“Dr. Phil” vaults 42% to new high and regains talk show lead
Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending January 12.
Dr. Phil (new season high 2.7 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 42% from the week before) emphatically reclaimed the top spot in talk for the session ending January 12, following two weeks of reruns in which the show finished second in the category.
The big number was the strip’s best Nielsen since the week of May 20, 2019 and marked the 172nd time “Phil” was first in talk in the past 175 weeks.
Live with Kelly and Ryan (2.1, steady) continued its recent strong run, outperforming third place Ellen DeGeneres (2.0, up 25%).
The daytime leader by a wide margin was court show force majeure Judge Judy (6.9, up 23%), which tallied its highest numbers since last November, and blew away the other legal programs for the 1,216th consecutive week while exceeding the ratings of all three top talkers combined.
In rookie news The Kelly Clarkson Show (1.3, steady) climbed 20% in the target W25-54 demo and extended its winning streak among the season’s unusually large freshman crop to 18 weeks, despite being one of the shows negatively affected by coverage in the aftermath of Iran’s missile strike on US bases in Iraq.
Another hot newcomer Tamron Hall (1.0, up 11%), like Clarkson already greenlit for a sophomore year, matched its season high.
Meanwhile, the top entertainment magazines again reaped big rating increases following the Golden Globe Awards on January 5.
Entertainment Tonight (new season high 3.0, up 20%) claimed sole possession of first place among all magazines with its strongest Nielsens since the week of March 11, 2019 and overtook stablemate Inside Edition (2.9, up 16%).
Access Hollywood (1.5, up 7%), which had rocketed 27% the week before, equaled its highest rating of the season and surged 33% in the coveted W25-54 age group.
TMZ (1.1, up 22%) gained ground and, right on its heels, Extra (1.0, up 11%) jumped 25% among W25-54 and matched its season high despite preemptions for local programming in some markets.
