As the 2009 Masters gets underway this week, The Nielsen Company looks at the tournament’s final round ratings during the reign of Tiger Woods. Starting in 1997, when Woods won his first of four green jackets, his presence at the top of the leaderboard has been ratings gold.

Ratings For The Masters Golf Tournement: 1997-2008

Year
Woods Result
Viewers P2+

1997
Won
13,685,000

1998
T-8
9,957,000

1999
T-18
9,993,000

2000
5th
10,061,000

2001
Won
13,638,000

2002
Won
9,694,000

2003
T-15
8,811,000

2004
T-22
7,913,000

2005
Won
10,778,000

2006
T-3
9,298,000

2007
2nd
10,152,000

2008
T-2
9,711,000

Source: The Nielsen Company / All telecasts on CBS

In tournaments won by Tiger, CBS averages 11.9 million viewers during final round coverage. In each tournament since 1997 NOT won by Tiger, viewership for …

With the brackets set and first round matchups set to tip off on Thursday, Nielsen has released its first annual Guide To March Madness, which tracks a range of consumer and media information surrounding the event.
“The NCAA Tournament is very attractive to sports marketers even in tough economic times,” said Tom Ziangas, SVP for Nielsen Sports. “The games playing out over several weeks make it a sort of mini-series for viewers. There’s always some unexpected drama or Cinderalla story – like Davidson College last year – that makes March Madness a …

According to data from Nielsen IAG, a CoverGirl tie-in with the CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” was the most recalled new “hybrid” ad during the four weeks between October 27 and November 23, 2008.
Hybrid Ads include customized ads, branded promos, vignettes, interstitials, and micro-series where sponsor messaging is combined with program or entertainment content.
Recall refers to the percentage of television viewers who can recall, within 24 hours, a hybrid ad’s sponsor.

CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” were the number one- and two-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Wednesday, November 26, 2008.
ABC’s “Barbara Walters Special” rounded out the top three.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,108,000

2
CSI: NY
CBS
12,304,000

3
BARBARA WALTERS SP-11/26(S)-11/26/2008
ABC
11,612,000

4
BONES
FOX
9,867,000

5
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
7,631,000

6
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
7,483,000

7
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
6,334,000

8
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
6,330,000

9
DEAL OR NO DEAL-WED
NBC
6,319,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE WED
UNI
5,506,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 25, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 11.3 million viewers, while ABC took second place with just over 7.4 million average viewers. FOX and NBC claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.3 …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the number one-ranked primetime telecast on broadcast TV for Tuesday, November 25, 2008 with approximately 20.6 million average viewers.
CBS’s “NCIS” and “The Mentalist” rounded out the top three with approximately 18.1 and 15.9 million average viewers respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULTS
ABC
20,647,000

2
NCIS
CBS
18,118,000

3
MENTALIST, THE
CBS
15,925,000

4
HOUSE
FOX
12,877,000

5
CHARLIE BROWN THANKSGVING(S)-11/25/2008
ABC
11,085,000

6
WITHOUT A TRACE
CBS
10,416,000

7
LAW AND ORDER:SVU
NBC
8,589,000

8
FRINGE
FOX
7,704,000

9
BIGGEST LOSER 6
NBC
6,875,000

10
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE TUE
UNI
5,335,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 25, 2008).

Overall, ABC won the night with an average audience of almost 17.5 million viewers, while CBS took second place with just over 14.8 million average viewers. …

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
60 MINUTES
CBS
18,471,000

2
CSI
CBS
18,175,000

3
NBC SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL
NBC
17,564,000

4
DANCING WITH THE STARS
ABC
17,089,000

5
DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES
ABC
15,854,000

6
DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S)
ABC
15,848,000

7
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
15,740,000

8
SNL PRESIDENTIAL BASH ‘08(S)
NBC
14,436,000

9
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,304,000

10
VOTE 2008-9:00PM(S)
ABC
14,185,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 3 – 9, 2008).

CBS’s “Numbers,” “NCIS,” and “Ghost Whisperer” claimed the top three spots in Nielsen’s ranking of the top primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Friday, November 7, 2008.
ABC’s “20/20″ and FOX’s “Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?” rounded out the top five.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
NUMB3RS
CBS
11,275,000

2
NCIS FRIDAY 9PM-SPECIAL(S)-11/07/2008
CBS
11,216,000

3
GHOST WHISPERER
CBS
10,888,000

4
20/20-FRI
ABC
8,235,000

5
SMARTER THAN 5TH GRADER
FOX
6,458,000

6
DEAL OR NO DEAL-FRI
NBC
5,520,000

7
SUPERNANNY
ABC
5,401,000

8
DON’T FORGET THE LYRICS
FOX
4,979,000

9
FUEGO EN LA SANGRE FRI
UNI
4,896,000

10
WIFE SWAP
ABC
4,587,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 7, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 11.1 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 6.1 million average …

CBS’s “CSI” and “Survivor: Gabon” were the number one- and number three-ranked primetime telecasts on broadcast TV for Thursday, November 6, 2008.
ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” was sandwiched in between the two, in second place.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
CSI
CBS
18,175,000

2
GREY’S ANATOMY-THU 9PM
ABC
15,740,000

3
SURVIVOR: GABON
CBS
12,013,000

4
ELEVENTH HOUR
CBS
10,902,000

5
UGLY BETTY
ABC
8,917,000

6
LIFE ON MARS
ABC
8,711,000

7
E.R.
NBC
8,608,000

8
OFFICE
NBC
8,545,000

9
30 ROCK
NBC
8,069,000

10
MY NAME IS EARL
NBC
6,700,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 6, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 13.7 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 11.2 million average viewers. NBC and Univision claimed third and fourth places with roughly 7.7 million and 4.6 …

ABC’s “Dancing With The Stars” was the top-rated primetime telecast on broadcast TV for November 5, 2008.  The program drew just over 15.8 million average viewers Wednesday night.
CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and “CSI: NY” rounded out the top three, with 14.3 million and 11.8 million average viewers, respectively.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
DANCING W/STARS RESULT SP(S)-11/05/2008
ABC
15,848,000

2
CRIMINAL MINDS
CBS
14,304,000

3
CSI: NY
CBS
11,801,000

4
BONES
FOX
10,172,000

5
PRIVATE PRACTICE
ABC
9,171,000

6
LAW AND ORDER
NBC
7,936,000

7
HOUSE-WED 9P
FOX
6,654,000

8
OLD CHRISTINE
CBS
6,497,000

9
GARY UNMARRIED
CBS
6,326,000

10
DIRTY SEXY MONEY
ABC
6,151,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November 5, 2008).

Overall, CBS won the night with an average audience of just over 10.8 million viewers, while ABC took second place with almost 10.5 million …

ABC’s 9pm to 11pm coverage of the U.S. presidential election results was the top-rated primetime telecast on Election Night, Tuesday, November 4, 2008.
NBC’s 8pm to 11:30pm coverage of the voting results claimed second place, and ABC’s 8pm to 9pm Election Night coverage rounded out the top three.
Election returns coverage on CBS, FOX, and Univision dominated the rest of the top ten.

Rank
Program
Network
Viewers (P2+)

1
VOTE 2008-9:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
14,185,000

2
DECISION ‘08 PRIME(S)-11/04/2008
NBC
12,462,000

3
VOTE 2008-8:00PM(S)-11/04/2008
ABC
11,206,000

4
CAMPAIGN 2008 ELECT 3(S)-11/04/2008
CBS
7,410,000

5
YOU DECIDE 2008(S)-11/04/2008
FOX
4,733,000

6
DESTINO 2008 7 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,535,000

7
DESTINO 2008 8 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,474,000

8
DESTINO 2008 6 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
4,365,000

9
DESTINO 2008 5 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,669,000

10
DESTINO 2008 4 11/4(S)-11/04/2008
UNI
3,505,000

Source: The Nielsen Company (November …