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Fox Set to Win First November Sweeps

Published on November 24, 2009 | Email this article

November sweeps ends tonight, and Fox looks to be the easy winner of the month.

It will be the first true November victory for the network, though it tied for first with NBC in 2001, points out Media Life.

Fox was averaging a 3.6 adults 18-49 and 10 share as of Sunday (the latest night available from Nielsen), while ABC was 16% behind with a 3.1/9. CBS was nipping at ABC’s heels, with a 3.0/8, and NBC had a 2.6/7. The CW followed, with a 1.2/3.

Fox has dominated the mid-season thanks to American Idol in recent years, but this year the network took its earliest lead ever, pulling ahead in October.

Much of Fox’s success has been due to baseball. Game 4 of the World Series was the third-highest-rated program - following two Sunday Night Football games - and five of the six Word Series games aired during sweeps. All airings of the games averaged a 4.7 rating. House has helped, too. Last week, the show pulled better audiences than even the World Series.

Despite the fact that U.S. television viewing has achieved an all-time high, with the average viewer watching four hours and 49 minutes a day (including DVR viewing), broadcast network ratings have continued to slide this season. Ratings among adults 25-54 were down about 10% in Q3. Viewership is fragmented as viewers have more choice than ever - more cable channels, the ability to time shift via DVRs, online viewing, etc. - when choosing what to watch.

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