Carat Programming’s latest ratings highlights

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Carat Programming’s Broadcast and Video Beat took a look at the 25th week of the primetime season based on analysis of Nielsen Media Research data. As Carat’s recent Post-Strike survey correctly predicted, audiences returned in droves last Monday night to see fresh new episodes of CBS’s comedy lineup, many of which had been thrown into forced repeats for nearly four months.


While Chuck Lorre comedies, Big Bang Theory (which traded timeslots with How I Met Your Mother), and Two and a Half Men slipped slightly in total viewers versus their final pre-strike episodes, How I Met your Mother experienced a 15% increase. There was even better news regarding delivery against Adults 18-49. With the exception of Big Bang Theory, CBS Monday night comedies all registered increases versus their final pre-strike episodes. In fact, How I Met your Mother actually enjoyed its best ratings delivery so far this season in the demo.
The New Adventures of Old Christine (9:30 p.m.) premiered February and took over for Rules of Engagement which had been on a strike-induced hiatus.

Based on comparable time period performance, the 3/17 original episode of Old Christine outperformed Rules of Engagement’s final pre-strike episode by slightly more than 2% in Adults 18-49.

Carat also decided to take a look at last week’s comedy ratings performance versus last year’s time period line-up on the comparable night, (Monday March 19).

In more even more good news for CBS, every single half-hour showed increases versus last year. Based on an episode to-episode comparison, How I Met your Mother is up by nearly 50% in Adults18-49 and Old Christine improved by an amazing 72%.

Separately, CSI: Miami was back with post-strike originals on 3/24 and Rules of Engagement returns with originals on 4/14.

The season-opener of ABC’s Dancing with the Stars was off by 3% in total viewers and by 16% in Adults 18-49 vs. the comparable spring premiere episode YAG.