Kennedy Center Honors beaten by telenovela

Univision's "Alborada" topped CBS in the national overnights among viewers ages 18-49, according to Nielsen.

How much longer do you suppose CBS will allow this grand tradition of airing "The Kennedy Center Honors" to continue before they say, "Screw it, we'll get better numbers with ... well, 'Numb3rs'"?

Link: Broadcasting & Cable: The Business of Television.

(For a different p.o.v., see the jump.)

December 28, 2005

 

"THE 28TH ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS" POSTS

ITS MOST WATCHED BROADCAST SINCE 2003

 

"Kennedy Center Honors" Up Across-the-Board From Last Year

 

THE 28TH ANNUAL KENNEDY CENTER HONORS posted a 7.5/13 with 10.85m viewers, 1.9/05 in adults 18-49 and 2.6/07 in adults 25-54, according preliminary Nielsen live plus same day fast affiliate ratings for Tuesday, Dec. 27. 

 

Compared to last year's event, THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS was up +27% in households (from 5.9/10), +6% in adults 18-49 (from 1.8/05), +18% in adults 25-54 (from 2.2/06) and added +2.37m viewers (from 8.48m). 

 

This is the best delivery for THE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS in viewers, adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 since 2003.

 

Comments

[Jon]

CBS is about as unlikely to drop the Kennedy Center show as they are to drop the Tony Awards. Prestige, doncha know.

[Ed Dravecky III]

I guess "most watched since 2003" is a better spin than "higher than last year but not the year before."

[Paul Murray]

For what it's worth, from Tuesday's Wash Post article...

***
Leslie Moonves, the chief executive of CBS, attends the Honors each year. "It's one of the shows that I am most proud of putting on our network," he says. "Sometimes the ratings aren't spectacular, but we don't expect them to be. . . . It is our intention to cover the Honors for as long as they're on the air."
***

I suppose it's possible to parse that last sentence very cynically, but I'm with Jon: it's a prestige thing and it's during the holidays when ratings are down anyway, so I expect they'll keep showing it.