‘Mercy’ opened the night and just hung in there leading into a repeat of ‘Law and Order SVU’ at 9pm. The 10pm kicked in with fresh ‘Law & Order SVU’ which over took a repeat of CSI: NYC. Seems the 10pm hour for NBC is doing better without 10pm Leno.
At 8 p.m., “Mercy” averaged a 1.4/5 in adults 18-49 and 5.6 million viewers overall. “Mercy” increased its women 18-49 rating by 6 percent from the show’s first half-hour to its second (to a 1.9 rating from a 1.8) and its women 25-54 rating by 8 percent (2.5 vs. 2.3).
At 9 p.m. ET, an encore telecast of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” averaged a 1.2/4 in adults 18-49 and 5.1 million viewers overall. From its first half-hour to its second, the “SVU” rebroadcast increased its 18-49 rating by 27 percent (to a 1.4 from a 1.1) and its overall viewership by 19 percent (5.5 million vs. 4.6 million
At 10 p.m. ET, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2.8/8 in adults 18-49, 9.5 million viewers overall) won the time period in adults 18-49, adults 25-54, total viewers and all other key ratings categories. Airing opposite ABC’s “Ugly Betty” and CBS’s encore “CSI: NY,” “Law & Order: SVU” topped the combined ABC-CBS rating in the time period in adults 18-49, adults 18-34 and other demos. SVU apprehended the show’s biggest 18-49 rating and overall audience since January 6. Last night’s “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” was up 33 percent versus NBC’s 2.1 average in this slot for the traditional 2008-09 season (“live plus same day”). In total viewers, “SVU” is up 35% or 2.5 million persons versus NBC’s 7.032 million average in the hour during the traditional ’08-09 season.
This marks the third consecutive week “SVU” has been #1 or tied for #1 in the 10 p.m. hour in adults 18-49.
In the 10:30 lead-in to local news, “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” captured a 67 percent margin of victory in the key news demo of adults 25-54 (3.5 vs. 2.1 for CBS’s second-place “CSI: NY” encore), widening a gap that stood at 45 percent in the prior half-hour (3.2 vs. 2.2). “SVU” was #1 among the major networks in the 10:30 half-hour in all key ratings categories, beating the combined ABC-CBS rating in adults 25-54 and most other key demos. From its first half-hour to its second, “SVU” increased its ratings in all key categories, with growth in adults 18-49 of 12 percent (to a 2.9 from a 2.6).
NOTE: All national and metered-market ratings are “live plus same day” from Nielsen Media Research unless otherwise indicated.
(source: information from NBC)
