Meredith Vieira's New Talk Show Improves Time Slot by 41%

MEREDITH VIEIRA's new talk show premiered Monday, September 8 with a preliminary 1.7 rating/5 share metered market primary run average, up 41% from the shows it replaced in its time slots last year at this time. This marked the second biggest increase over year ago time periods for a new talk show premiere in nine years (after breakout hit Steve Harvey, which debuted in September 2012 with a 50% improvement.)

"Meredith" won its time period in five top 20 markets: Detroit (WXYZ at 3pm); Phoenix (KTVK at 11am); Minneapolis (KSTP at 2pm), Miami (WTVJ at 2pm) and Sacramento (KCRA at 2pm.)

The show's two best metered markets were: Birmingham, on WBRC at 2pm, where it clocked a first place 4.9 rating/11 share, which was more than triple the rating of time slot rival Wendy Williams (1.5/3) and up 96% from the station's year-ago time period average; and Fort Myers, on WINK at 3pm, where it notched a first place 4.4 rating/11 share, up 109% from its year-ago average.

Among W25-54, "Meredith" opened with a 0.6/4 demo average, which was even with its September 2013 time periods. The new talker was up 400% year to year in Los Angeles (KNBC at 2pm) in the demo and did best in Baltimore (WBAL at 11am), where it scored a 3.4/25 demo rating, up 209% from last year at this time.

Although Meredith Viera was the first entry of the 2014-15 rookie crop to bow, other new first-run strips debuting this season include "The Real" and "Hot Bench" on September 15 and "Celebrity Name Game" on September 22.