Last year, Fox (NWS-A) executives said they wanted to be more competitive leading up to their blockbuster "American Idol" and "24" shows, that are scheduled for release in January.
They've responded to the challenge in the key 18-49 age group, averaging a 3.5 rating in that category so far this year. That's up 19 percent over last years' numbers. They are also only 0.3 percent behind ABC (DIS) which currently holds the first place position.
Overall viewers at Fox have also increased strongly, growing by an average of 21 percent, equal to 1.4 million. Fox also has four new scripted shows set for release in the first quarter.
When you consider Fox usually comes from far behind to win in the demo, once the powerhouse shows arrive early in the year, it looks like they're going to demolish the competition this year, being so close to first place at this time of the year.
On the opposite side of the statistics is NBC, which continues to perform horribly. In the same demographic, they're down from between 13-21 percent, depending on which night it is, and between 800,000 to 2.4 million in nightly viewers, again, depending on the night of the week.
With their rating down to 3.2 in the 18-49 group, that's a plunge of 18 percent over last year. They also only average 8.3 million viewers a night, a big drop from the 10.7 million average last year.
“The 18-49 declines are awful, but particularly for NBC, which is digging itself a particularly big hole going forward,” said Lyle Schwartz, executive vp, director of broadcast research for GroupM.
NBC is in real trouble, as they not only don't have a reality show hit, but the four new series they put out this year haven't resonated with viewers at all. It means this year is basically already a failure for them, with nothing to propel them forward.
If it wasn't for the upcoming Olympics, General Electric (GE) would have shed the network by now. There's continuing pressure from shareholders to divest of the company. With the short- and medium-term outlook terrible, there's a good reason for that frustration from investors.
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