October TV Ratings: More Might Than Fright

Fear not a nasty preHalloween surprise as Nielsen39s October live cable TV ratings proved more benign than malicious although industry ratings were down 6 YoY in both total day and primetime viewership October marks the fourth consecutive month of deceleration in the pace of those declines In addition October offered a modestly less favorable YoY comp than September implying even greater underlying improvement Given the encouraging tone on the state of the ad market offered by our ad agency buyer contacts as well as network sellers Comcast39s NBCU highlighted solid scatter market into yearend being one example improving TV ad market conditions could support better 2H ad revenue for those with avails to sell We think viewership stabilization could be an unexpected tailwind into the 4Q Please email us for our dynamic monthly live cable ratings database by network and company or our Media valuation comparables Companyspecific highlights include the followingTurner realized its fourth successive month of improving ratings trends CNN followed up the ratings uplift provided by the second GOP Debate in September with strong viewership of the Democratic debate viewership was up 54 YoY in primetime this month The debate attracted 153mn total viewers making it the highestrated Democratic debate ever and also drove 980k concurrent video streams not captured in the live ratings TBS was up 27 YoY in primetime returning to growth for the first time this year propelled by the MLB NLCS between two majormarket teams the New York Mets and the Chicago Cubs As such despite ongoing ratings softness at TNT down 10 YoY in primetime Turner39s overall primetime ratings were up 7 YoY in OctoberAlthough Disney39s aggregate cable viewership was down again in October we are encouraged by the ongoing viewership stability at ESPN up 1 YoY which grew primetime ratings for the second consecutive month The solid results were largely driven by Monday Night Football and NCAA College Football audience growth in October However across Disney39s portfolio of networks aggregate viewership was down 11 in primetime owing to viewership declines at ABC Family down 27 YoYAt AMCX although The Walking Dead ratings were down from the record levels set in last year39s Season 5 premiere in part due to tough competition from baseball and football it remains the top show on cable TV Moreover despite the tough comparisons AMC network primetime viewership was actually up 3 YoY in October However even with a solid contribution from Sundance 11 YoY aggregate ratings for the company were down 3 in October due to soft results at WE tv and IFC both down 25 YoY in OctoberCLICK BELOW TO ACCESS RESEARCH REPORTPRESENTATION including important disclosuresUS Media October TV Ratings More Might Than FrightThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecom MyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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October TV Ratings: More Might Than Fright

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Anthony DiClemente

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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October TV Ratings: More Might Than Fright

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Anthony DiClemente

"About That with Carl Mayer:" Alaina Donnellon (Episode 10: Political Spending) - By Carl Mayer

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