April Showers USA in Ratings

Another month, another win for USA Network. The “Characters Welcome” network finished April atop both the primetime household and total-audience ratings charts for the fourth consecutive month in 2008, easily outdistancing its nearest competitor.

More importantly for cable, USA led an industry pounding of broadcast during the month, from a household viewership-share perspective, as the medium took full advantage of broadcasters' lack of first-run primetime scripted programming due to the three-month Writers Guild of America strike that ended this past February.

Non-pay TV cable channels averaged a 63 share for April, which was up 5% from a 60 share in April 2007 and nearly doubled the four broadcast networks' combined 39 share. The broadcasters posted a 9% decline from the same period last year, according to Nielsen.

Among individual cable networks, USA finished the period of March 31 to April 27 with a network record 2.1 household rating, up 5% over the 2.0 the network averaged in 2007, according to a Disney-ABC Television Group analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

Disney Channel and Turner Network Television finished a distant second, tied with a 1.8 rating.

Disney suffered a 5% decline from a 1.9 rating last year, while TNT, on the strength of its National Basketball Association playoff coverage, shot its way to a 6% increase from a 1.7 in 2007.

Presidential election primary coverage, original reality series and comedy content propelled Fox News, Nick At Nite and TBS Network respectively to a fourth place with a 1.4 rating, while the start of the 2008 Major League Baseball season and “The Force” from several repeats of the Star Wars movie franchise helped ESPN and Spike TV respectively to a fifth-place tie and 1.3 rating.

On a total-day basis, Nickelodeon finished first with a 1.7 rating, although that was down 6% from a 1.8 last year.