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The new year brought new ratings highs to several syndicated series — most notably Family Feud.
The game show, hosted by Steve Harvey, scored a record 6.1 household rating and a 3.1 among women 25-54 for the week ending Jan. 26. That marks its best performance since the advent of Nielsen People Meter technology in 1988 and puts Family Feud up a massive 336 percent in total households since Harvey took over as host in 2010.
Compared to the same week last year, Family Feud is up 20 percent. Family Feud, which is seen in about 96 percent of U.S. TV homes, had 9.2 million viewers for the week, up 9 percent from the prior week and 18 percent from a year earlier. It also means that in the key demo (women 25-54), which is what advertisers use to buy time on the show, Family Feud has surpassed Wheel of Fortune (3.0 in the demo) and Jeopardy (2.7 demo).
Family Feud, produced by FremantleMedia North America and distributed in the U.S. domestic market by Debmar Mercury, is second only to Judge Judy among adults 25-54.
Harvey’s daily talk show also enjoyed a boost, with household ratings rising to 2.0, up 5 percent over the prior week and 25 percent over the same week last year. It marks the greatest improvement year to year of any syndicated talk show.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire also hit a new season high. It was up 14 percent in households and 20 percent among women 25-54. That equaled its highest household rating and drew the biggest overall audience in a year. It tied its best performance in the demo in two years.
Among talkers, it was also a good week. Dr. Phil led with a 3.4 household rating and a 2.0 in the female 25-54 demo. Live With Kelly and Michael ranked second with a 3.2 household rating. For the 2013-2014 season, Live is now number two among talk shows in both households and the key demo. That is the strongest performance for Live at this point in the season in six years.
Oscar host Ellen DeGeneres’s talk show was in third place for the week with a 3.1 household rating, up 7 percent from the prior week, while Sony’s Dr. Oz brought in a 2.4 household rating for its second highest number since September. Rachael Ray, which is about to get upgraded on ABC-owned stations, had a 1.6 rating.
Among first season shows, Queen Latifah was steady with a 1.2 household rating and Bethenny had a 0.9, which was up 13 percent. More importantly, Bethenny was the top-rated show in its time slot in 7 of the top 15 markets among women 18-34.
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