Spotted Ratings, Monday 1/7/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• From 8:00 to 10:00, the two winter reality shows squared off for the first time with The Biggest Loser coming somewhat back to earth from its Sunday preview numbers (but still a few ticks better than I'd have expected coming into the season). It edged The Bachelor head-to-head, but I'd say the latter also had a good day. It was just a tick down from last year's premiere, and if it behaves the way most Bachelor seasons do, it should have a great shot to pull ahead of TBL moving forward.

• NBC then had an expectedly mediocre start out of Deception. Realistically, it's not that terrible a number by recent NBC drama standards, but with the way the NBC drama stable is shaping up lately, it can't drop all that far from here before being in trouble.

• Now that The Bachelor is apparently no weaker than Dancing with the Stars, Castle got what was a fairly typical post-DWTS number.

• The good news for the broadcasters in the bigger picture was that the much-ballyhooed BCS National Championship Game on ESPN (9.2) was practically over by the end of the first quarter. That number was still up 6% year-to-year, but the viewership chart across the telecast should help illustrate the true ratings potential (and the game quality reality) of this matchup. It certainly did not end up being the beast it could've been.

FULL TABLE:

Info			Show				Timeslot		True2
	Viewers	A18-49	Last	LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
The Bachelor	6.92	2.3	n/a	n/a	1/1	-4%	-11%	+7%	2.51
Castle	8.66	1.9	+12%	+130%	6/10	-17%	-54%	-16%	2.26
How I Met Your Mother (R)	5.15	1.5					+67%	-32%	1.93
2 Broke Girls (R)	5.07	1.5					+88%	-38%	1.76
2 Broke Girls (R)	6.07	1.8					+100%	-22%	2.13
Mike and Molly (R)	5.86	1.6					+100%	-30%	2.02
Hawaii Five-0 (R)	5.03	1.1					+47%	-33%	1.43
The Biggest Loser	6.39	2.4	-20%	n/a	2/2	+0%	+220%	+23%	2.89
Deception	5.66	2.0	n/a	n/a	1/1	n/a	+74%	+167%	2.36
Bones (R)	4.26	0.9					+38%	-10%	1.32
The Mob Doctor	3.27	0.9	+50%	+0%	6/13	n/a	+125%	-22%	1.27
Hart of Dixie (R)	0.79	0.3					-40%	+20%	0.42
Beauty and the Beast (R)	0.68	0.2					-60%	-43%	0.28

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.