Magazines Outperform in Week Marked by Protests and Pandemic
Entertainment newsmagazines were especially immune to a ton of preemptions for coverage of the coronavirus pandemic as well as protests and memorial services for George Floyd across the country, which overshadowed almost everything else in syndication in the session ending June 7
For example, Entertainment Tonight (2.5 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 9% from the week before) climbed 11% in the coveted W25-54 age group and Access Hollywood (1.2, steady) jumped 20% in W25-54. Growing the most among the top six was Extra (0.9, up 13%), which surged 25% in the key demo, with the surprisingly consistent Daily Mail TV (0.8, steady) in close pursuit.
In daytime, however, many shows suffered severe losses.
Live with Kelly and Ryan (2.0, up 5%) was the only talk show to move up, racing into first place by a wide margin.
Dr Phil (new season low 1.5, down 25%) snared second place despite being partially in repeats and completely covered with preemptions.
Further back were Ellen DeGeneres (new season low 1.2, down 14%), Maury (new season low 1.0, down 9%) and Rachael Ray (1.0, unchanged).
Among the newcomers Tamron Hall (new season low 0.8, down 11%) tied rival Kelly Clarkson (new season low 0.8, down 20%) for the first time. Both shows were gutted by reruns and both were hit with a torrent of preemptions. Trailing the top two was Mel Robbins (0.3, down 25%), which matched its series low.
Syndication’s highest rated show for the entire season Judge Judy (5.4, down 7%), was in repeats on all five days, but nevertheless continued to dominate the court shows for a 1,237th straight week.
