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TV Ratings: March Madness a slam dunk for CBS Friday
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Fast National ratings for Friday, March 12, 2010The night games of the second day of March Madness led CBS to a ratings win Friday night, with NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" and "Dateline" nabbing respectable numbers for second. ABC's "Thin Ice" special narrowly beat out a rerun of "House" on FOX.
CBS drew 9.6 million viewers and a 5.9 rating/11 share for the night, handily beating NBC's 6.8 million viewers and 4.5/8. ABC (5.1 million, 3.4/6) came in third. FOX (4.1 million, 2.6/5) took fourth, while The CW's reruns averaged 1.2 million viewers and a 0.8/2.
The adults 18-49 race was an even bigger win for CBS. The eye led the demo with a 3.4, more than doubling the NBC-FOX tie at 1.5. ABC has a 1.0 and The CW got 0.5.
Friday hour by hour:
8 p.m.
CBS: NCAA March Madness (8.8 million viewers, 5.4/10 households)
NBC: "Who Do You Think You Are?" (7.1 million, 4.7/9)
ABC: "Thin Ice" (4.1 million, 2.7/5)
FOX: "House" rerun (3.7 million, 2.0/4)
The CW: "America's Next Top Model" rerun (1.3 million, 0.9/2)
18-49 leader: March Madness (3.0)
9 p.m.
CBS: NCAA March Madness (11.1 million, 6.812)
NBC: "Dateline" (6.3 million, 4.2/7)
ABC: "20/20" (4.9 million, 3.3/6)
FOX: "Kitchen Nightmares" (4.4 million, 2.7/5)
The CW: "America's Next Top Model" rerun (1.4 million, 1.0/2)/"High Society" rerun (633,000, 0.5/1)
18-49 leader: March Madness (3.8)
10 p.m.
CBS: NCAA March Madness (9 million, 5.5/10)
NBC: "Dateline" (7 million, 4.7/8)
ABC: "20/20" (6.3 million, 4.3/8)
18-49 leader: March Madness (3.3)
Ratings information includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are preliminary and subject to change. Source: The Nielsen Company.
More ratings at Zap2it: Daily, weekly and cable
Photo credit: Getty
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NBC's Who do you think you are is very good. It's very entertaining to watch. No wonder it does so well.
Please stop switching games. While watching Syracuse game, CBS switched to two other games. Stay with one game.
Richard S, I agree. They should show the game that was scheduled. If it's a total blow-out and ONLY at the very end, I wouldn't mind if they switched to another more exciting finish. But otherwise they should stick with the one. At least those fans will be happy, otherwise they make NO ONE happy. Par for the course for CBS, they alway do the worst job showing sports. They never know what the hell they are doing.
Basketball, ugh...bring in the World Cup! The only tournament that matters. Is it June yet???
"Basketball, ugh...bring in the World Cup! The only tournament that matters."
matters to who? in light of the handful of ppl that watch in the US, hardly anyone cares....
Wow. Of 13 hours of TV only 1 hour (House) was traditional scripted programing. And even that was a rerun.
@ruler969: I'm not sure what you mean by NBC doing very well. Were you being sarcastic? :)
@Ben: Good observation.
And the networks will wonder why they're sinking into irrelevance and thus blame the internet (or whatever societal trend they have no control over).
The truth is that the networks aren't producing enough new scripted shows to keep the ratings up.
Thy are wedded to a bankrupt system of over-expensive pilots produced by a small cadre of over-expensive producers, most of whom (like Josh Schwartz and Rob Thomas seldom, if ever, deliver). They then don't have money to produce enough new shows and the spiral of ratings death goes on and on. :(
hockey all the way