Thursday-Night Viewership Falls

Tue., March 9, 1999

New York Daily News

Those who have muttered that Thursday nights just haven’t been the same since the departure of NBC’s “Seinfeld” from the television landscape apparently are correct.

According to the latest Nielsen viewership data, the night that, as a whole, formerly defined by NBC’s “Must-See” promotion tag, has definitely lost its bragging rights, having lost nearly 7 million viewers compared to a year ago. Poof!

During January 1999, 96,380,000 viewers, on average, were in front of TV sets during prime time on Thursdays. The previous January, that figure was 103,060,000.

“Seinfeld,” which ended its run last May as the top-rated comedy on any channel, was replaced in the 9 p.m. Thursday slot last fall by “Frasier,” which is averaging about 5 million fewer viewers than “Seinfeld.”

Thursday was the only night to take a hit. All the other nights showed improvement.

Sunday remains the most-watched night of television, with 113,290,000 viewers tuning in (up from 112,740,000). Monday is the second-biggest night of the week, drawing 105,540,000 viewers (up from 101,150,000).

The rest of the week, in order: Tuesday night gets 99,680,000 viewers (up from 98,270,000); Wednesday, 99,440,000 viewers (up from 93,120,000); Thursday, 96,380,000 viewers; Friday, 96,320,000 viewers (up from 94,940,000); and Saturday, 95,700,000 viewers (up from 95,030,000).

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