bringing in live demos are sports programming, competitive talent shows, and award shows. Since networks can’t air football and The Oscars every week, they have to invest heavy in competitive talent shows.