Spotted Ratings, Sunday 2/24/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• All preliminary indications suggest the Academy Awards are on the year-to-year upside and skewed younger than last year's show. The early numbers are not time zone-adjusted, but they're up a significant 19% (12.1 vs. 10.2) vs. the not-time-zone-adjusted numbers from a year ago. More later!
• UPDATED: Time zone numbers put Oscar at 40.3 million viewers, up 3% year-to-year. But the growth was even more favorable as the demographic gets younger: a 13.0 A18-49 rating (up 11% from last year's 11.7) and an 11.3 A18-34 rating (up 20% from last year's 9.4). It was up a whooping 34% in the "Seth MacFarlane demo," men 18-34. In adults 18-49, this was the biggest Oscar since 2010 and the second-biggest in the last six years. Well done.
• FINALS: small viewership adjustment up to 40.4 million. The available half-hour breakdowns (from 8:30 to 11:00) were pretty consistent (12.9 -> 13.5 -> 13.4 -> 13.5 -> 13.0), but the show likely dropped to a 12 or so in its post-primetime portion to make up the 13.0 average.

• As usual, The Amazing Race put its second week up against Oscar and took a 24% post-premiere drop. After finals, this point was down just a bit more year-to-year (-14%) than last week's premiere (-11%), but it's more important where it ends up next week.

• The Walking Dead remained extremely resilient in the face of big events, actually rising a tick week-to-week (5.7) against Oscar and edging The Big Bang Theory to win the week among entertainment series again.

FULL TABLE:

Info			Show				Timeslot		True2
	Viewers	A18-49	Last	LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
Oscar Red Carpet p1	12.44	2.9				+4%	+107%	+4%	2.40
Oscar Red Carpet p2	16.50	4.3				+8%	+169%	+8%	3.30
Oscar Red Carpet p3	25.53	7.3				+18%	+217%	+18%	4.61
Academy Awards	40.38	13.0				+11%	+744%	+11%	6.60
60 Minutes (R)	8.30	1.3					+0%	-4%	1.17
The Amazing Race	6.95	1.9	-24%	+0%	2/2	-14%	-25%	-14%	1.93
The Mentalist (R)	4.54	0.7					-46%	-22%	0.77
The Good Wife (R)	3.26	0.5					-68%	-57%	0.81
Dateline Sun (R)	4.02	0.8					-16%	-27%	0.73
Off Their Rockers (R)	3.39	0.8					-11%	+0%	1.01
Off Their Rockers (R)	2.96	0.8					-20%	+0%	1.11
Saturday Night Live in the 2000s	2.04	0.8				n/a	-44%	-56%	1.01
Bob's Burgers (R)	2.32	1.0					+11%	+25%	0.89
The Cleveland Show (R)	2.61	1.2					+9%	+20%	1.30
The Simpsons (R)	3.44	1.6					-20%	+0%	1.63
The Cleveland Show (R)	2.89	1.4					-22%	-13%	1.53
Family Guy (R)	3.14	1.5					-38%	-6%	1.60
American Dad! (R)	2.74	1.3					-32%	-13%	1.45

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.