Magazines saw dramatic increases in the week ending Aug. 17, fueled by extensive coverage of the life and tragic death of Robin Williams.
CBS Television Distribution's magazine leader Entertainment Tonight ballooned 21% for the week to a 3.5 live plus same day household ratings average, that show's strongest rating since March. CTD's Inside Edition added 7% to a 2.9. Warner Bros.' TMZ, which often breaks major entertainment news on its Web site, ironically had the smallest gain of the top six, moving up 6% to a 1.8. NBCUniversal's Access Hollywood surged 14% to a 1.6, that show's highest rating in 12 weeks. Warner Bros.' Extra improved 25%, the biggest leap of any top-tier magazine, to a 1.5, that show's best performance since the week of June 9. Extra also climbed 15% from last year at this time, the most of any magazine. CTD's The Insider scored its largest rating in seven weeks, a 1.3, up 18% from the prior session.
MGM's RightThisMinute gained 10% to a 1.1. Twentieth's Dish Nation bounced off its season low to recover 11% to a 1.0, where it has been 14 times in the past 15 weeks. Trifecta's OK! TV climbed 33% from a 0.3 to 0.4, while its out-of-production America Now remained at a 0.3 for the 13th consecutive week.
In contrast to magazines' rally, talk shows, mostly in repeats, were flat to down as late-summer viewing levels declined. NBCU's Steve Wilkos was the only talker out of 17 to gain over the previous week, advancing 8% to a 1.3.
CTD's Dr. Phil tied Disney-ABC's Live with Kelly and Michael for talk's top spot at a 2.5. Phil was even with the prior frame, despite being completely in reruns, while Live, which has been drawing its largest audiences in seven years and finished first or tied for first in nine of the past ten weeks, dipped 4% for the week.
The top two were well ahead of NBCU's Maury and Warner Bros.' Ellen, which tied for third at a 1.7. Maury was off 6% for the week, while Ellen was flat at its season low for a third straight week.
SPT's Dr. Oz, which was one of just two talkers to gain in the prior week, held on to its gains with a steady 1.6. An all-repeat week of NBCU's Steve Harvey slipped 7% to a 1.4. Disney-ABC's Katie, which has ceased production, was flat at a 1.2, while sinking 20% from last year at this time, the sharpest year-to-year decline of any talk show.
CTD's Rachael Ray, primarily in repeats, receded 8% to a 1.1, tying NBCU's Jerry Springer, which held steady at a 1.1. Debmar-Mercury's Wendy Williams weakened 9% to a 1.0, with one original and four repeats during the week. That tied CTD's The Doctors, also in repeats, which was flat.
NBCU's cancelled Trisha was unchanged at a 0.4. Meredith's The Better Show remained at a 0.2 for the 35th out of 36 weeks.
SPT's Queen Latifah, the only returning rookie, was off 11% to a 0.8 with a week of repeats. CTD's The Test was marked down 17% to a 0.5, tying Warner Bros.' Bethenny and CTD's Arsenio Hall, both of which were flat.
CTD's Judge Judy, in repeats, had no trouble topping the overall syndication chart for the 21st week in a row, with a 6.6, off 1% for the week but still up 6% for the year. Warner Bros.' People's Court, the number-two gaveler, unchanged at a 1.8. Warner Bros.' Judge Mathis was flat at a 1.4, tying Twentieth's Divorce Court, which gained 8%. Twentieth's Judge Alex, which is stepping down from the bench, was flat at a 1.3, while MGM's freshman Paternity Court trailed with a 0.9, losing 10% from the prior session.
The game shows bounced back, with CTD's Wheel of Fortune regaining leadership over the genre with a 4% gain to a 5.7, edging ahead of CTD's Jeopardy!, which was unchanged at a 5.5. Debmar-Mercury's Steve Harvey-led Family Feud perked up 5% to a 4.6. Disney-ABC's Who Wants to be a Millionaire was flat at a 1.9.
CTD's The Big Bang Theory, whose Jim Parsons just won his fourth Emmy for outstanding lead actor in a comedy, rebounded 4% to a 5.6 after a drop-off in the previous week. Twentieth's rookie Modern Family, which won its fifth consecutive Emmy for outstanding comedy, remained at its season-low 3.3. Warner Bros.' veteran Two and a Half Men followed right behind, climbing 7% to a 3.2. Twentieth's Family Guy softened 4% to a 2.6. SPT's Seinfeld skidded 5% to a 1.8, tying Twentieth's The Cleveland Show, which was unchanged. Warner Bros.' Friends and The Middle and Twentieth's King of the Hill all were flat at a 1.7, 1.6 and 1.6, respectively. Twentieth's How I Met Your Mother tumbled 12% to a 1.5.
The Fox owned television stations wrapped up its pair of six-week tests during the week. Hollywood Today Live averaged a 0.5 rating/2 share metered market household average over its full six-week tryout, dropping 37% from its lead-in and 28% from its year-ago time period average. The show did manage to grow by a tenth of a ratings point from week one to week six, rising 20% to a 0.6 compared to its 0.5 start in households.
The show also did show some growth on local stations over its test. On WNYW New York, Hollywood Today Live grew 50% among daytime's key demographic of women 25-54 in its final week, growing to a 0.6 from a 0.4. On WTTG Los Angeles, the show grew 100% over last year's time period in households, moving to a 0.6 from a 0.3, and among women 25-54, growing to a 0.4 from a 0.2. Similarly, on WFLD Chicago Hollywood Today Live grew 100% in households from its previous week, to a 0.4 from a 0.2, and 33% from premiere week.
The Daily Helpline averaged a 0.1/0 over its six-week test, down 66% from its lead-in and 75% from its year-ago time periods.
Finally, weekend show Laughs is averaging a 0.4/1 over its first four weekends, declining 50% from its l
Most recent headlines
06/10/2025
France T l visions, France's leading broadcaster, has received the 2025 EBU ...
04/09/2025
Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE), in collaboration with Dalet, has been a...
30/08/2025
WASHINGTON The Federal Communications Commission has adopted its FY 2025 Regulatory Fees Order that establishes the regulatory fee rates for the broadcast stati...
29/08/2025
Australian Red Cross and SBS launch training to help workplaces in the fight aga...
29/08/2025
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF), an agency of the Department of Sp...
29/08/2025
L3Harris Technologies has concentrated decades of expertise across the entire enterprise to develop affordable and reliable best-of-breed solutions to rapidly c...
29/08/2025
BURBANK, Calif. The CW Network and the Pac-12 Conference have announced a new media rights deal that will extend their broadcast partnership beginning with the ...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK Gracenote has released a new analysis of its global video dataset showing that the number of FAST channels grew nearly 14% from Q1 2025 and 76% since 2...
29/08/2025
SAN JOSE, Calif. Harmonic has announced a series of improvements to its live sports streaming solution that the company said will improve fan engagement, protec...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES Fox Corp. and YouTube TV last night announced a renewal of the full portfolio of Fox networks, including Fox News Channel, Fox Business...
29/08/2025
Budapest, Hungary, August 2025 - The integration of Microsoft Teams Rooms (MTR) with Lightware's Taurus universal matrix switchers delivers a new level of f...
29/08/2025
Frequency, the engine behind many of the world's best-known streaming television channels, today announced it will launch Studio Live, a next-generation uni...
29/08/2025
In an era when AI and cyber resilience are essential, Scality will mark the 10th anniversary of Scality Day on October 16, 2025 in Paris. This flagship global e...
29/08/2025
Disguise's In-House Creative and Technical Teams Pre-Visualised, Programmed and Delivered Content for the Experience, All Powered by EX 3+
Technology solu...
29/08/2025
Disguise will be demonstrating the latest workflows for TV, film and live events on a number of partner booths at the show
Disguise, the industry-leading tech...
29/08/2025
STOCKHOLM, Sweden Accedo will showcase Accedo Compose, its AI agent-powered modular orchestration layer that assists streaming providers in transitioning client...
29/08/2025
LOS ANGELES Cineverse has announced that it is working with Xperi to bring four of its streaming channels to automobiles for the first time as part of the DTS A...
29/08/2025
DALLAS & ATLANTA Gray Media has announced an agreement with the sports streaming service Victory+ to simulcast 17 Dallas Stars NHL games in 15 television market...
29/08/2025
NEW YORK AND CULVER CITY Comcast NBCUniversal and Amazon have announced new and extended distribution agreements that will expand the content available on their...
29/08/2025
FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. RED Digital Cinema will feature its Cine-Broadcast Module supporting live broadcast workflows during IBC2025, Sept. 12-15, at the RAI Ams...
29/08/2025
29 Aug 2025
Kyivstar Rings Opening Bell at Nasdaq Marking Landmark Listing and ...
29/08/2025
More than half of all NFL games live on Sky for the first timeFriday 29 August 2025
Sky Sports has announced a new three-year deal with the NFL, extending its ...
29/08/2025
Back to All News
RIV4LRIES: The Trailer of the New Series With Samuele Carrino ...
29/08/2025
Get ready for an inspiring and emotional insight into the world of competitive Irish dancing with My Story: Tomi Champion of the World airing on RT 2 this monda...
29/08/2025
RT has today announced that David McCullagh is to be the new presenter of RT Radio 1's flagship Today programme, which airs every weekday at 10am, replaci...
28/08/2025
By Kristin Feeley, Director, Documentary Film & Artist Programs
If you want to tell untold stories, if you want to give voice to the voiceless, you've got ...
28/08/2025
Directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, Sundance Institute-supported Amer...
28/08/2025
Corridos have been a cornerstone of M sica Mexicana for generations, telling stories rooted in everyday life. Now, a new chapter is taking shape: motivational c...
28/08/2025
Los corridos han sido un pilar de la M sica Mexicana durante generaciones, contando historias enraizadas en la vida cotidiana. Ahora, un nuevo cap tulo est tom...
28/08/2025
Earlier this month, we promised our Verano Forever party would bring the heat, a...
28/08/2025
L3Harris will provide the Polish F-16V fleet with the Viper Shield electronic warfare system as part of an upgrade program....
28/08/2025
Bilbao, August 26, 2025 - AgileTV, an international television and video technol...
28/08/2025
Ken Wilkinson is an Emmy Awards nominated New York audio engineer who specialises in production sound mixing for film, commercial, episodic and documentary work...
28/08/2025
NEW YORK FuboTV today announced that it will launch Fubo Sports, a skinny bundle that focuses on sports with a subscription price of $56 monthly....
28/08/2025
NEVADA City, Calif. At IBC2025, Sept. 12-15 at the RAI Amsterdam, Telestream will debut its new Global Ingest strategy, introducing a next-generation ingest arc...
28/08/2025
Dr. Rhoda Bernard Releases Groundbreaking Debut Book on Accessible Arts Educatio...
28/08/2025
TAG Video Systems, the leader in software-based IP end-to-end workflow monitoring, deep probing, and real-time visualization, has named Oliver Gappa as Sales Di...
28/08/2025
AI-based voice enhancement will be among a series of innovations making their IBC 2025 debut on the DHD stand B46 in Hall 8 at the RAI Amsterdam Convention Cent...
28/08/2025
Telef nica Servicios Audiovisuales (TSA), the leading system integrator and service provider in the media sector in Spain, with the support of Appear, the globa...
28/08/2025
To fully immerse sailing fans in the world's biggest offshore yacht race, production company, Optical Media turned to LiveU's On-site Production solutio...
28/08/2025
Working with Calrec on its most recent overhaul, radio and television broadcaster, WNED has migrated to a fully IP infrastructure with multiple Type R consoles,...
28/08/2025
Cleeng, the Subscriber Retention Management (SRM ) inventor, has unveiled Cleeng Pro, the first-ever direct-to-consumer (D2C) subscription management platform t...
28/08/2025
Zixi, the industry leader in live broadcast-quality video over IP, today announced that French media distribution platform OKAST has selected Zixi to enable rel...
28/08/2025
Solution offers a streamlined, speaker-free architecture to optimize integration with premium external loudspeakers and advanced loudness metering
Nixer Pro Au...
28/08/2025
Cinegy, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has announced a strategic partnership with Vision One Touch Film Production Services L.L...
28/08/2025
Telestream, a global leader in media workflow technologies, will debut its new Global Ingest strategy at IBC2025, introducing a next-generation ingest architect...
28/08/2025
Tier 1 operator selects Broadpeak to power high-performance, unified CDN solution across Norway, Sweden and Finland
Broadpeak, a leader in streaming and moneti...
28/08/2025
Leading video software provider, Synamedia, today announced that 24 Frames Digital, one of India's leading live event streaming service providers, has chose...
28/08/2025
Meet VisualOn at IBC2025: See What's Next in AI-Powered Video Streaming Join VisualOn at IBC2025 and discover how our AI-driven Optimizer and advanced media...
Magazines saw dramatic increases in the week ending Aug. 17, fueled by extensive coverage of the life and tragic death of Robin Williams.
