Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 10/3/12

WHAT MATTERS:

• It was an extremely atypical Wednesday due to a presidential debate on each of the big four networks starting at 9/8c. The debate preliminarily scored in the very general 3.0 A18-49 vicinity on each of the big four networks, with NBC doing a little better than the others, but these numbers won't count in final averages. The 10:30 post-debate analysis numbers were released in finals and give you some sense of how the networks lined up relatively speaking.

• But the networks were still in the entertainment programming game in the 8:00 hour, where ABC's The Middle and The Neighbors had the only really bad news. I figured Modern Family's absence would hurt the block as a whole, but even my line underestimated the extent of that. And The Neighbors could of course blame a big chunk of its drop on the transition from a Modern Family to a The Middle lead-in. Let's see what happens next week.

• NBC was probably best poised to benefit from debate pre-tune since they're the only network for whom the debate did a lot better than regular 9:00 programming. They saw Animal Practice drop a tenth and Guys with Kids become just the second show of the season to stay even in week two. But, again, I'm not reading a ton into this rather atypical situation.

• The CW's premiere week continued with an even year-to-year return from Supernatural. If it's possible for an even year-to-year premiere to be disappointing in this day and age, this would be it, as it was set up well with a move from Friday to Wednesday and facing a big-four simulcast. But next week's Arrow should provide more lead-in help than the Oh Sit! finale.

FULL TABLE:

Info			Show				Timeslot		True2
	Viewers	A18-49	Last	LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
The Middle	7.72	2.2	-24%	n/a	2/2	-19%	-19%	-19%	2.12
The Neighbors	6.32	1.9	-41%	-60%	2/2	n/a	-37%	-42%	1.86
ABC Debate Analysis (10:32)	8.87	2.5				n/a	+92%	-4%	1.68
Survivor	10.38	3.0	-3%	n/a	3/3	-6%	-3%	-6%	3.18
CBS Debate Analysis (10:33)	7.01	2.1				n/a	-13%	-32%	1.40
Animal Practice	4.56	1.3	-7%	n/a	2/2	n/a	-7%	-38%	1.60
Guys with Kids	4.76	1.6	+0%	-7%	2/3	n/a	+0%	+60%	1.73
NBC Debate Analysis (10:33)	8.72	2.8				n/a	+27%	+33%	1.88
The X Factor Wed	9.71	3.5	+3%	n/a	2/4	-15%	+11%	-5%	3.62
Fox Debate Analysis (10:33)	5.68	2.4				n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Oh Sit!	0.92	0.3	-25%	n/a	8/8	n/a	-14%	-50%	0.38
Supernatural	1.85	0.8	n/a	n/a	1/1	+0%	+167%	+0%	0.88

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.
Last - A18-49 percent difference from previous episode.
LeLa - A18-49 percent difference between the show's lead-in and its lead-in for the previous episode.
Rank - The A18-49 rating's rank among the show's episodes that have aired so far this season.
y2y - The show's A18-49 rating compared to its rating a year ago.
TLa - The show's A18-49 rating compared to the network's rating in the timeslot one week ago.
Ty2y - The show's A18-49 rating compared to the network's rating in the timeslot one year ago.
True2 - The second edition of True Strength, a metric that adjusts the A18-49 rating for overall viewing levels, competition and lead-in. PRELIMINARY CALCULATION. For finals, see SpotVault.

(R) - Repeat.

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

More Spotted Ratings in the Index.