Super Bowl XLII Helps Boost Fox to Weekly Ratings Mark
Network Posts Highest-Rated Week Ever in 18-49 Demo Thanks to Football, American Idol, House, Moment of Truth
By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/5/2008 12:53:00 PM
Fox said its record Super Bowl XLII audience, combined with strong showings from American Idol, House and Moment of Truth, powered it to its highest-rated week ever in the key adults 18-49 demo.
The network averaged a 12.9 rating/32 share for the Super Bowl-boosted week in primetime.
While there has been little attention paid to the fact given this writers’ strike-addled season, it is also the beginning of the February sweeps. For the sweeps, Fox is averaging a 15.4/37 in 18-49s, up 756% from last year, when it did not have the Super Bowl to send it through the ratings roof with the game's 37.5/73 rating/share average.
The 12.9/31 that drama House recorded as the lead-out to the Super Bowl was also that show's best rating ever in 18-49s and the biggest rating for a scripted series on Fox in a decade (since The X-Files Nov. 23, 1997).
News Corp.'s other network, MyNetworkTV, also had something to brag about. It boasted its second-biggest 18-49 audience with 672,000 viewers and its all-time 18-49 ratings high on a Wednesday with a .6, and a tie for a Friday all-time high with another .6.
