Jojo
22-09-2006, 23:18
The season premiere of ABC's Grey's Anatomy has comprehensively beaten long-time ratings powerhouse CSI in its new Thursday night time slot.
ABC's gamble, moving Grey's from Sunday nights to Thursday, paid off magnificently with its season three starter averaging 25.1m viewers compared to CSI's 22m.
In addition to winning in terms of total viewers, Grey's Anatomy beat CSI in the crucial 18-49 demographic, leading ABC to a win in the advertiser-friendly demo for the night.
It was CBS, however, who won the night in terms of total viewers. Survivor: Cook Islands at 8pm averaged 17.3m viewers, holding its own compared to a Grey's clip show which averaged 13.5m. NBC's comedy block ran third, with My Name Is Earl and The Office averaging 9m viewers.
NBC remained third at 9pm, with Deal Or No Deal only improving slightly on its lead-in with an average of 10.2m viewers.
The peacock network surged ahead at 10pm, however, overcoming huge lead-in potentials for ABC and CBS with veteran medical drama ER averaging 15.6m viewers. 15m viewers stuck with Shark on CBS, while 13.3m tuned in for the series premiere of Six Degrees.
Fox and The CW were distant also-rans for the night. Til Death at 8pm on Fox managed just under 6m viewers, but only 3.3m bothered with Celebrity Duets when 9pm rolled around.
Smallville and Supernatural on The CW stood even less of a chance on a packed Thursday night, with the network falling fairly significantly from a Top Model-driven high on Wednesday to last place with a paltry average of 2.4m viewers for the night.
ABC's gamble, moving Grey's from Sunday nights to Thursday, paid off magnificently with its season three starter averaging 25.1m viewers compared to CSI's 22m.
In addition to winning in terms of total viewers, Grey's Anatomy beat CSI in the crucial 18-49 demographic, leading ABC to a win in the advertiser-friendly demo for the night.
It was CBS, however, who won the night in terms of total viewers. Survivor: Cook Islands at 8pm averaged 17.3m viewers, holding its own compared to a Grey's clip show which averaged 13.5m. NBC's comedy block ran third, with My Name Is Earl and The Office averaging 9m viewers.
NBC remained third at 9pm, with Deal Or No Deal only improving slightly on its lead-in with an average of 10.2m viewers.
The peacock network surged ahead at 10pm, however, overcoming huge lead-in potentials for ABC and CBS with veteran medical drama ER averaging 15.6m viewers. 15m viewers stuck with Shark on CBS, while 13.3m tuned in for the series premiere of Six Degrees.
Fox and The CW were distant also-rans for the night. Til Death at 8pm on Fox managed just under 6m viewers, but only 3.3m bothered with Celebrity Duets when 9pm rolled around.
Smallville and Supernatural on The CW stood even less of a chance on a packed Thursday night, with the network falling fairly significantly from a Top Model-driven high on Wednesday to last place with a paltry average of 2.4m viewers for the night.