Superstorm Sandy Shuts Down Syndie Ratings

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

Superstorm Sandy not only destroyed neighborhoods and shut
the power off for weeks across the Eastern Seaboard, it also decimated ratings
for syndicated TV shows.

Ratings for every nationally cleared show are being broken
out for the week of Monday, Oct. 29, through Saturday, Nov. 3, according to a
memo Nielsen Media Research sent out to clients last week. Nielsen "breaks
out" the week's ratings for a syndicated show when it airs in less than
90% of the country.

That means no show with a national clearance -- which is
every syndicated show from Judge Judy to Jeremy Kyle -- will
report a national rating for the week ending Nov. 4.Ratings for shows cleared
only in metered markets, such as NBCUniversal's Access Hollywood Live or
Warner Bros.' Let's Ask America, will report ratings because those shows
are not cleared nationally and do not have a national number.

Paige Albiniak
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.