Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente has been digesting the data for the first week of the 2011-2012 television season. He’s impressed by both CBS and Fox. NBC still has some work to do.
Here’s DiClemente’s summary for the two winners (CBS in total audience and Fox in 18-49):
“CBS debuts a strong new schedule of hits in week 1 – With a combination of new and old hits, the Eye was fast out of the gate in the opening week of the new TV season. Leading the charge, a newly-revamped Two and a Half Men (10.7 rating/ 25 share) starring Ashton Kutcher trounced the competition for a 1st place finish in the 18-49 rankings, even finishing ahead of Sunday Night Football (8.3 rating/ 21 share), the usual occupant of the top spot in the rankings. The much-anticipated premiere of 2 Broke Girls did not disappoint, finishing in 3rd place with a 7.1 rating and 16 share. CBS also had another 3 shows in the top 10, including How I Met Your Mother (5.2 rating/ 13 share) in 6th, and two episodes of The Big Bang Theory in 7th and 8th place. Overall, the Eye earned a 6.7 rating and 10.9 share in total households, finishing well ahead of ABC (5.6 rating/ 9.2 share) in 2nd place.
Fox has the X-factor in 18-49 – Despite CBS’s dominance in total households, Fox was the winner in the hotly-contested 18-49 demo, getting a boost from the premiere of Simon Cowell’s new talent show, The X-Factor. While the program did not achieve Idol-like ratings, Wednesday night’s episode did manage a 4.4 rating and 12 share in 12th place. But X-Factor wasn’t even Fox’s highest-rated program in the week; the premiere of New Girl (4.8 rating/ 12 share) secured a 9th place finish, after getting a strong lead-in from Glee (4.0 rating/ 11 share) in the 8pm hour on Tuesday night. Animated shows Family Guy (4.1 rating/ 9 share) and The Simpsons (3.9 rating/ 10 share) still maintain a strong following among young adults, both finishing in the top 20 for the week.”
As for the Peacock Network:
“Original programming remains a soft spot at NBC – NBC got off to a solid start in the new season, posting a 2.5 rating and 6.8 share, just behind Fox’s 2.6 rating and 7 share. However, much of NBC’s success was attributable to Sunday Night Football, normally the top-rated program on television. The Office (3.9 rating/ 10 share) was the network’s only original program in the top 25 rankings for the week, as the premieres of The Playboy Club (1.6 rating/ 4 share) and Whitney (3.3 rating/ 8 share) struggled against tough competition from the other majors. To be fair, the TV season is only one week old, and there is plenty of time for these programs to gain momentum, but it will likely be an uphill battle from here.”
