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Syndication Ratings: Viewers come back during sweeps

Dec 17, 2001  •  Post A Comment

The majority of syndication’s strips continued to gain ratings momentum toward the end of the November sweeps as settling viewing patterns brought glory to the off-network and newsmagazine genres.
The close of the November book saw no lead changes at the top of the individual genres, with several programming staples gaining both year to year and month to month. “Wheel of Fortune,” “Friends,” “Entertainment Tonight,” “Judge Judy,” “Blind Date” and “Oprah” once again finished atop their categories.
Top strips gaining year to year in households included “Friends,” up 12 percent from the previous November sweeps with a 6.6, “Entertainment Tonight,” rising 7 percent to a 6.5, “Seinfeld,” up 20 percent to a 6.5, and “Live With Regis and Kelly,” up 3 percent to a 3.5, according to Nielsen Media Research.
Rookie hit “Everybody Loves Raymond” was the highest-rated freshman among weekly and daily series, finishing its first sweeps at a 5.5. That figure was up 22 percent over its October scores. That was symbolic of much of the off-network business, with “King of the Hill” and “Just Shoot Me” tying for fifth place among off-network product at 2.7 for the month, both up 8 percent from October.
Newsmagazines also enjoyed ratings boosts, with three of the four up from the previous November book. After “Entertainment Tonight,” King World Productions’ “Inside Edition” grabbed the silver, up 3 percent to a 3.3. NBC’s “Access Hollywood” scored the biggest jump of the group year to year with a 21 percent climb to a 2.9 average.
Rounding out the game shows behind King World’s duo of “Wheel of Fortune” and “Jeopardy!” was “Hollywood Squares” at a 3.0, down 19 percent vs. last year’s score but growing the most against its October average with a 20 percent rise. “Family Feud” grabbed second place in month-to-month comparisons with 15 percent growth to a 2.0 average.