* Network top in TV premiere week with 18-49s
* Full seasons for sci-fi drama “Revolution,” Matthew Perry
comedy
* NBC says summer Olympics promotions paid off
By Jill Serjeant
LOS ANGELES, Oct 2 (Reuters) – NBC won U.S. television’s
official premiere week with key viewers for the first time since
2003, and swiftly announced full season orders on Tuesday for
three of its new shows.
Boosted by “Sunday Night Football – the nation’s most
watched program – singing contest “The Voice” and futuristic new
drama “Revolution,” NBC was first in the 18-49 age group prized
by advertisers and showed a 12 percent increase in that
demographic compared to the 2011 TV premiere week, Nielsen data
showed.
NBC, which has struggled with shrinking audiences for the
past decade, acknowledged in a statement that the network still
had much work to do.
It said it had ordered full seasons of “Revolution” – the
top new drama series with 18-49 year olds – along with its new
comedy “Go On”, starring former “Friends” star Matthew Perry.
Ryan Murphy’s gay adoption comedy “The New Normal,” also got
the green light for a full season, NBC said in a statement.
According to Nielsen data, NBC was third in average total
viewers (8.2 million), with long-time leader CBS finishing top
of the pile so far in the new season with 10.7 million. NBC
however said it was the only one of the four main TV networks to
increase its average viewers over the same week in 2011,
recording a 9 percent gain.
NBC, which is majority-owned by Comcast, has been
struggling for years to recapture the bumper audiences it
enjoyed with 1990s hit comedies like “Friends,” and “Frasier”.
In a bid to rise from its perennial bottom place, the
network ordered an unprecedented 16 new shows for the 2012-13 TV
season, and is introducing six of them – mostly comedies – this
fall.
NBC’s tactics of moving singing contest “The Voice” to a
twice yearly cycle also appears to be paying dividends. The show
has beaten its revamped Fox rival “The X Factor” despite the
arrival of Britney Spears on its judging panel.
NBC used its broadcasts of the London Olympics in July and
August to promote its new offerings, running early previews and
offering several comedies online ahead of the traditional late
September start of the U.S. television season.
“The strategy for this season was to draft off the
promotional platform of the Olympics and then begin our season
early and strong. I think we’ve accomplished both of those
goals, yet we know it’s a long season and there’s much work
ahead of us,” NBC entertainment chairman Robert Greenblatt said
in a statement.
In the 18-49 age group, Fox finished second, followed by
CBS, and ABC, according to Nielsen data for the week starting
Sept. 24.
In total viewers, CBS was first with 10.7 million average
viewers, followed by ABC (8.3 million), NBC 8.1 million, and Fox
6.9 million.
Fox is a unit of News Corp, CBS is owned by CBS
Corp, and ABC is a unit of Walt Disney Co..
