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‘Idol’ Pushes Fox to Ratings Win — Even as Its Numbers Erode; ABC, Meanwhile, Sees Two Series Hit Lows

Feb 7, 2013  •  Post A Comment

Even with viewer numbers slipping for Fox’s “American Idol,” the singing competition continues to be the top-rated show on Wednesday nights, pushing Fox to another prime-time win, based on Nielsen overnights.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that the two-hour “Idol” was down 16% from a week ago in the key 18-49 demo, settling for a 4.6 average rating — still easily the best number of any broadcast show that night.

The closest any of the other networks came was “Modern Family’s” 3.8 average in viewers 18-49 — a season low for the ABC comedy, and 10% below its most recent original episode. ABC wound up a distant second for the night behind Fox, with “The Middle” managing a 2.3 (down 8%) and “Suburgatory” delivering a 2.1 (up 17%), while “The Neighbors” settled for a 1.8 (up 13%) and “Nashville” dipped 11% to a series-low 1.7, finishing third in the 10 p.m. hour.

CBS aired a rerun of “Person of Interest” against the first hour of “Idol,” then got serious with a fresh episode of “Criminal Minds” pulling a 2.7 in 18-49 — off 13% from the previous original — and “CSI” winning the 10 p.m. hour with a 2.4 for the first part of the “CSI”/”CSI: NY” crossover installment, down 8%.

For its part NBC gained ratings momentum as the evening went on, but still finished fourth among the broadcast nets. “Whitney” and “Guys With Kids” both had 1.2 averages in the 18-49 demo in the 8 p.m. hour, followed by “Law & Order: SVU” with a 1.5 — down 12% from a week ago despite high-profile guest star Mike Tyson — and “Chicago Fire’s” 1.8, down 14% but just enough to beat ABC’s “Nashville.”

Overall numbers for prime time show Fox at No. 1 with a 4.6 average rating in viewers 18-49, then ABC (2.2 average), CBS (2.1), NBC (1.5) and Univision (1.4). Fox also won total viewers, averaging 14.2 million to CBS’s 10.0 million, ABC’s 6.9 million, NBC’s 5.0 million and Univision’s 3.6 million.

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