Spotted Ratings, Wednesday 1/16/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• The preliminary numbers are in for arguably the most important data point of the season. American Idol finished 19% below last season's premiere and a few ticks behind the May 2012 finale. Almost nailed it. So while it may have done basically as expected, that doesn't necessarily mean it's "good." The show is clearly still on a fairly steep downward trajectory, even if it's a bit less steep than last year. For one last piece of big-picture perspective: Idol, even on premiere night, couldn't pull the biggest entertainment number of 2013 to date; that'd be last week's The Big Bang Theory. Next up: seeing the verdict on all these new judges in subsequent weeks.

• As last year, Idol's "Death Star" capabilities are on the wane. A couple of the ABC comedies dropped in finals, meaning around a 10% average decline from the results against not that much competition last Wednesday. And Idol may have served as something of a de facto lead-in for the 10:00 occupants; Nashville rose again to another best-since-premiere number, and CSI was also up a tick.

FULL TABLE:

Info			Show				Timeslot		True2
	Viewers	A18-49	Last	LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
The Middle	8.21	2.3	-4%	n/a	8/11	-8%	-4%	-8%	2.12
The Neighbors	6.09	1.8	-14%	-4%	11/12	n/a	-14%	-28%	1.72
Modern Family	11.01	4.3	-9%	-14%	10/12	-16%	-9%	-16%	4.56
Suburgatory	6.06	2.3	-12%	-9%	8/9	-8%	-12%	-21%	2.08
Nashville	6.54	2.2	+5%	-12%	2/10	n/a	+5%	-12%	2.18
NCIS (R)	8.35	1.1					-42%	-27%	1.44
Criminal Minds	12.64	2.9	-6%	-61%	9/12	-9%	+5%	-11%	3.34
CSI	11.14	2.3	+5%	-6%	8/11	-18%	-12%	-19%	2.17
Whitney (R)	2.50	0.8					-43%	-50%	1.20
Guys with Kids (R)	2.26	0.8					-38%	-53%	1.07
Law and Order: SVU (R)	2.66	0.6					-71%	-43%	0.90
Chicago Fire (R)	3.45	1.0					-55%	-46%	1.28
American Idol Wed	17.93	6.0	n/a	n/a	1/1	-19%	+353%	-18%	5.76
Arrow	3.06	1.1	+10%	n/a	6/10	n/a	+144%	+47%	1.20
Supernatural	1.99	0.9	+0%	+0%	5/10	n/a	+157%	+200%	0.95

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.