nielsen ratings
(fast national numbers for wednesday, december 7, 2011)

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

CBS (11.62 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.1, #1) took home top honors on a competitive Wednesday with its mix of "Survivor: South Pacific" (11.54 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.3, #T3), "Criminal Minds" (12.26 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.4, #2) and "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" (11.07 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.5, #8).

ABC (8.35 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 3.0, #T2) and FOX (9.27 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.0, #T2) then split the silver as the latter offered up a new "The X Factor" (10.55 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 3.3, #T3) and week two of "I Hate My Teenage Daughter" (5.42 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 2.1, #10).

Next up was the Alphabet with its fall finales of "The Middle" (8.81 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T6), "Suburgatory" (8.04 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.8, #T6), "Modern Family" (12.13 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 5.0, #1), "Happy Endings" (6.53 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 2.9, #5) and "Revenge" (7.31 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 2.4, #9).

Meanwhile, NBC (6.12 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.6, #4) likewise served up the final 2011 editions of "Up All Night" (4.96 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.8, #12), a repeat of "Up All Night" (3.84 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.4, #13), "Harry's Law" (7.04 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.2, #14) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (6.93 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.9, #11).

And finally, an encore of "America's Next Top Model" (1.26 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.5, #16) led into the season finale of "America's Next Top Model" (2.35 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 1.0, #15) on The CW (1.81 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.8, #5). In the netlet's target demo (women 18-34), "Top Model" posted a 0.7 rating at 8:00/7:00c and a 1.4 rating at 9:00/8:00c.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+25.00% - America's Next Top Model
+20.00% - Up All Night (vs. 11/23/11)
+14.29% - Revenge (vs. 11/23/11)
+12.00% - The Middle (vs. 11/23/11)
+12.00% - Suburgatory (vs. 11/23/11)
+11.11% - Modern Family (vs. 11/23/11)
+7.41% - Happy Endings (vs. 11/23/11)
+6.45% - Survivor: South Pacific
-3.85% - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (vs. 11/16/11)
-8.11% - Criminal Minds (vs. 11/16/11)
-10.81% - The X Factor
-13.64% - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
-14.29% - Harry's Law
-25.00% - I Hate My Teenage Daughter

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+150.00% - America's Next Top Model (vs. Fashion Forward: Making It!)
+80.33% - The X Factor (vs. Human Target/Hell's Kitchen)
+50.00% - Revenge (vs. Cougar Town (Repeat)/Modern Family (Repeat))
+27.27% - Suburgatory (vs. Better With You)
+25.00% - CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (vs. The Defenders)
+21.95% - Modern Family
+12.00% - The Middle
+11.54% - Happy Endings (vs. Cougar Town)
+5.56% - Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (vs. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Repeat))
-2.86% - Criminal Minds
-8.33% - Survivor: South Pacific
-8.70% - I Hate My Teenage Daughter (vs. Hell's Kitchen)
-30.77% - Up All Night (vs. The Sing-Off)
-53.85% - Harry's Law (vs. The Sing-Off)

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," 2.7/7; and ABC's combo of "Nightline," 3.1/7; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.5/5.

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," 1.0/4; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.5/3.

At 12:35 a.m., "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" (1.6/5 in metered-market households) beat CBS's "Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson" (1.3/5). 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 1.0/4 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.5/4 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/8/10):

New episodes of "Survivor: Nicaragua" (12.17 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 3.6, #2), "Criminal Minds" (14.22 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.5, #3) and "The Defenders" (10.50 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 2.0, #9) lifted CBS (12.30 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.0, #1) to the top spot on Wednesday.

ABC (6.94 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.4, #T2) and NBC (7.13 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.4, #T2) split the silver then as the latter offered up night two of "The Sing-Off" (7.59 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 2.6, #T4) and a repeat of "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (6.22 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 1.8, #11).

The Alphabet then served up new episodes of "The Middle" (8.82 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 2.5, #6), "Better With You" (7.33 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 2.2, #8), "Modern Family" (10.97 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 4.1, #1) and "Cougar Town" (6.53 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 2.6, #T4) followed by repeats of "Modern Family" (4.62 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 1.9, #10) and "Cougar Town" (3.40 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 1.3, #13).

Next up was FOX (5.50 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.9, #4) with a new "Human Target" (5.69 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 1.6, #12) and the penultimate week of "Hell's Kitchen" (5.32 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 2.3, #7).

And finally, a rebroadcast of "Victoria's Secret Fashion Show" (2.44 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 1.0, #14) led into the new special "Fashion Forward: Making It!" (0.86 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.4, #15) on The CW (1.65 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.6, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49): The Middle (19.00% vs. 11/24/10), Better With You (15.80% vs. 11/24/10), Modern Family (10.80% vs. 11/24/10), The Defenders (5.30% vs. 11/17/10), Cougar Town (4.00% vs. 11/24/10), Human Target (0.00%), Survivor: Nicaragua (0.00%), Criminal Minds (-5.40% vs. 11/17/10), Hell's Kitchen (-11.50%).

In late-night metered market ratings, ABC's "Nightline" (3.1/7) took top honors over NBC's "Leno" (2.9/7) and CBS's "Letterman" (3.0/8). Rounding out the night then were "Kimmel" (1.5/5) on ABC "Ferguson" (1.4/5) on CBS and "Fallon" (1.4/5) and "Daly" (0.8/4) on NBC.

Source: Nielsen Media Research