GOP convention helps Univision win viewers 18-49

[September 06, 2012]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Univision can thank the Republicans for a milestone week in the television ratings.

Nielsen said the Spanish-language network topped prime-time ratings last week among viewers ages 18 to 49. It was only the fourth time in Univision's history that it achieved that feat and the first time it happened twice in the same year. It also happened in early July.

ABC, CBS and NBC each televised three hours of the Republican National Convention last week, and that was a turnoff to the young viewers prized by advertisers. Sixteen of Univision's one-hour telenovela episodes did better in the ratings among that demographic than any hour of convention coverage.

During the otherwise quiet week before Labor Day, NBC's "America's Got Talent" was the most-watched program.

CBS averaged 4.9 million viewers for the week in prime time (3.3 rating, 6 share). NBC was second with 3.9 million (2.6, 5), ABC had 3.9 million (2.6, 4), Fox had 3.4 million (2.1, 4), ION Television had 1.2 million (0.8, 1) and the CW had 740,000 (0.5, 1).

Among the Spanish language networks, Univision led with a 3.4 million average (1.8 rating, 3 share). Telemundo had 1.2 million (0.7, 1), TeleFutura had 550,000 (0.3, 1), Estrella had 160,000 and Azteca had 90,000 (both 0.1, 0).

NBC's "Nightly News" topped the evening newscasts with an average of 7.9 million viewers (5.4, 11). ABC's "World News" was second with 7.2 million (4.9, 10) and the "CBS Evening News" had 6 million viewers (4.3, 8).

A ratings point represents 1,147,000 households, or 1 percent of the nation's estimated 114.7 million TV homes. The share is the percentage of in-use televisions tuned to a given show.

For the week of Aug. 27-Sept. 2, the top 10 shows, their networks and viewerships: "America's Got Talent" (Tuesday), NBC, 9.89 million; "NCIS," CBS, 8.38 million; "America's Got Talent" (Wednesday), NBC, 8.34 million; College Football: Michigan vs. Alabama, ABC, 7.92 million; "NCIS: Los Angeles," CBS, 7.2 million; "60 Minutes," CBS, 6.96 million; "Hell's Kitchen" (Monday), Fox, 6.87 million; "2 Broke Girls" (Monday, 9 p.m.), CBS, 6.63 million; "Master Chef" (Tuesday), Fox, 6.59 million; "The Big Bang Theory" (Monday, 8:30 p.m.), CBS, 6.51 million.

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ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Co. CBS is owned by CBS Corp. CW is a joint venture of Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corp. Fox and My Network TV are units of News Corp. NBC and Telemundo are owned by Comcast Corp. ION Television is owned by ION Media Networks. TeleFutura is a division of Univision. Azteca America is a wholly owned subsidiary of TV Azteca S.A. de C.V.

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Online:

http://www.nielsen.com/

[Associated Press; By DAVID BAUDER]

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