Six months into the 2011-12 season -- the first in a quarter-century without Winfrey dominating afternoons -- "Dr. Phil" has established a firm grip on the top spot among talk shows and has widened its lead in recent weeks.
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For the first time in its 11 years on the air, Dr. Phil was the highest-rated syndicated talk show during the November sweep.
Dr. Phil, which has been the top talker throughout the current season, averaged a 3.2 rating — meaning he brought in about 4.3 million viewers a day. He was also the leader among talk shows in the key women 25-54 demographic with a 1.9 rating, up six percent from one year ago.
Dr. Phil’s audience bested its closest rival, Live With Kelly & Michael, by about 23 percent. The show averaged a 2.7 rating (about 3.5 million viewers a day). That is down 18 percent from the sweep performance last year, but that coincided with the series’ record-breaking sendoff to former co-host Regis Philbin. In general, the Disney-distributed talk show has had a strong season since Michael Strahan joined.
Live still had things to crow about. It was up 13 percent in women 18-34 compared to last November. Live was also up eight percent in households and six percent in total viewers.
Ellen DeGeneres, whose eponymous talk show has also had a very strong season to date, was third among talkers with a 2.6 rating for sweep (about 3.46 million viewers a day). Ellen also had a strong 1.8 rating in the key demo, second only to Dr. Phil.
Veteran conflict talk show Maury, which has also been having as strong season, had a 2.4 household rating (about 3.2 million viewers a day) and was tops among talk shows among the adults 18-49 (1.6 rating) and women 18-34 (1.4 rating).
Dr. Oz, who was third among talk shows last November, was fourth in households this November — virtually tied with Maury. Dr. Oz averaged about 3.2 million viewers a day, just 24,000 shy of Maury.
Katie continues to be the top-rated freshman talker, talking sixth place again among all talk shows. For the November sweep, Katie had a 1.9 rating (about 2.5 million viewers a day).
Taking second place among the new talk shows again is Steve Harvey, who had a 1.3 rating (about 1.8 million viewers a day). Since his September debut, Harvey has also grown about 13 percent in the key 25-54 demo, just one tenth of a rating point in the demo behind Katie.
Among other freshman talkers, both Jeff Probst and Ricki Lake a 0.7 rating, roughly the same as their premiere week ratings. Trisha jumped 25 percent from its September debut to a 0.5 household rating.
As has been the case for a long time, the top-rated syndicated show was Judge Judy, with a 7.2 rating (about 10 million viewers a day). That was about the same as her performance in November sweeps last year.
Among entertainment magazines, longtime leader Entertainment Tonight had a 3.9 rating (an average of about 5.5 million viewers a day). E.T. was the top rated entertainment magazine show for the 89th sweep in a row, dating back to 1990.
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