Arsenio Hall is off to a good ratings start with his new latenight program, which scored the highest-rated premiere week for any syndicated talkshow in key demos in seven years.
Get Syndication News and alerts free to your inbox
Overall, according to Nielsen estimates in its 56 metered markets, CBS Television Distribution’s “The Arsenio Hall Show” averaged a 1.5 rating/6 share last week — up 50% from the year-ago time periods for the stations on which it airs. It was especially strong in New York, where WPIZ (1.3/3) was up 86%, and in Los Angeles, where the 1.9/6 on KTLA repped a 138% time period improvement.
In adults 18-49, Hall’s 0.7 rating/3 share tied with “Tonight Show With Jay Leno” on NBC as the top-rated post-primetime talkshow — ahead of the likes of Jimmy Kimmel (0.6/3), Jon Stewart (0.6/2), Steve Colbert (0.5/2) and others. And in adults 25-54, it trailed only Leno.
The last new syndicated talkshow to fare better in 18-49 and 25-54 in its premiere week was “Rachel Ray” in 2006.
The week of Sept. 9-13 also saw a decent bow in the nation’s biggest markets for “Bethenny” from Warner Bros. Television Distribution, following the show’s trial run last year on six stations owned by Fox Television Stations Group.
According to Nielsen estimates for the show’s primary runs, “Bethenny” did a 1.1/7 in New York — up 10% over her “Wendy Williams” lead-in and up 38% from “Doctor Oz” a year ago. Other big-market highlights included big gains over “Wendy Williams” in Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas, while in Philadelphia, “Bethenny” held her “Wendy Williams” lead-in and more than doubled last year’s “Dr. Oz.”
Bethenny Frankel’s show still has room for improvements in other markets, including top-25 Houston, Seattle and Phoenix, where it under-performed. Overall, “Bethenny” earned a 0.6 rating/4 share in women 25-54, on par with its lead-in and the year-ago time period. In households, its 1.0/3 was down from a 1.2/4 for both its lead-in and the time period of September 2012.
(Source: Variety.com)
