Elementary's Super Bowl Ratings Dim

Subject: Elementary's Super Bowl Ratings Dim Tue 05 Feb 2013, 1:36 am

http://insidetv.ew.com/2013/02/04/elementary-super-bowl-ratings/

It’s the case of the missing viewers!

Fewer sports fans stuck around to watch Elementary compared to any post-Super Bowl entertainment show in the past nine years.

And it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why.

The 34-minute power outage during Super Bowl XLVII delayed CBS’ presentation of the freshman mystery drama. The episode episode started at 11:15 p.m. ET. That’s the latest start time for a post-championship entertainment program in at least 10 years.

Elementary delivered 20.8 million viewers and a 7.8 rating in the adult demo, marking the smallest post-game audience since ABC aired Alias after the Super Bowl in 2003 (which was the last post-game show to start after 11 p.m.). Still, it’s enough to mark the highest-rated entertainment telecast of the year in the adult demo.

In the episode, Holmes was forced to work with an FBI profiler who previously deceived him and used him for research.

While airing a show after the Super Bowl can deliver big ratings, it seldom impacts a scripted show’s popularity in the long term. Fox’s Glee in 2011 and NBC’s The Office in 2009 didn’t see much of a benefit in the weeks following their game-day airings. Serialized reality competition series, however — where the post-Bowl episode is basically a cliffhanger that can draw viewers into an ongoing competition — sometimes get a longer boost. CBS ran Survivor All-Stars in 2004 and NBC showed The Voice last year and both shows enjoyed elevated ratings during their respective seasons.

As for the big game, the final numbers are now in. And are a bit surprising.

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