USA Network Touts WWE Ratings Victory Over TNA

John Cena

One day after WWE’s Monday Night Raw trounced TNA Impact for the second consecutive week, USA Network threw a little more salt in the Nashville, TN based company’s wounds.

USA highlighted the superior WWE ratings in their latest press release announcing that they were still the highest rated network on cable during prime time.

We posted our complete analysis of Monday’s ratings, including comments from Dixie Carter, earlier in the day.

USA REMAINS #1 IN CABLE

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – March 16, 2010 – USA was the #1 network in cable prime this week, delivering more P25-54 (1.15 million, +24% over #2 TBS), P18-49 (1.10 million, +1% over #2 TBS) and households (1.84 million, +3% over #2 DSNY) than any of its cable competitors while earning the top basic cable household coverage rating of the week (1.86, +0.04 over #2 DSNY). USA delivered more total viewers (2.48 million, +10% over #2 FOXNC) than any other ad-supported network on cable. No other cable network delivered over 1 million P25-54 in prime.

USA continued to outperform The CW, with double-digit victories among P25-54 (+29%) and total viewers (+41%) as well as outperforming the broadcaster among P18-49 (+9%). Cable’s #1 network registered victories over “Big 4? broadcast networks in 13 primetime hours this week (M-Su 8P-11P) thanks to USA Originals WHITE COLLAR and PSYCH, WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW, hit movies and episodes of the top acquired series on cable, NCIS, LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT and HOUSE.

USA was home of four of the top ten P25-54 telecasts in prime this week and three of the top P18-49 with original hours of WHITE COLLAR and WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW and the top acquired series on cable, NCIS.

* The season finale of WHITE COLLAR was the most watched episode of the series since the season premiere on 1/19/10 among P25-54 (1.87 million) and P18-49 (1.85 million), enjoying double digit gains week to week in every demo. It was the most watched scripted telecast this week among P25-54 and the top telecast overall on cable prime Tuesday night among P25-54, P18-49, total viewers (4.04 million) and households (2.76 million), as well as the top scripted telecast in prime that night among P18-34 (902,000). WHITE COLLAR was the only scripted telecast in basic cable prime to draw over 1.5 million P25-54 viewers this week. Additionally, WHITE COLLAR delivered nearly twice as many P18-49 (+92%) and total viewers (+96%) than the new episode of TNT’s “Southland,” with significant margins among P25-54 (+75%), P18-34 (+89%) and households (+76%). USA’s newest hit series also beat ABC’s new episode of “The Forgotten” head to head at 10P among P18-34, M18-34 and M18-49, and more M18-34 watched WHITE COLLAR than anything on NBC or the new episode of “The Good Wife” on CBS.

* Season 4.5 of PSYCH was the most popular season of the series ever among P18-34, averaging 823,000 of these viewers (prior high was Season 2.5 in 1Q08). PSYCH finished the season as the #1 P18-49 cable telecast in Wednesday night’s prime (1.46 million), delivering more total viewers (2.95 million) and households (2.05 million) than any other cable entertainment
telecast in the night’s prime. PSYCH was the most watched scripted telecast of the night among P18-34 (809,000) and the top drama for P25-54 (1.38 million). Additionally, more P18-34 watched PSYCH Wednesday night than new episodes of “The New Adventures of Old Christine,” “Ugly Betty” or “Mercy.” PSYCH drew more males of this demo than these shows, too, as well as beating “Scrubs” and “CSI: NY” in M18-34.

* Only a pair of series-high episodes of “Pawn Stars” on History outperformed WWE MONDAY NIGHT RAW this week among P18-49 (2.59 million) while among P25-54 (2.46million), RAW was behind only “Pawn Stars” and a series-high “American Pickers.” RAW delivered nearly four times as many P18-49 (+274%), P18-34 (+293%) and total viewers (+275%) as TNA “Impact” in the first night of its new timeslot head-to-head against RAW and more than tripled their P25-54 (+226%) and household (+246%) audiences. In RAW’s 9P-11P time period, USA outperformed NBC in delivering P18-34, P18-49, P25-54 and total viewers, besting ABC and FOX among M18-34 and ABC in M18-49, M25-54 and M2+.

* NCIS continues to be the top acquired series in prime, delivering more P25-54 (1.57 million), total viewers (4.27 million) and households (3.12 million) than any other off-net series on cable. NCIS was the only acquired series to appear in the week’s P25-54 top ten and the only one to deliver over 1.5 million of these viewers, 3 million total viewers or 2 million households in prime this week. LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT was second only to NCIS among acquired primetime this week for total viewers P2+ (2.21 million) and households (1.74 million).