International Television: February Nielsen Sweeps

ABC Holds Lead After Two Nights of the 2008 February Sweep:

After two nights of the February Sweep, ABC continues to lead in the young adult demo, households and viewership averages, largely due to their strong opening Thursday night numbers.

After two nights of FOX numbers and one night of MyNetworkTV data, they are the only two networks showing year-over-year improvement. Of the remaining four networks, The CW is showing the least slippage while the encore-sked of CBS is showing the most significant year-over-year fall-off.

Rank - Net - 2008 Demo (18 to 49)/Last year's Demo - Change in %

1 - ABC = 3.33/4.23 = -21%
2 - FOX = 2.60/2.01 = +29%
3 - NBC = 2.41/3.51 = -31%
4 - CBS = 1.95/3.93 = -50%
5 - CW = 1.43/1.65 = -14%
6 - MNT* = 0.50/0.30 = +67%


Rank - Net = 2008 Households/Last year's HH = Change in %
1 - ABC = 5.8/7.7 = -24%
2 - CBS = 5.6/8.4 = -34%
3 - FOX = 5.3/3.1 = +72%
4 - NBC = 4.4/6.0 = -26%
5 - CW = 2.5/2.8 = -13%
6 - MNT* = 0.8/0.5 = +60%

Rank - Net = 2008 ave. viewers/Last year's ave. viewers = Change in %

1 - ABC = 9.188/11.485 = -20%
2 - FOX = 8.513/4.800 = +77%
3 - CBS = 8.445/13.185 = -36%
4 - NBC = 6.817/9.613 = -29%
5 - CW = 4.010/4.600 = -13%
6 - MNT* = 1.310/0.680 = +93%

*MyNetworkTV has been present for only a one day in the February Nielsen Sweeps the rest were present for two days.

A big factor of the ratings change can be the WGA Strike.