In Depth

Nielsen Commercial Ratings Show Drop From Live Numbers

By Jon Lafayette

The Nielsen Co. today released its new commercial ratings for the first week of the season on the five broadcast networks. During the week, the commercial ratings numbers used for advertising sales were 1 percent lower than live program ratings, which was the standard used last year.

ABC and Fox actually showed higher numbers for average commercial minute ratings plus three days of digital video recorder playback, or C3, in both the key adults 18 to 49 demographic and the people 12 to 34 age bracket, according to calculations by Steve Sternberg, executive VP of audience analysis at ad buyer Magna Global.

The biggest drop was recorded by The CW, which went from a 1.06 live program rating to a 1.02 C3 rating among adults 18-49 and from a 1.27 live program rating to a 1.22 among people 12-34.

Comparing live plus three days of program viewing to C3 commercial ratings, Mr. Sternberg found that the program ratings were about 16 percent higher among adults 18-49 at the five broadcast networks, indicating the difference between the number of people watching the program and the number of people watching the commercials. Because C3 was used to make advertising deals this year, advertisers are not paying for the commercials being skipped, but are paying for commercials watched on a delayed basis by DVR users.

Broadcast Commercial Live+3 Ranking for Sept. 24-Sept. 30

Program Network

Persons 2+ Live+3 Commercial (000)

P2+ Live Program (000)

1) CSI

 CBS 23,826 23,764
2) Dancing With the Stars- Monday
 ABC 19,865 20,262

3) Grey's Anatomy

 ABC 19,181 19,050
4) Desperate Housewives ABC 17,492 17,889
5) Dancing With the Stars- Tuesday ABC 17,463 17,794
6) House Fox 17,062 16,737
7) Without a Trace
 CBS 16,230

16,302
8) Dancing With the Stars- Results
 ABC 15,966 16,128
9) Heroes
 NBC 14,893 15,003
10) NBC Sunday Night Football NBC 14,480 14,859
11) CSI: Miami
 CBS 14,406 14,539
12) Private Practice
 ABC 13,437 13,452
13) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
 ABC 13,143 13,857
14) NCIS CBS 12,945 13,284
15) Bionic Woman NBC 12,883 13,032
16) Cold Case CBS 12,860 13,186
17) Survivor: China CBS 12,841 12,820
18) Two and a Half Men
 CBS 12,718 12,641
19) Brothers and Sisters
 ABC 12,156 12,135
20) CSI: NY CBS 12,063 12,327
21) Cane CBS 11,861 10,994
22) 60 Minutes CBS 11,841 12,620
23) Criminal Minds CBS 11,711 11,976
24) Rules of Engagement CBS 11,449 11,869
25) Law and Order: SVU NBC 11,169 11,569
       

Source: Nielsen Media Research

Leave a comment