Disney Kicks Competition in Weekly Ratings

Record-breaking ratings performances from TNT’s The Closer and Saved couldn’t propel the drama network over Disney Channel and USA Network in last week’s ratings race.

Multiple replays of Disney’s martial-arts flick, Wendy Wu: Homecoming Warrior, helped to kick Disney up to a 2.5 household rating and to the top position among ad-supported networks for the week of June 12-18, according to a Disney/ABC Cable analysis of Nielsen Media Research data.

Backed by its weekly ratings juggernaut, World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. content, USA finished second with a 2.4, while TNT’s 2.3 rating placed that network in third place.

The June 16 premiere of Disney’s Wendy Wu movie, which stars popular Disney Channel teen actress Brenda Song, averaged a 4.2 rating, fourth-highest among all ad-supported basic-cable shows for the week. Two weekend repeats of the movie also finished among the top-20-rated shows for the week.

The June 19 episodes of The Closer (which set a scripted-series record with a 6.7 rating) and Saved (which, at a 4.3 rating, set a 2006 high for a scripted-series premiere) finished first and third, respectively, for the week.

Nickelodeon won the total-day race with a 1.9 average rating, with episodes of Fairly OddParents, Drake & Josh and SpongeBob SquarePants nailing several slots in basic-cable’s top 20 shows for the week.

Nick was followed in the total-day period by Disney (1.5); Cartoon Network (1.2); TNT and USA (1.1 each); and TBS and Lifetime Television (0.9). Fox News Channel, ESPN, MTV and Hallmark each posted 0.7 total-day ratings.