With the end of the “upfronts” comes the concluding days of the 2013-2014 TV season, and for the first time in a while three of the big networks each have something important to tout to investors and advertisers as executives turn their attention to the fall.

NBC – Demo champ
That’s right….for the first time in a decade NBC, owned by Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), will end the season as the winner in the highly coveted 18-49 demographic. The net averaged a 2.7 rating, which is not only a 13% season-to-season gain, but the network’s largest gain in over 25 years. Furthermore it will end up being the largest jump by any of the Big 4 networks in nearly 10 years. Again, that’s not a typo, NBC despite entering the season as a punching bag for critics, will end up coming out on top and have huge bragging rights when trying to sell its new fall shows to advertisers.

The whole situation is fascinating because we are talking about a network that saw all but one of its previous freshman shows collapse. Generally when a full roster of rookies has the wheels come off the way NBC’s did you wouldn’t expect this type of success and yet here we are.  Believe it or not even if you factor out the Sochi Olympics and its huge ratings bump, NBC would have still won. Granted it would have been a closer race between it and Fox had the Winter Games not been a factor, but the fact remains NBC deserves credit for this victory.

The network’s success is a combination of factors including launching last fall’s number one new drama (The Blacklist), increased ratings for its Sunday Night Football franchise, the continued success of reality hit The Voice and the underdog tandem of Chicago Fire and Chicago PD. Some of NBC’s biggest gain came on Tuesdays and Wednesday, which speaks to the success of the Dick Wolf-produced duo. These are a pair of shows that don’t get enough credit for what they’ve brought to NBC’s schedule.

In terms of other networks, as mentioned, Fox placed second with a 2.5 rating (which is even with last year), followed by CBS with a 2.4 (down 17%) and ABC with a 2.1 rating (down just 5%).

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ABC – Sweeps champ
Now you would think coming in fourth in the demo and losing 5% year to year would be all doom and gloom, but Disney-owned ABC (NYSE: DIS) will end the season on a high note. While we still have a few days left in May sweeps, ABC is poised to win the period for the first time in nearly 15 years. The network is currently ahead of CBS by double digits and in the middle of a five week run at the top in the 18-49 demo; that hasn’t happened since 2006-2007 when ABC had its tri-fecta of Lost, Grey’s Anatomy and Desperate Housewives dominating the airways.

Helping ABC break its painfully long streak was a strong showing by Modern Family (powered by its well written gay wedding storyline), Grey’s Anatomy (which said goodbye to series regular and fan favorite Sandra Oh), Sunday staple Once Upon A Time and the recently renewed breakout hit Resurrection. Not coincidentally, all four shows were among the season’s Top 10 highest rated in the demo, with Scandal also in the mix but due to the show’s early exit this season was not a factor in the numbers. So essentially ABC won a particularly tough sweeps period without one of its strongest series, which is impressive.

ABC’s win is also bolstered by its reality slate which was headlined by The Billboard Music Awards, Barbara Walters’ primetime farewell special, a suddenly more resurgent Dancing With The Stars and the continue dominance of Friday night juggernaut Shark Tank, which is having its best season ever.

All combined these are easily things the network can push to its investors and advertisers as reasons why they are on the upswing…or executives can just show them the sizzle reel for How To Get Away With Murder again which was one of the upfront’s most buzzed about freshman prospects.

CBS – Viewer champ
Now we come to CBS (NYSE: CBS), which has been America’s Most-Watched Network for some time and 2013-2014 won’t be any different. Despite being down 9% season-to-season CBS held tight against all comers and was the only one of the Big 4 to be in double-digits in this metric. The Eye network had an average of 10.7 million viewers, topping closest competitor NBC which had 9.3 million viewers and saw a massive 33% increase from last season. ABC placed third with 7.6 million (down 3%) and Fox followed in fourth with 7.3 million (up 4%).

For CBS this is the sixth straight year it’s won out in viewers and the 11^th time in the last 12 years. You can look at multitude of reasons why CBS continues to win but it all comes down to its executives knowing what their audience wants to watch. At the end of the day, in the TV business numbers tell the story and CBS has not only done a good job of making big moves to get those numbers but it’s been able explain to its viewers why they will like those moves and should re-arrange their viewing habits to tune in. Combined with its ability to attract top talent, CBS is no danger of slipping out of pole position next season, especially with a strong slate of primetime Thursday night football games coming this fall.

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Fox – Bright future
It’s also vital to mention the strides made by Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA) as well last season. Yes, it will end the season without one of the above titles to boast about but it had a solid year as well. Aided by the Super Bowl and a strong rookie class including Sleepy Hollow, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Masterclass Juniors the network had some big victories. With next season’s buzzy Gotham already winning over analysts and investors interested in its event programming initiative, don’t be shocked to see the network make its rivals very nervous in the coming months.

Disclosure: Austin Smith does not have a financial interest in any of the companies mentioned here. Brett Gold, who helped write this piece, owns shares of CBS.

 

 Your cable company is scared, but you can get rich

But where the big networks may be seeing stability, the cable industry at large is right on the edge. The smart money is betting on a collapse. Do you know how to profit? There’s $2.2 trillion out there to be had. Currently, cable grabs a big piece of it. That won’t last. And when cable falters, three companies are poised to benefit. Click here for their names. Hint: They’re not Netflix, Google, and Apple.

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