TV Ratings: 'American Idol' leads Wednesday as Betty White falls, 'Apartment 23' moves in

CBS is second with sluggish 'Survivor,' 'Criminal Minds,' 'CSI'

By Daniel Fienberg Thursday, Apr 12, 2012 12:10 PM

Jennifer Lopez of "American Idol"

Credit: FOX

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Fast National ratings for Wednesday, April 11, 2012.

FOX won Wednesday night easily with another bloated two hours of "American Idol," which was up slightly from last week in the key demo.

On the periphery, interesting highlights include drops for "Betty White's Off Their Rockers" and "Best Friends Forever" and a fairly solid (but not remarkable) premiere for ABC's "Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23."

Among adults 18-49, FOX averaged a 4.9 rating among adults 18-49. CBS was a distant second with a 2.6 rating, followed by ABC's 2.4 rating in the key demographic. NBC was far back with a 1.1 rating, while The CW averaged a 0.4 key demo rating.

Overall, FOX averaged an estimated 16.38 million viewers and a 9.8 rating/15 share for Wednesday primetime, beating CBS' 6.5/10 and 10.4 million viewers by a wide margin. ABC averaged a 4.4/7 and 6.92 million viewers for third, still way ahead of the 2.8/4 and 4.24 million viewers for NBC. The CW averaged 988,000 viewers and a 0.7/1.

[Univision averaged 3.75 million viewers and a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 for Wednesday primetime.]

8 p.m. - "American Idol" won the 8 p.m. hour for FOX with 15.62 million viewers and a 4.7 rating among adults 18-49. CBS' "Survivor: One World" averaged a low 9.63 million viewers and a 2.6 key demo rating. ABC's "The Middle" (7.04 million and a 2.1 key demo) and "Suburgatory" (6.11 million and a 2.1 key demo) were also on the low side. NBC was fourth with "Betty White's Off Their Rockers" (6.16 million and a 1.6 key demo) and "Best Friends Forever" (an anemic 2.635 million and 0.9 key demo). The CW's "America's Next Top Model" averaged 945,000 viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating.

9 p.m. - FOX stayed in first for the 9 p.m. hour with 17.14 million viewers and a 5.1 rating among adults 18-49 for "American Idol." CBS was second overall with the 11.77 million viewers for "Criminal Minds," which was second with a 3.0 key demo rating. ABC was third overall and second in the key demo with "Modern Family" (10.25 million viewers and a 4.1 key demo rating) and "Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23" (6.98 million viewers and a 2.9 key demo rating). [That was ABC's best retention out of a new "Modern Family" in that slot since last April. It's unclear if there was any impact from "Apartment 23" screening two episodes on Hulu already.] NBC's "Rock Center" averaged 2.75 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating, beating the 1.03 million viewers and 0.5 key demo rating for The CW's "America's Next Top Model."

10 p.m. - CBS' "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" closed primetime with a sluggish 9.8 million viewers and 2.3 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's "Revenge" clip show averaged 5.57 million viewers compared to the 5.415 million viewers for NBC's "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," as both shows tied with a 1.6 key demo rating.

All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.

Daniel Fienberg
Executive Editor

A long-time member of the TCA Board and a longer-time blogger of "American Idol," Dan Fienberg writes about TV, except for when he writes about movies or sometimes writes about the Red Sox. But never music. He would sound stupid talking about music.

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Topic	Started By	Latest Post	Replies
"Idol" premiere drops 27 percent... Any theories?	dan	about 1 year ago	3
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Discuss TV Ratings on HitFix Message Boards »

Haynie

Dan, what percentage of the ratings for the "Revenge" clip show do you think can be attributed to DVR's recording a "new episode" of the show as opposed to genuine viewership? I cancelled it when I saw it was going to be a recap, but see the rating makes me wonder how much inflation they get from that.
April 12, 2012 at 12:39PM EST Reply to Comment
- dan Haynie - Tiny bit. But almost impossible to figure because of Nielsen's peculiar and mostly disconnected relationship with DVR technology... I certainly had to remember to tell my DVR not to record it...
  
  -Daniel
  April 12, 2012 at 12:43PM EST
- If it wasn't for a South Park/The Soup conflict at 10pm, I'd have recorded it. I'd have also watched it and then been angry that it occupied DVR space and erased some movie I recorded 2-3 months ago and keep meaning to watch.
  
  DVR life is a complex web of procrastination.
  April 12, 2012 at 12:49PM EST
jcpdiesel21

I can't believe that despite the drop, so many people are still watching Betty White's show. I caught a few minutes and it is terrible and unfunny. And I like Betty White an awful lot!
April 13, 2012 at 9:40AM EST Reply to Comment

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TV Ratings: 'American Idol' leads Wednesday as Betty White falls, 'Apartment 23' moves in

CBS is second with sluggish 'Survivor,' 'Criminal Minds,' 'CSI'