“Judge Judy” wins 2018-19 syndication season – now #1 first-run show for full decade

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending August 18.

With a full season (live + 7) average audience of 10.165-million viewers each day, Judge Judy (2018-19 season to date 6.8 live plus same day national Nielsen) was the most-watched and highest rated show of the entire year in syndication.

This marks a full decade (every season since 2009) at the top of all first-run programs for “Judy” and six straight years as No. 1 in the household ratings among all shows in syndication.

The runners up as of the session ending August 18, with one week yet to go in the season, were Jeopardy (season to date 6.2) and Family Feud (6.1).

Among talk shows Dr. Phil (2.7 full season average), which has finished first for 154 consecutive weeks, was tops for the eighth year in a row including one first place tie in the 2015-16 season.

Live with Kelly and Ryan (full season 2.2 average) also had a great year, ranking as the second highest talker. Further back Ellen DeGeneres (2.0 average) was third.

Shows were hard-pressed to move up in the most recent frame, the dog days of summer session ending August 18. But Judge Judy (four-week high 5.9, up 2% from the week before) blew by all programs for the fifth time in six weeks even though the show was in reruns on all five days.

In try-out news, week six of the six-week test that began July 15 for comedic game show Punchline (0.3/1 weighted metered market average) lost 40% from both its lead-ins and August 2018 time periods.

In another trial the national numbers for week one of a three week test for talker Jerry O, starring Jerry O’Connell and airing on the Fox O&Os in Wendy Williams’ time periods, was included in the blended 0.9 national rating for “Wendy” repeats in the session ending August 18. That tied the previous week of the usual “Wendy.”