Minorities
are a key syndie driver
Yakkers
target African-American auds
"Maury" dominated among women in the February sweep, and
much of the show's success can be linked to its popularity
among African-Americans.
Season-to-date,
according to Nielsen, NBCUniversal's highest-rated conflict
talker is far and away the leader among blacks in
households, viewers and daytime's key demographic of women
25-54.
Among African-American viewers, "Maury" attracts an average
of 1.61 million viewers per episode (or roughly half of its
overall audience), 647,000 more than its closest competitor
-- and corporate sibling -- NBCU's "Jerry Springer" at
962,000 viewers.
In third place is Debmar-Mercury's "Wendy Williams"
(875,000), which typically runs near the bottom of the pack
among total viewers. In fact, while "Maury" also leads the
talk category overall among women 18-34 and women 18-49,
both "Springer" and "Williams" do far better among these
younger African-American women.
Following "Williams" among black viewers is the third leg
of NBCU's conflict talk trio, "Steve Wilkos," at 738,000
viewers, then Sony's "Dr. Oz" (704,000) and CBS TV
Distribution's "Dr. Phil" (628,000), the overall talk
leader.
For comparison's sake, among the general market, "Maury"
averages 3.37 million viewers season to date, while "Dr.
Phil"averages 4.07 million viewers (of which about 15% are
African-American). "Springer" averages 2.1 million overall
viewers (45% African-American) and "Williams" 1.5 million
(with 58% of its viewership black).
Among African-American households, "Maury" scores a 9.0
"live plus same-day" average season-to-date, well ahead of
"Springer" (5.3) and "Williams" (5.1). The picture is much
the same among African-American women 25-54, with "Maury"
(5.7) followed by "Williams" (3.3) and "Springer" (3.2).
Hispanic viewers seem to prefer "Dr. Oz" to "Maury," with
"Oz" averaging a 0.9 rating among Hispanic women 25-54,
tying "The View" and Disney-ABC's "Live! With Kelly." In
that demo, "Maury" comes in third, tying Warner Bros.'
"Ellen" at a 0.7.
"Maury" scores higher among Hispanic viewers (272,000),
edging out "Oz" (258,000).
According to Nielsen's current universe estimates, dated to
January 2012, African-Americans make up 13% of TV
households, having recently fallen behind Hispanics, which
now make up 16.2%. Asian-Americans comprise 5.6% of the
U.S. TV households.