Fox flashy in a freaky February sweep

By James Hibberd

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Packed with such highly rated events as the Super Bowl and award shows, February has always been considered an off-kilter sweep month, one of the four months when ratings data are used to set local ad rates. But in terms of wonky ratings math, few Februarys on record can compare with this one.

With a couple of days left in the sweep, Fox is averaging 17.8 million viewers, up 49 percent from last year. The other networks are down sharply, with percentage drops ranging from 13% (NBC) to 49% (CBS).

Are there caveats? Heck, there's nothing but caveats: Having the most-watched Super Bowl in eight years dramatically increased Fox's year-over-year comparison. CBS' decrease was extra steep, because it had the Super Bowl last year (NBC has the event next year). The three-month writers strike decimated networks that lean heavily on scripted programming. And, of course, digital video recorders continue to chip away at live viewing (23% DVR penetration, by the latest count).

"This is unusual, if not unprecedented, so the numbers have to be viewed accordingly," said John Rash, senior vp and director of media negotiations at ad agency Campbell Mithun.

"Sweeps are already an audience anachronism, and this February is relatively irrelevant compared to most February sweeps with full scripted competition -- which still shouldn't diminish from the success Fox has had."

Through Monday, Fox's biggest successes are the Super Bowl (97.5 million viewers), the post-Bowl episode of "House" (30.3 million) and "American Idol" (averaging 27.6 million). New game show "The Moment of Truth" has declined most weeks since its debut but remains competitive.

For the sweep, ABC is second with 8.4 million viewers, down 21%. Although its presentation of the 80th annual Academy Awards (32 million viewers) was the lowest-rated ever, it was still the highest-rated non-Fox program of the month. "Lost" opened well on the first day of the sweep (17.8 million) but has slipped with subsequent episodes (to 13.6 million last week).

NBC is in third place (7.7 million, down 13%), enduring less of a decline than Fox's other competitors. But that boast is offset by the fact that the network was in a distant fourth place in February 2007. Highlights include the Monday editions of "Deal or No Deal" (averaging 14.4 million viewers) and the two-hour movie/backdoor pilot for "Knight Rider" (12.7 million).

CBS is fourth (8.3 million viewers, down 49%), down steeply because of having the Super Bowl last year and a relatively modest reality lineup to offset the strike. Although the Grammys were down this year, it was nonetheless CBS' February tentpole (17.4 million). "Survivor: Micronesia" has been dipping this month but continues to perform well (averaging 13.6 million).

The CW Network is fifth (2.4 million, down 29%) and hard hit -- the network's schedule was 42% repeats. The highest-rated program was an episode of "Smallville" (4.5 million viewers).

For the week ending February 24, Fox led the field for a seventh round with 15 million viewers, followed by ABC (9.9 million), CBS (7.9 million), NBC (7.2 million) and the CW (2.4 million).

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter