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The WB ratings one season after killing ANGEL!
Did the ratings improve or was replacing "Angel" with new shows a bad choice? |
CBS, FOX Claim '04-'05 Titles; ABC Back from Dead
By Rick Porter
LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) Unlike most sports, television isn't a zero-sum game. Which is why, at the end of the 2004-05 season, we can have several winners -- including those who don't finish first -- and more than one loser as well.
By the broadest measure -- total viewers -- CBS is the unquestioned champion. The Eye network led in the category for the second straight year and fourth of the last five, drawing 12.92 million viewers per night. Its lead of 2.87 million viewers over second-place ABC (10.05 million) is the largest margin of victory in 16 years.
CBS also had its most competitive season in the adults 18-49 demographic, which advertisers target most heavily, in a very long time. Its 4.0 rating was second to FOX (4.1) in the demographic by the slimmest of margins, and CBS also notes that among regularly scheduled programs -- on which most ad sales are based -- it actually beat FOX, 4.1 to 3.9.
Of course, the full season does include specials and sports, and the latter helped put FOX over the top in adults 18-49 for the season. The Super Bowl, a highly rated baseball playoff season and strong performances from "American Idol," "House" and "24" gave FOX the first season-long demographic win in its history.
Even though it didn't finish first in any ratings category, ABC may have had the best season of any network. In the wake of its dismal 2003-04 season, the network didn't really have anywhere to go but up, but its gains were significant across the board.
 ABC was the only network to improve in viewers (10.05 million, up 12 percent), adults 18-49 (3.7 rating, up 16 percent), adults 18-34 (3.0, up 15 percent) and adults 25-54 (4.3, up 13 percent). Led by its breakout Sunday lineup of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," "Desperate Housewives" and "Boston Legal"/"Grey's Anatomy," the network shot up to second in viewers from a fairly deep fourth place and a competitive third in adults 18-49.
Headed the other direction is NBC, which saw its stranglehold on the 18-49 demographic collapse in a heap this season and dropped to fourth place in both its target demo (3.5) and total viewers (9.78 million). The Peacock suffered declines on several nights, but none were more significant than its former Thursday stronghold, where "Joey" lost a substantial portion of the "Friends" audience; "Will & Grace," "The Apprentice" and "ER" were also down.
Among the smaller networks, UPN gained on The WB by not losing any of its audience from last year. Whereas the Frog's audience shrunk by about 9 percent compared to 2003-04, UPN was pretty much the same (down 1 percent) -- which allowed it to sneak past its rival for fifth place, 3.36 million to 3.35 million.
The WB did stay in front of UPN among adults 18-34, the target audience for both networks. The WB's 1.5 rating, however, was off from the 1.7 it did last season, while UPN's 1.4 was flat.
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Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its characters, and the Buffy logo are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB Television Network, and Twentieth Century Fox. Angel-The Series, its characters, and the Buffy logo are the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, the WB Television Network, and Twentieth Century Fox.Other Series, their characters and logos are property of the proper right owners.
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