Ratings: Idol special wins night but suffers a big drop


Fox won the night on Wednesday with the 2½-hour special “Idol Gives Back,” but the show took a big hit from its inaugural a year ago, falling 34% in the 18-49 demo. CBS finished second with solid performances from its crime dramas “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY.”

According to preliminary affiliate-based estimates from Nielsen, “Idol Gives Back,” which began at 7:30 and ran slightly past 10 o’clock, was the most-watched show of the night, averaging a 6.7 rating/18 share in adults 18-49 and 17.5 million viewers overall. Yet those numbers were down significantly from April 25 last year, when “Idol Gives Back” earned 10.2/27 in 18-49 and 26.9 million viewers overall, a 35% drop.

It should ben noted, however, that there was a contestant eliminated in the final minutes of last year\'s "Idol Gives Back" and that wasn\'t the case Wednesday.

In the 8 o’clock hour, “Idol” scored a 6.4 rating/18 share in adults 18-49 and 17.1 million viewers overall. NBC’s top gameshow, “Deal or No Deal” (2.4/7, 9.6 million viewers overall) came in second while CBS’ “Big Brother” (2.1/6, 6.0 million viewers overall) was third. A repeat of ABC’s “Wife Swap” (1.6/5, 4.5 million viewers overall) was fourth.

“Idol” picked up strength in the 9 o’clock hour, with a 7.0/17, 18.0 million viewers overall. “Criminal Minds” (3.3/8, 13.1 million viewers overall) was on par with its post-strike debut from a week ago while ABC’s “Supernanny” (2.2/5, 5.7 million viewers overall) performed better than NBC’s repeat of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (1.5/4, 5.1 million viewers overall).

In the “Idol”-less 10 o’clock hour, CBS’ “CSI: NY” (3.1/8, 12.2) defeated the competition but fell off slightly from last week. ABC’ “Primetime” (2.7/7, 8.2 million viewers overall) was a significant improvement over last Wednesday’s episode of “Men in Trees” in the same timeslot. The second hour of “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” (1.8/5, 6.1 million viewers overall) hit higher numbers than the 9 o’clock episode, but still only managed third place.

Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 6.7/18; CBS, 2.8/7; ABC, 2.2/6; NBC, 1.9/5; Univision, 1.6/4; CW, 1.0/3.

In total viewers: Fox, 17.5 million; CBS, 10.4 million; NBC, 6.9 million; ABC, 6.1 million; Univision, 3.6 million; CW, 2.1 million.

Source: Variety.com