Cartoon Network & Adult Swim Take Top Spot in Key Demos, Week of 12/10-12/16

Cartoon Network scored as the #1 destination among boys 6-11 & 9-14 on Friday Night (7-9 p.m.), with Regular Show at 7 p.m. ranking as the #1 program of the day among boys 6-11.

Tuesday night's presentations of original series The Looney Tunes Show (8 p.m.) and Level Up (8:30 p.m.) both ranked #1 in their time periods among boys 6-11. Similarly, Wednesday night original series Dragons: Riders of Berk (8 p.m.) ranked #1 in its time period among boys 2-11, and Ben 10: Omniverse (8:30 p.m.) ranked #1 in its time period among all boys 2-11, 6-11 & 9-14.

Cartoon Network's Saturday morning action-adventure animation line-up (7-11 a.m.) charted delivery gains across all kids and boys demos compared to the same time period last year - kids 2-11 grew by 13%, kids 6-11 by 1%, kids 9-14 by 14%, boys 2-11 by 6%, boys 6-11 by 3% and boys 9-14 by 11%. Premiere episodes of Beyblade: Metal Fury (8 a.m.), Pokemon BW: Rival Destinies (8:30 a.m.) and Cartoon Network original series Ben 10: Omniverse (9 a.m.) improved delivery across nearly all key kids & boys, ranging between 2% and 31%.

Adult Swim
Across the third week of December, Adult Swim's Total Day Delivery ranked #1 among basic cable networks with adults 18-24, 18-34, & 18-49 and men 18-24/18-34. Compared to the same week in 2011, Total day delivery grew with adults 18-24 by 7%.

Adult Swim also ranked among the Top 5 basic cable networks in Prime Time (Broadcast definition) delivery of adults 18-34 among basic cable networks. Compared to the same week in 2011, adults 18-34 delivery grew by 5%, adults 18-24 by 13%, adults 18-49 by 11% and men 18-24 by 7%.

Among Adult Swim original programming, a new holiday-themed episode of Robot Chicken (Sunday, 12 a.m.) ranked #1 in its time period with adults 18-34 and all key men demos, while growing delivery among adults 18-49 by 6% and men 18-49 by 8% vs. the same time period last year.

Adult Swim programming - including Family Guy, American Dad, Robot Chicken and Childrens Hospital - accounted for 18 of the Top 50 telecasts on basic cable for the week with adults 18-34, and 24 of the Top 50 for men 18-34, both more than any other network.

truTV
truTV's hidden-camera prank series Impractical Jokers returned for its second season Thursday night, garnering 1.8 million viewers with back-to-back episodes. The 10 p.m. premiere averaged 1.7 million viewers and outperformed last year's series launch by +11%.

Thursday's 10:30 p.m. episode of Impractical Jokers grew even more, drawing 1.9 million viewers, a +11% boost over the 10 p.m. episode and the largest Live + Same Day audience fot the show to date. The second episode also scored series highs among adults 18-49 and men 18-49.

The two episodes of Impractical Jokers ranked among ad-supported cable's Top 5 programs in their respective Thursday night timeslots. They also drew a remarkably young median age of only 32.

truTV's breakout hit Hardcore Pawn (Tuesday at 9 p.m.) drew more than 2.2 million fans last week and ranked among cable's Top 5 entertainment programs in the timeslot with key male demos. Hardcore Pawn also led truTV to land among basic cable's Top 10 networks for the night with men 18-49 and among the Top 10 cable entertainment networks with men 18-34 and total viewers.

South Beach Tow (Wednesday at 9:30 p.m.) hitched up more than 1.5 million viewers and continued truTV's trend of attracting younger audiences by scoring a median age of only 35. The show helped truTV rank among basic cable's Top 10 entertainment networks for the night with adults 18-34, adults 18-49 and men 18-49.

TBS
The Big Bang Theory on TBS kept the fireworks going last week as the popular off-net series scored 14 of basic cable's Top 15 sitcom telecasts with total viewers, 11 of the Top 15 with adults 18-34 and all of the Top 15 with adults 18-49. The Big Bang Theory is on track to finish 2012 as basic cable's #1 off-net series.

Last week, TBS's CONAN delivered 1.0 million viewers and garnered solid growth among key demos, including a +8% boost among adults 18-34 (283,000) and a +4% boost among adults 18-49 (592,000). Compared to the same week last year, CONAN's delivery of total viewers was up 22%, while delivery adults 18-49 was up 10%. Meanwhile, time-shifted viewing grew CONAN's audience for the week of Nov. 26 to 1.0 million viewers; 315,000 adults 18-34; and 635,000 adults 18-49.

TNT
TNT's blockbuster crime drama Rizzoli & Isles pulled in 3.8 million viewers last Tuesday, with more than 1 million adults 18-49 and 1.3 million adults 25-54. The show ranked as basic cable's #1 program of the day in household delivery, with a total of 2.9 million households.

TNT's popular caper drama Leverage nabbed more than 2 million viewers Tuesday night, with 672,000 adults 18-49 and 821,000 adults 25-54. Among adults 18-49, the show grew its delivery by +6% over the prior week's episode.