Whitney Houston's Death Spikes Magazine Show TV Ratings

The tragedy of Whitney Houston’s death and the Grammy Awards combined to pump up the ratings for all major TV news magazines on Monday.

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Entertainment Tonight, which is the longtime leader in the category, saw an impressive 36% jump (compared to Monday the week before) to a 3.8 overnight rating, which means 8% of those viewing TV at that time were tuned in.

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E.T. Did a special report from the Grammys, which aired on CBS. E.T. Is also a CBS production so had excellent access. The Grammy’s, of course, included tributes to Houston, as did the newsmagazine coverage.

Access Hollywood was up 25% to a 3.1 rating and 7% share of the audience. It was up 19% over the same time last year.

Extra had a 22% improvement over the same day a week earlier, with a 2.2 rating and 5% of the available viewership.

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E.T.’s  stable mate, The Insider, was up an impressive 36% week to week, rating 1.9 with a 4% share of audience.

TMZ, which broke a series of Houston death scene scoops, popped up 29% from the prior week and was up 19% compared to a year earlier.

All of these ratings come from the largest cities that are “metered markets,” meaning the Nielsen rating service has electronic tracking systems in homes there. The national numbers will come out in about two weeks and may be slightly different.