Spotted Ratings, Thursday 12/5/13

WHAT MATTERS:

• NBC's pre-season initiative to create "event" television is probably a good idea in general; if it works, it gets people to re-write the DVRing rules that have ground away at live ratings for entertainment series. However, the results so far have been very mixed, with mega-hyped pre-season game show Million Second Quiz a clear disappointment. But last night, the "event" initiative scored, and it scored really big. The Sound of Music Live! (18.6 million viewers, 4.6 A18-49, and an even more impressive 4.3 A18-34) nearly tied The Big Bang Theory as Thursday's biggest program, narrowly losing to TBBT at 8:00 but walloping the competition in every other half-hour. It pulled about four times the demo delivery of NBC's usual Thursday travesty. (Though the TLa number below compares it with last week's football game.) The reviews weren't good, but this is the kind of rating that will encourage more of this brand of splashy risk-taking; that's a good thing for all viewers.

• NBC's takeover wasn't a huge game-changer for the competition, though it seemed to be at its most impactful on younger-skewing Fox and the CW; The X Factor, Glee, Grey's Anatomy and The Vampire Diaries all got nicked. CBS was also a little off in the 8/7c hour with TBBT and The Millers but steadier from there. By the 10/9c hour, at least a few Sound of Music viewers were fleeing, and Scandal was actually up a notch.

FULL TABLE:

Info		Show						Timeslot		True
	A18-49	Skew	Last		LeLa	Rank	y2y	TLa	Ty2y
Once Upon a Time in Wonderland	0.9	35%	+0%	+0.0	n/a	4/7	n/a	-42%	-28%	1.0
Grey's Anatomy	2.3	42%	-12%	-0.3	+0.0	10/10	-23%	+119%	-23%	2.7
Scandal	3.0	46%	+3%	+0.1	-0.3	4/9	+20%	+233%	+18%	3.2
							ABC:	+77%	-9%
The Big Bang Theory	4.8	39%	-9%	-0.5	n/a	10/10	-8%	+55%	-8%	4.6
The Millers	2.4	33%	-14%	-0.4	-0.5	8/9	n/a	+41%	-40%	2.0
The Crazy Ones	2.1	35%	-5%	-0.1	-0.4	7/10	n/a	+91%	-30%	2.1
Two and a Half Men	2.3	34%	+10%	+0.2	-0.1	3/9	-43%	+92%	-21%	2.4
Elementary	1.8	28%	+0%	+0.0	+0.2	4/10	-14%	+80%	-14%	2.0
							CBS:	+67%	-21%
The Sound of Music Live!	4.6	31%					n/a	-23%	+254%	4.7
							NBC:	-23%	+254%
The X Factor Thu	1.4	36%	+40%	+0.4	n/a	7/10	-44%	+40%	-44%	1.5
Glee	1.1	42%	+22%	+0.2	+0.4	7/8	-50%	+29%	-49%	1.2
							Fox:	+35%	-46%
The Vampire Diaries	1.0	54%	-23%	-0.3	n/a	7/9	-17%	+300%	-13%	1.1
Reign	0.6	46%	-14%	-0.1	-0.3	4/7	n/a	+100%	+20%	0.7
							CW:	+191%	-3%
							Big5:	+11%	+13%

KEY (click to expand)

A18-49 - Adults 18-49 rating. Percentage of US TV-owning adults 18-49 watching the program.
Skew - Percentage of adults 18-49 within the show's total viewership.
Last - A18-49 difference (percent and numerical) from the show's previous episode.
LeLa - A18-49 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 so far this season.
y2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the show's rating a year ago.
TLa - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one week ago.
Ty2y - Percent difference between A18-49 and the network's rating in the timeslot one year ago.
True - 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.