6-Net Season-to-Date Averages 1994-2006

The full season-to-date average ratings for all 6 nets
during the 6-net era of 1994-2006.

1 rating point in 1994-95 = 954,000 TV households
1 rating point in 2005-06 = 1,102,000 TV households

#1 ABC CBS NBC FOX UPN WB TOT BIG3
1994-95 ABC 11.9 10.8 11.5 7.5 4.0 1.9 47.6 34.2

William George Ferguson...

UPN has the big boost from the the start of Voyager.

1995-96 NBC 10.5 9.6 11.6 7.3 3.1 2.4 44.5 31.7
1996-97 NBC 9.2 9.6 10.5 7.7 3.2 2.6 42.8 29.3
1997-98 NBC 8.3 9.5 10.2 7.0 2.8 3.1 40.9 28.0
1998-99 CBS 8.0 9.0 8.9 6.9 2.0 3.2 38.0 25.9

William George Ferguson...

Buffy and 7th's 2nd & 3rd seasons, when they basically ruled the netlets

1999-00 CBS 9.3 8.6 8.5 5.9 2.7 2.6 37.6 26.4
2000-01 CBS 8.3 8.5 7.9 6.1 2.4 2.5 35.7 24.7
2001-02 NBC 6.3 8.1 8.8 5.7 2.7 2.5 34.1 23.2
2002-03 CBS 6.3 8.2 7.7 6.0 2.3 2.6 33.1 22.2
2003-04 CBS 5.8 8.4 7.2 6.0 2.4 2.3 32.1 21.4
2004-05 CBS 6.4 8.3 6.5 6.1 2.3 2.2 31.8 21.2
2005-06 CBS 6.8 8.1 6.5 6.2 2.1 2.1 31.6 21.2

Observations:

Clearly, there was no place else to go for UPN and WB
but out of the picture or to merge, seeing how stagnant
and at their lowest their numbers have been the last few
years. UPN's peak season was its first, 1994-95, WB's
was about midway through, in 1998-99.

William George Ferguson...

Let's look a bit more.

Comparison: First to Last
9495 0506 Var
ABC 11.9 6.8 -42.4%
CBS 10.8 8.1 -25.0%
Fox 7.5 6.2 -17.3%
NBC 11.5 6.5 -43.5%
WB 1.9 2.1 +10.5%
UPN 4.0 2.1 -47.5%

Comparison: Last to Average
12-Yr 0506
Mean Var
ABC 8.09 -15.9%
CBS 8.89 -8.9%
Fox 6.53 -5.1%
NBC 8.82 -26.3%
WB 2.50 -16.0%
UPN 2.67 -21.3%

Comparison: Percentage of 6-Net Total

ABC CBS NBC Fox UPN WB WBUPN Total
1994-95 25.0 22.7 24.2 15.8 8.4 4.0 12.4 47.6
1995-96 23.6 21.6 26.1 16.4 7.0 5.4 12.4 44.5
1996-97 21.5 22.4 24.5 18.0 7.5 6.1 13.6 42.8
1997-98 20.3 23.2 24.9 17.1 6.8 7.6 14.4 40.9
1998-99 21.1 23.7 23.4 18.2 5.3 8.4 13.7 38.0
1999-00 24.7 22.9 22.6 15.7 7.2 6.9 14.1 37.6
2000-01 23.2 23.8 22.1 17.1 6.7 7.0 13.7 35.7
2001-02 18.5 23.8 25.8 16.7 7.9 7.3 15.2 34.1
2002-03 19.0 24.8 21.8 18.1 6.9 7.9 14.8 33.1
2003-04 18.1 26.2 22.4 18.7 7.5 7.2 14.6 32.1
2004-05 20.1 26.1 20.4 19.2 7.2 6.9 14.2 31.8
2005-06 21.5 25.6 20.6 19.6 6.6 6.6 13.3 31.6
12YrAve 21.4 23.9 23.2 17.6 7.1 6.8 13.9

The WBUPN percentage has to be what the CW should be looking to improve on.
If they can raise it to the 15-16% area, that will likely be considered a
strong performance for the next few years (depending on demographics). If
they come in under 10% of the network pie, they almost certainly won't be
pulling the demographics to be successful even on the basis of the demos.

If (most likely) they come in at the 13-15% area, with strong demos in
12-32 and 18-32, they'll probably be satisfied for the short-term, but will
feel a need to build.

A bit of a revelation is that when you look only at the
Big 3, they actually experienced a bit of an upsurge in
their collective total during 1999-2000, doing a half point
better than the previous season. It's the only time when
they improved on their numbers from a previous season
in the last 12 years.

The Big 3 also appear to have finally levelled off their
losses, now holding on to a steady 21.2-4 collective total
over the last 3 years.

American Idol continues to be FOX's saving grace, keeping
that network consistently in the 6 rating range since that
show's debut in 2002. Otherwise, it'd definitely be in the
low 5 range, if not somewhere in the 4, without that show.
But that network's best season rating, 7.7, was in pre-AI
'96-'97. What did it have then that made the net such a
success without an AI crutch? X Files, Melrose Place,
Beverly Hills 90210, Millennium, Party of Five, The
Simpsons, each of which generally scored a 7 rating or
better, with X Files usually getting an 11 or 12. The only
losers it had with a 5 rating or less were Party Girl,
Lush Life, Love & Marriage and Big Deal, all of which
were gone real quick at the start of the season.

And for all the anal focus on young demos, it looks like
that good old fogey network CBS just keeps beating all
the others to a pulp, regularly coming on top with total
households in, and thus winning, the last 7 out of 8
seasons.