Ratings for ABC's Oscar broadcast were up 12% this year among viewers - jumping to 36.3 million viewers from 2008's record-low 32 million. Syndicated entertainment magazines were up as well, with several of them hitting their best numbers in a year.
CBS Television Distribution's Entertainment Tonight led the group with a 5.7 rating/9 share primary-run average in the metered markets for its post-Oscar coverage on Monday, Feb. 23. That's up 6% over last year when ET rated a 5.4/9, and it's the show's biggest rating in more than a year. It's also a 14% increase over its year-ago time period average.
CTD's Inside Edition, which is a hybrid of news and entertainment, held on to second place with a 3.4/7, down 11% from last year.
Close behind, NBC Universal's Access Hollywood lost 3%, dropping to a 3.2/6.
CTD's The Insider was in fourth with a 2.6/6, up 8% from last year, while Warner Bros.' Extra was a close fifth at a 2.5/5, up 4% from last year.
Warner Bros.' TMZ, which covers entertainment from a decidedly different angle than the rest of the entertainment access magazines, averaged a 2.2/4, up 10% from last year.
In New York, CTD's The Insider was the market's highest rated entertainment magazine on WCBS, averaging a 5.4/9 in its 7 p.m. time slot. That's the show's best rating of the season in New York and a 26% jump from its lead-in, which was the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.
In Los Angeles, Access Hollywood was the top-rated magazine on KNBC at 7:30 p.m., averaging a 4.1/7, up 21% from its Extra lead-in.
