A Turner Broadcasting System Inc. duo took the adult demos, while Lifetime
Television regained its primetime perch and Nickelodeon again topped total-day
in the basic-cable ratings races last week.
Assisted by their coverage of the National Basketball Association playoffs,
TBS Superstation and Turner Network Television scored the top spots among adults
18 through 34, 18 through 49 and 25 through 54 during the week of May 13 through
19.
According to a Turner Entertainment Research analysis of Nielsen Media
Research data, TBS -- driven by its presentation of the San Antonio Spurs-Los
Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics-Detroit Pistons games May 14 -- was first
among adults 18 through 34 with an average of 511,000 of those viewers, and with
adults 18 through 49 with 1.01 million of those watchers on average last
week.
TNT -- which benefited from a strong performance by the May 13 game between
the Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks -- finished second to its sister
network among both groups with average viewer totals of 475,000 and 1 million,
respectively.
TNT ranked first among adults 25 through 54 with 1.015 million viewers for
the week, squeaking past Lifetime's 1.013 million, according to the Turner
analysis.
On a household basis, Lifetime -- after a two-week hiatus in which TNT ranked
No. 1 -- reclaimed the first-place position it held during the first 17 weeks of
2002.
Last week, the female-skewing network averaged a 2.0, beating Nick's 1.9. TNT
and TBS were joined by sibling Cartoon Network at a 1.6.
Rounding out the top 10: FX, bolstered by National Association for Stock Car
Auto Racing Winston Cup racing, and USA Network, both at a 1.3; A&E Network
at a 1.2; Discovery Channel at a 0.9; and Fox News Channel at a 0.9.
Gauged on a total-day measurement, Nick was first among households for the
week averaging a 1.6 rating, well ahead of Lifetime and Cartoon, both of which
registered a 1.2.
Nick's position was lifted by a SpongeBob House Party 30 special May
17 from 9:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. The 30-minute program was basic cable's
highest-rated show of the week with a 4.5 household average.
Three previously run SpongeBob SquarePants half-hour installments that
preceded the special placed second, seventh and ninth respectively for the week,
in reverse chronological order.
Those programs were joined in the top 10 by the aforementioned Lakers-Spurs
(a 3.9 household average) and Mavs-Kings (a 3.5) contests; FX's May 18 coverage
of the Winston race (4.1); and TNN's May 13 airing of World Wrestling
Entertainment Inc. fare.
The WWE programming from 10 p.m. to 11 p.m. finished in a tie for second with
a 4.2, while the earlier hour scored a 3.6. A SpongeBob episode May 19
from 10 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. also crashed into the top 10.
