Watson Scores for 'Jeopardy!'

By Paige Albiniak
( Broadcasting & Cable )
published

The introduction of IBM's Watson, a computer custom built to challenge Jeopardy!'s greatest champions, scored the highest single-day rating in four years for syndication's second-highest rated show.

On Valentine's eve, CBS Television Distribution's Jeopardy! hit an 8.7 household ratings average in the metered markets, according to CTD research. That's up 24% from last February's 7.0 household rating. The last time Jeopardy!'s ratings soared that high was on Feb. 13, 2007, when the show notched an 8.8.

That performance pushed Jeopardy! into TV's number-two spot on Monday, behind only an original episode of Two and a Half Men on CBS' Monday night primetime schedule.

Jeopardy! performed especially well in New York and Los Angeles. In New York, Jeopardy! was the top program, averaging an 11.6 average household rating, up 49% from last February's 7.8 household average. In Los Angeles, Jeopardy! was up 34% from last February's 5.8 average household rating.

Paige Albiniak
Paige Albiniak

Contributing editor Paige Albiniak has been covering the business of television for more than 25 years. She is a longtime contributor to Next TV, Broadcasting + Cable and Multichannel News. She concurrently serves as editorial director for The Global Entertainment Marketing Academy of Arts & Sciences (G.E.M.A.). She has written for such publications as TVNewsCheck, The New York Post, Variety, CBS Watch and more. Albiniak was B+C’s Los Angeles bureau chief from September 2002 to 2004, and an associate editor covering Congress and lobbying for the magazine in Washington, D.C., from January 1997 - September 2002.