USA delivered an average audience of 2.99 million viewers in prime during the week ended June 22, according to Nielsen Media Research data, while winning out among adults 25-54 (1.4 million) and 18-49 (1.34 million).
The network got a lift from an ongoing WWE Raw stunt, as the franchise’s cartoonish chairman Vince McMahon handed out $1 million in cash for the second consecutive week. On Monday, June 16, an average 5.21 million viewers tuned in to USA for Raw between 9 p.m. and approximately 11:10 p.m., with the additional 10 minutes devoted to the cash giveaway.
(A third iteration of the stunt ended badly for McMahon. On June 23, after divesting himself of $500,000 of his own money at the close of a special three-hour WWE draft, McMahon was “crushed” by an electric sign that toppled onto him as he stood on stage at San Antonio’s AT&T Center. A year ago, McMahon was rumored to be dead after his limousine “exploded” in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
Raw also hammered out some impressive demo numbers, averaging 2.68 million adults 18-49, 2.62 million 25-54s and 1.38 million 18-34s.
Staged slapstick aside, USA also saw plenty of action with its Sunday night slate of original series. A new installment of Law & Order: Criminal intent scared up 4.69 million viewers in the 9 p.m. time slot, bettering the prior week’s delivery of 3.36 million by nearly 30 percent. At 10 p.m., the fourth episode of USA’s newest drama strip, In Plain Sight, retained practically all of its L&O: CI lead-out, averaging 4.67 million viewers, a 13 percent improvement over June 15’s delivery (4.07 million viewers).
Non-ad-supported Disney Channel finished second among all basic-cable nets last week, averaging 2.79 million viewers, thanks to the premiere of the Jonas Brothers musical Camp Rock, which served up 8.86 million viewers Friday night between 8 p.m. and approximately 10 p.m. The Mouse made a night of it, holding on to 4.16 million viewers with Camp Rock lead-out The Wizards of Waverly Place, while earlier in the night, Hannah Montana clicked with 3.87 million fans.
Among ad-supported cable nets, TNT took second on the week, averaging 2.23 million viewers. As has been the case for the last three weeks, the Turner net’s ratings were fueled by Nascar, as 6.02 million viewers tuned in for the Sunday evening presentation of the Sprint Cup Toyota/Save Mart 350. The race also revved up some of the week’s biggest demos, averaging 3.23 million 25-54s and 2.75 million 18-49s.
TNT came in second among the two top demos, averaging 1.09 million viewers 25-54 and 1.07 million 18-49s.
Nick-at-Nite surged to third place on the week, averaging 1.66 million viewers in prime, while TBS claimed forth place with 1.6 million. TBS picked up its biggest audience of the week with House of Payne, which was seen by 3.07 million viewers Wednesday night at 10:30 p.m. A half-hour earlier, Payne averaged 2.87 million viewers.
TBS once again won the 18-34 demo outright, averaging 538,000, narrowly beating out USA by a margin of 4,000 viewers. The net also took the bronze among 18-49s (915,000) and 25-54s (813,000).
Lifetime closed out the top five with 1.58 million viewers, as its Sunday night hit Army Wives slipped a bit, averaging 3.75 million viewers in its 10 p.m. slot, down 10 percent versus the prior week’s 4.2 million. In three head-to-head meetings, Sunday marked the first time USA’s In Plain Sight out-delivered Army Wives.
The two shows also battled it out for demo supremacy, with Wives winning over 1.98 million adults 18-49 to Sight’s 1.88 million. That said, USA’s new drama took the 25-54 fight, averaging 2.16 million members of the demo to Wives’ 2.06 million.
