It was an interesting night for the Mid-Summer Classic on Fox (3.4/10, 11.07 million). The 'All-Star Game' was down 12 percent in the 18-49 demographic from last year and 7 percent in total viewers. With fierce competition from NBC (2.6/8, 9.02 million) with 'America's Got Talent,' and a 'Wipeout' repeat on ABC (1.8/5, 5.31 million) at 8PM ET, the game barely took the night.

In fact, it's only when you exclude the first half-hour of pre-game festivities that the '2010 Baseball All-Star Game' scored more total viewers than 'AGT' (11.65 million versus 11.52 million). Taking it all together, the Mid-Summer Classic came in behind the talent competition in viewers.

CBS (1.3/4, 7.73 million) didn't bat an eye, or fluctuate much in viewers with their usual lineup of repeats, while the CW (0.3/1, .645 million) keeps sliding toward oblivion with repeats of the shows that are supposed to anchor this night in the fall, 'One Tree Hill' and 'Life Unexpected.' We'll have to see if either of them can get it together when their new episodes hit.

8:00

As expected, Fox rode the 'All-Star Game' (3.6/11, 10.8 million) to not only an hourly victory, but a nightly one as well. Oddly for a sporting event, the demo ratings trended downward as the night progressed. Perhaps because it was a low-scoring game, though you'd think the National League claiming victory for the first time since 1996 would have generated some interest. The first hour of the game barely edged out a repeat of 'NCIS' (10.01 million) on CBS in total viewers.

ABC was in repeats with 'Wipeout' (2.7/9, 7.78 million), but the reality hit only slipped 7 percent in the demo and 11 percent in total viewers. 'Losing It With Jillian' (1.4/5, 4.03 million) stopped sliding for NBC, recovering a tenth in the demo, but it still doesn't look promising for future seasons. The CW was down again with a repeat of 'One Tree Hill' (0.3/1, .779 million).

9:00

The middle of the 'All-Star Game' (3.5/10, 11.415 million) had the highest total viewers, but it got some serious competition from the first half of a fresh 'America's Got Talent' (3.9/2, 11.105 million). CBS came in a distant third in the demo with a repeat of 'NCIS: Los Angeles' (1.5/5, 8.1 million), staying steady with past weeks.

The third episode of ABC's game show 'Downfall' (1.4/4, 3.8 million) was up a tenth from last week in the demo, but still lost about half of its lead-in audience from a 'Wipeout' repeat, which can't be encouraging. Apparently, those viewers all switched to NBC. Certainly none of them showed up to help 'Life Unexpected' (0.2/1, .528 million) achieve a series low in total viewers with its latest repeat. How the CW thinks this lineup can succeed is becoming harder and harder to understand.

10:00

Fox is usually in bed by 10PM, so there was more competition than usual. Still, the power of NBC and 'America's Got Talent' (3.4/10, 11.94 million) managed to steal the hour from the end of the 'All-Star Game' (3.4/10, 10.995 million) in total viewers, while tying the Mid-Summer Classic in the demo.

A repeat of 'The Good Wife' (0.9/3, 4.98 million) on CBS slipped a tenth in the demo from last week, while ABC gained a tenth over last week's premiere with the second 'Primetime: Family Secrets' (1.3/4, 4.334 million).


Adults 18-49





Below is the format we use for showing the ratings data with a quick explanation of each part
Example: 'Show' (Demo/Share, Viewers+SD) [Network-Time]

Show - The name of the show. (R) indicates a repeat. (S) indicates a special presentation. (M) indicates a movie.
Demo - The percentage of adults aged 18-49 tuned to this show. This is the demographic advertisers desire.
Share - The percentage of adults 18-49 households with their televisions on who are turned to this show.
Viewers+SD - The total viewers including both live viewers and DVR viewers who watched the program the same day (generally by 3AM). DVR penetration has reached about 24 percent of American households
Network - The network the show aired on.
Time - The show's scheduled start time (this can get skewed for sporting events or other live programming).

Nielsen compiles their ratings from randomly selected representative groups of households. Overnight ratings are tabulated by tracking the channels that are on during each time period in those houses. As such, if a live event interrupts or delays the start of a program in certain areas, this data will not reflect those changes. Also, if a local affiliate chooses not to run a network's program at the scheduled time for some reason, this change will also not be represented. Thus, these figures can be skewed and should only be used as a general guideline. We will do our best to alert you when situations that could affect the accuracy of these figures occurs.

Our thanks to TV by the Numbers for their figures and estimates. If you have any questions about the ratings or what it all means, feel free to hit us up in the comments. We'll be here every day for you.

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