'Burn Notice,' 'Suits' Enjoy Nielsen Summer Send-Offs

USA Network's Thursday night original series tandem closed their summer season in strong Nielsen style, as Burn Notice and Suits were the top shows on cable in total viewers and demos on Aug. 23.
Spy drama Burn Notice averaged 4.96 million viewers, up 14% from this run's penultimate installment and 13% above last summer's season finale, according to USA Network officials. On a demo basis, Burn Notice averaged 1.9 million adults 25 to 54, a 10% gain from Aug. 16 and 4% above the comparable episode last summer, according to Nielsen data. Among persons 18 to 49, the show scored 1.7 million of those viewers, 13% more than last week and 4% greater than its 2011 summer farewell.
Lead-out Suits made the "characters welcome network" the top network in all of television during the 10 p.m. hour, scoring season highs among the 18-to-49 and 25-to-54 groups with 1.9 million and 2 million of those watchers, respectively.
Suits' 18-to-49 delivery exceeded the prior week's performance by 8% and its season-one finale by 30%, according to Nielsen. Among the older group, the tallies were ahead 6% and 29%, respectively. The show notched 903,000 persons 18-to-34 viewers, 11% more than with its Aug. 16 installments and a 37% gain from the first-season ender.
All told, Suits' audience averaged 4.5 million, advances of 12% and 29% from last week and last year.