Fox's 'Boris and Nicole' Gets Warm Welcome in Atlanta, Detroit

The Fox Television Stations debuted summer test The Boris and Nicole Show on Monday to promising results.

Across 11 markets, Boris and Nicole, starring celebrity husband and wife Boris Kodjoe and Nicole Ari, averaged a 1.0 rating/3 share in households, according to Nielsen Media Research’s weighted overnight metered-market ratings. That’s down 29% from its average lead-in of 1.4/4, but up 25% from its year-ago time period average of 0.8/3. In the largest markets, such as New York and Los Angeles, Fox was testing Hollywood Today Live last July. That show, in partnership with Media General, will return this fall.

Boris and Nicole is the first test Fox has run that it’s sharing with other stations. Sinclair is airing the show in two markets, Block Communications in one market and Media General in 11 markets for a total of 20 markets overall. Not all markets are included in Nielsen’s average because they aren’t all metered.

Among daytime’s key demographic of women 25-54, Boris and Nicole averaged a 0.9/6, down 25% from its 1.2/9 lead-in, but up 80% from its year-ago 0.5/3 time period average.

The show’s best performance by far came in the couple's home market on Fox’s WAGA Atlanta at 1 p.m., where it did a 2.2/6 in households and a 2.5/11 among women 25-54. It also did well on Fox’s WJBK Detroit, where it averaged a 2.0/6 in households and a 1.2/8 in the demo at 2 p.m. In Atlanta, the show climbed 140% in the demo from last year, while in Detroit it jumped 150%. 

In Los Angeles and Washington, D.C., the show was interrupted or preempted for news coverage, while in Phoenix it turned in a 0 rating/0 share.

Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.