“Kelly Clarkson” is sole talker moving up as Barrett hearings hinder gabfests

Review based on a national syndicated rating report for the week ending October 18, 2020.

Powerhouse sophomore Kelly Clarkson (0.9 live plus same day national Nielsen rating, up 13% from the week before) was the only talker able to overcome an onslaught of preemptions and break into positive territory in the session ending October 18, 2020.

“Clarkson” also belted out a 25% increase in the coveted W25-54 money demo to tie veteran “Ellen” at a 0.5.

The remainder of the 14-show yak pack – especially the programs cleared on network affiliates – were slammed by four days of blackouts in some markets for Amy Coney Barrett’s Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. In addition, shows were battered by baseball playoff games on Fox and penalized by football contests on ABC and CBS.

For example, Live with Kelly and Ryan (1.6, down 16%) lost its primary run in several markets and ran second to talk leader Dr. Phil (1.9, steady) after being tied for first the week before.

Ellen DeGeneres (1.1, unchanged) was down 42% from last year at this time, but still finished in third place.

By comparison, court shows held up well. Judge Judy (5.4, steady) again demolished everything else in daytime, while Hot Bench (1.6, steady) tied “Kelly and Ryan” as the #3 show in the daypart.

Among magazines, Extra (0.7) held its ground and moved into a tie with TMZ (0.7, down 13%) for the first time this season. Others in the top six avoiding any losses despite the preemptions were leader Inside Edition (2.2, unchanged) and Access Hollywood (1.0, steady), which strengthened 25% in the W25-54 demo.