On a Wednesday night that was loaded with repeats and had fewer viewers in the key 18-49 demographic than usual, ABC's freshman comedy "The Neighbors" slid to a series low, while "American Idol" hit another low for Wednesday performance shows but still led Fox to victory, according to preliminary numbers.
Compared to last Wednesday, television usage among the 18-49 demographic most important to advertisers was down 7 percent from 8 to 11 p.m. "American Idol" from 8 to 10 — which filled Fox's primetime slate — was down a modest 3 percent from last week in ratings with a 3.6 rating/11 share, and actually inched up in total viewers with 13.1 million. Those numbers were enough to hand "Idol" and Fox first place for the night in both categories.
CBS, in second place in ratings and total viewers with a 2.0/6 and 8.2 million, aired mostly repeats, aside from "Survivor" at 8, which ticked down 4 percent to a 2.5/8 and drew 9.5 million total viewers.
Univision came in third in ratings and fifth in total viewers with a 1.5/4 and 3.5 million.
ABC was fourth in ratings and third in total viewers with a 1.2/4 and 3.9 million. Like CBS, the network was mostly in repeat mode. The exception was "The Neighbors," which slid 18 percent from last week, hitting a series low of 1.4/4 and drawing 4.7 million total viewers.
NBC took fifth place in ratings and fourth in total viewers with a 1.1/3 and 3.8 million. The network aired reruns, except for "Whitney" at 8, which dipped 8 percent to a 1.2/4 and had 3.4 million total viewers.
