And if Wolf Blitzer were his own network, he'd get a 0.2

Fourth quarter ratings are in for the major cable networks. Here's a sampling:

	P2+			P18-49			P18-34
	4Q 2005			4Q 2005			4Q 2005
Network	Cvg Rtg	000	Network	Cvg Rtg	000	Network	Cvg Rtg	000
NICK	0.9	2102	NAN	0.6	628	ADSM	0.7	361
NAN	0.6	1475	ESPN	0.6	598	NAN	0.7	359
USA	0.5	1204	TBSC	0.6	596	ESPN	0.6	307
TNT	0.5	1186	USA	0.6	595	TBSC	0.6	301
TOON	0.5	1144	TNT	0.6	582	NICK	0.6	284
ESPN	0.5	1074	NICK	0.5	488	USA	0.5	278
ADSM	0.5	1029	ADSM	0.5	480	MTV	0.5	261
TBSC	0.4	1011	LIF	0.4	443	TNT	0.5	257
LIF	0.4	1004	FX	0.4	383	FX	0.4	195
FOXNC	0.4	919	SPIKE	0.3	352	CMDY	0.4	190
HALL	0.4	641	MTV	0.3	333	LIF	0.3	178

Notice that two major demographic groups are led by networks that aren't 24-hour services but are partial-day creations that exploit a loophole in Nielsen reporting: ADSM is the new Adult Swim, which is basically Cartoon Net at Night, an obvious (and successful) attempt to replicate the effect of Nickelodeon's Nick at Night (NAN).

 

The ratings above are for "Total Programming Day," which means that ADSM, with its six-hour "day," is allowed to compete against other channels with much longer, if not 24-hour, days. (I'm not sure if networks are allowed to subtract overnight paid programming from their "days" or not.)

If you ask me, TOON and NICK should be required to report their full day ratings as one service. Let them break their channels into three or four or however many pieces after they get the data back from Nielsen.

Comments

[roy]

These ratings do not include time periods where infomercials run.

There is great deal of debate among the cable nets about whether networks like Nick at Night and Adult Swim should be allowed to separate themselves from their parent networks. At first Turner excoriated Nick for doing it, then less than a year later Turner followed suit with Adult Swim.

It's all for the press. Madison Avenue (whom these numbers are really for) knows better. They've always run numbers by program or time bloc.

--roy