Magazines stand up to Hurricane Florence
Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending September 16.
Despite widespread evacuations, heavy preemptions and massive power outages in some markets due to Hurricane Florence, syndicated magazines forged ahead to multi-week highs in the session ending September 16.
At the head of the class Inside Edition (3.1 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 11% from the week before) was two ticks in front of stable mate Entertainment Tonight (14 week high 2.9, up 7%). However ET (3.0/6 primary run metered market average) finished first among all magazines in the hotly contested 70th Emmy Awards next day coverage competition on September 18. Page Six TV (0.8/2 on September 18) also scored with Emmy coverage, growing 40% in Los Angeles and 60% in Chicago over year ago time periods.
Back in the national ratings for the week ending September 16, the largest magazine increases were recorded by Access (15 week high 1.2, up 9%), Extra (12 week high 1.1, up 10%) and Daily Mail TV (seven week high 1.0, up 11%).
Meanwhile rookie talker Face The Truth (premiere week 0.8), the earliest nationally cleared first-run strip to launch this season, debuted with the second largest opening week ratings of any original syndicated series since September 2017. By comparison courtroom newcomer Caught in Providence began Monday, September 24 with a 0.3/1 metered market average.
Among the returning talk shows, Dr Phil (2.8, up 4%) took the wraps off season 17 and led the genre for the 106th straight week.
Live with Kelly and Ryan (2.1, steady) was next with Ellen DeGeneres(2.0, up 11%) third.
As for the others in the top six, the strongest week to week performers were Steve Harvey’s Steve (nine week high 1.2, up 9%), which surged 20% in the key W25-54 demo, and Wendy Williams (1.2, up 50%), which returned to originals for its 10th season premiere.
In the off-net and off-cable true crime contests, Dateline (four week high 1.2, up 9%) had four times the rating of the opening week of True Crime Files (0.3 premiere).
Topping everything in syndication for the seventh frame in a row was ratings champ Judge Judy (16 week high 6.9, up 11%) which started season 23 on high note. The week’s only other court show moving up was Hot Bench (four week high 2.1, up 5%), which began its fifth season.
