| Timeslot | Lo | Avg | Hi | y2y | A18-49+ | Label | Results |
| Monday 8:00 | 2.7 | 3.39 | 5.4 | +6% | 178* | big hit | detail |
*- For this winter's War of 18-49 updates, the A18-49+ is based on a projected league average, calculated by applying the league average's current year-to-year trend (thru 3/30/14) to the final 2012-13 average. This should help make these numbers compare more fairly with fall seasons past.
Rating the Ratings: How I Met Your Mother wrapped up a nine-year run as one of those shows that held its raw Live+SD numbers across a long period of time, thereby becoming a much more valuable player in a landscape of ~10% yearly collective decline. Season nine was up 6% year-to-year, but even more impressively, it had a higher raw average than season two back in 2006-07. I'm inclined to judge the season a bit more harshly from a grading standpoint because it's a final season; after all, it was barely down year-to-year until the massive 5.4 finale. But I'll take A- over B+ simply because it will end up being the nine-year run's biggest season in A18-49+. It's pretty amazing that a broadcast series could run nine seasons and leave the air without ever really going out of its ratings prime. Grade: A-.
Here's the now updated War of 18-49 post for How I Met Your Mother.
