or


[05/12/11 - 08:43 AM]
Wednesday's Broadcast Ratings: "Better With You" Ticks Up in Season Finale
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for wednesday, may 11, 2011)

Here are the highlights of the 16 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night:

FOX (18.69 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 5.8, #1) was the network to beat on Wednesday with new episodes of "American Idol" (22.37 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 6.9, #1) and the departing "Breaking In" (7.65 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.4, #T5).

CBS (10.87 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.8, #2) then claimed the distant silver with fresh installments of "Survivor: Redemption Island" (10.44 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.0, #4), "Criminal Minds" (13.08 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.3, #3) and "Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior" (9.08 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.1, #T8).

Next up was ABC (6.18 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.3, #3) and its mix of "The Middle" (7.16 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 2.1, #T8), the season finale of "Better With You" (5.96 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.9, #10), "Modern Family" (10.11 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 4.2, #2), "Cougar Town" (6.14 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 2.4, #T5), "Happy Endings" (4.25 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.7, #11) and another "Happy Endings" (3.47 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.4, #12).

Meanwhile, NBC (4.85 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.4, #4) offered up a new "Minute to Win It" (3.05 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.9, #15), a repeat of "Minute to Win It" (3.54 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.1, #13) and a new "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (7.96 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.4, #T5).

And finally, an encore of last week's "America's Next Top Model" (1.23 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.5, #16) led into a new "America's Next Top Model" (1.97 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.0, #14) on The CW (1.60 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.7, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): Better With You (18.80%), America's Next Top Model (11.10%), Modern Family (10.50%), Cougar Town (9.10%), American Idol (7.80%), The Middle (5.00%), Criminal Minds (3.10%), Survivor: Redemption Island (0.00%), Happy Endings (10:00) (0.00%), Happy Endings (10:30) (0.00%), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (-4.00%), Breaking In (-4.00%), Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior (-4.50%), Minute to Win It (-10.00%).

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 3.1/8; CBS's "Late Show with David Letterman," 3.0/8; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 2.8/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.3/4.

In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno," 1.1/5; "Late Show," 0.8/4; "Nightline," 0.9/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.6/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.5/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.4/5). In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, "Late Night" (0.7/4 in 18-49) topped "Late Late Show" (0.4/3).

At 1:35 a.m., Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.9/4 in metered-market households and a 0.4/3 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.


Here are the highlights of the 16 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (5/12/10):

FOX (12.12 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.9, #1) claimed top honors on Wednesday with a new "American Idol" (19.10 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 6.4, #1). Kicking off the night was a repeat of "Lie to Me" (5.14 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.5, #14).

The silver then went to CBS (10.39 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.6, #2) with the season finale of "The New Adventures of Old Christine" (7.19 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 1.9, #10) followed by a repeat of "The Big Bang Theory" (6.65 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 2.0, #9) and fresh installments of "Criminal Minds" (12.88 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.4, #3) and "CSI: NY" (11.36 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.6, #T5).

Next up was ABC (5.97 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.2, #3) with a repeat of "The Middle" (5.69 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 1.6, #13) and new episodes of "The Middle" (7.51 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.4, #7), "Modern Family" (10.10 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 4.2, #2), "Cougar Town" (6.13 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 2.6, #T5) and "Happy Town" (3.21 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 1.2, #15).

Meanwhile, NBC (6.44 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.0, #4) offered up a special "Minute to Win It" (6.72 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 2.2, #8), the season finale of "Mercy" (4.11 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.1, #16) and a new "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (8.51 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.8, #4).

And finally, a new "America's Next Top Model" (3.93 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.8, #11) lead into the season finale of "America's Next Top Model" (3.57 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.7, #12) on The CW (3.75 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.7, #5).

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [may 2011]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[06/05/26 - 02:00 PM]
ABC's Most-Watched NBA Finals Game 1 Since 2018 with Average Audience of Nearly 17M Viewers (16.93M)
Game 1 peaked with nearly 20M viewers (19.63M) at 11 p.m. ET.

[06/05/26 - 01:23 PM]
ABC News Is No. 1 in Total Viewers on Sunday Morning, Friday Evening and in Late-Night
"20/20" stood as Friday's No. 1 program on broadcast and the No. 2 program on all of broadcast and cable in all key target demos on May 29.

[06/04/26 - 03:03 PM]
"The Mystery of Richard Simmons - A Diane Sawyer Special" Soars Over 10 Million Total Multiplatform Viewers Across ABC, Disney+ and Hulu
On its encore telecast on Monday, "The Mystery of Richard Simmons - A Diane Sawyer Special" averaged 2.704 million Total Viewers and ranked as the night's No. 1 program on broadcast.

[06/03/26 - 11:01 AM]
"Saturday Night Live" Season 51 Was #1 Among All Broadcast Comedy Series in the 18-49 Demo and #2 Among All Entertainment Series
The most-watched telecast of the season across all platforms was 10.1 million viewers on December 20 with host Ariana Grande and musical guest Cher.

[06/03/26 - 07:00 AM]
Fans Power UFL on ESPN to Significant Viewership Growth Across 10-Week Regular Season
ABC alone accounted for eight of the top 10 most-watched games.

[06/03/26 - 06:00 AM]
TNT Sports Caps Its Most Watched NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs with Its Most Watched Conference Final Ever
The record-setting series helped propel TNT Sports' overall coverage of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs to an average of 1.4 million viewers across TNT, TBS, truTV and HBO Max, up 50% from 2025 through the Conference Final.

[06/02/26 - 04:06 PM]
NBC and Peacock Deliver Most-Watched Conference Finals Game Since 2016 with 15.9 Million Viewers for Spurs-Thunder Game 7 on Saturday Night
Across 28 playoff games, NBC Sports' presentation of the 2026 NBA Playoffs averaged 7.2 million viewers on NBC and Peacock, up 72% versus comparable coverage last season.

[06/02/26 - 02:36 PM]
ESPN's WCWS Viewership Success Continues
Texas Tech-UCLA averaged 2.0 million viewers, with a peak of 2.6 million.

[06/02/26 - 02:13 PM]
FOX IndyCar Continues Ratings Growth with Strong Detroit Performance
Through eight races, IndyCar on FOX is averaging 2,241,000 viewers, up +12% from 2025 (2,007,000).

[06/02/26 - 02:00 PM]
FOX MLB's "Baseball Night in America" Delivers Most-Watched Baseball Telecast of the Week
2,322,000 viewers tuned-in to FOX for a two-game slate highlighted by the Cubs' 6-1 victory over the Cardinals in most of the country.

[06/02/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of May 25 - "The Boroughs" Makes Itself at Home at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Plus: "Nemesis" stole away with the No. 2 spot on the list, commanding 5.9 million views.

[06/01/26 - 11:04 AM]
ESPN Scored Most-Watched NCAA Women's College World Series Opening Thursday on Record
Arkansas-Nebraska averaged 1.4 million viewers, with a peak of 1.6 million.

[06/01/26 - 08:27 AM]
ESPN Scores Most-Viewed Stanley Cup Playoffs Western Conference Final Since 2015, The Latest Viewership Successes Headed Into the Stanley Cup Final
Across four games on ESPN, the series averaged 2.2 million viewers and was up 44% vs. the Western Conference Final last year (Edmonton vs. Dallas) which went five games on ESPN.

[05/29/26 - 03:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Newsmagazine, Leading "Dateline" in Total Viewers for the 5th Consecutive Broadcast Season
"20/20" improved on the previous season in Total Viewers (+5%/+170,000 - 3.672 million vs. 3.502 million).

[05/29/26 - 03:01 PM]
ABC News Is #1 in Total Viewers Sunday Morning and in Late-Night
"Nightline" posted double-digit gains week to week in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.