Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 2/29/12: Drop Model

WHAT MATTERS:

• Leap Day's biggest story was that once-proud America's Next Top Model is now pretty much a bomb just like everything else on its network. Already down a ridiculous 45% year-to-year in the prelims, an unthinkable downward adjustment in finals made the year-to-year drop an unheard-of fifty-five percent. Considering the year-ago spring cycle was itself down 35% (and 31% on premiere night), there just really aren't any words anymore. It's time to start phasing this series out.

• Aside from that, it was mostly a pretty steady day on broadcast, with ABC's The Middle and Happy Endings being a couple notable shows on the rebound. The only big dropper was CSI, and it really only came back to earth from an oddly high rating last week.

FULL TABLE:

Info				Show				Timeslot		TRUE
	Viewers	A18-49	Skew	Last	LeLa	Avg	Rank	Tavg	Lead
The Middle	8.23	2.6	40%	+18%	n/a	-7%	12/17	-6%	n/a	2.62
Suburgatory	6.85	2.3	43%	+0%	+18%	-20%	15/16	-20%	-12%	2.28
Modern Family	11.63	4.8	53%	+0%	+0%	-12%	13/16	-11%	+109%	5.30
Happy Endings	5.94	2.7	58%	+13%	+0%	-9%	13/16	-15%	-44%	2.18
Revenge	7.53	2.4	41%	+0%	+13%	-7%	11/16	-4%	-11%	2.16
Survivor	10.65	2.9	35%	+4%	n/a	-2%	2/3	-8%	n/a	3.02
Criminal Minds	12.54	3.1	32%	+0%	+4%	-13%	14/16	-13%	+7%	3.09
CSI	11.30	2.6	29%	-10%	+0%	-7%	9/16	-7%	-16%	2.31
Whitney	4.13	1.5	46%	+0%	n/a	-24%	15/18	-18%	n/a	1.36
Are You There, Chelsea?	3.45	1.3	48%	+0%	+0%	-19%	7/8	-13%	-13%	1.28
Rock Center	2.75	0.7	33%	+17%	-0%	-27%	14/17	-38%	-46%	0.59
Law and Order: SVU	5.42	1.6	38%	+0%	+17%	-20%	15/16	-18%	+129%	1.62
American Idol Wed	17.23	5.0	37%	-2%	n/a	-18%	9/9	+25%	n/a	5.30
One Tree Hill	1.57	0.7	57%	-13%	n/a	-8%	4/8	+5%	n/a	0.69
America's Next Top Model	1.17	0.5	55%	n/a	n/a	n/a	1/1	-26%	-29%	0.46

KEY (click to expand)

Viewers - The total number of viewers (age 2+, in millions) that watched the program.
A18-49 - Adults 18-49 rating. Percentage of US TV-owning adults 18-49 watching the program.
Skew - Percentage of the total audience that falls in the 18-49 demo.
Last - A18-49 percent difference from previous episode.
Lead - A18-49 percent difference from lead-in program.
LeLa - A18-49 percent difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Avg - A18-49 percent difference from the show's average demo for previous original episodes this season.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes that have aired so far this season.
Tavg - A18-49 percent difference from its timeslot's previous original entertainment average this season.
TRUE - True Strength, a metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. (Note: these are PRELIMINARY TRUE calculations. Finals come next week.)

(R) - Repeat.

Much more detail on these numbers at the New Daily Spotted Ratings page.

More Spotted Ratings in the Index.