HispanicBusiness

Politics ruled in both the Nielsen's English and Spanish-language television ratings among Hispanic viewers during the week of November 3. Not surprisingly, the election night coverage toped the English-language chart, and flooded the Spanish-language chart. Three of the top ten English-language shows for the week were election-related, and special election coverage garnered five of the top ten spots on the Spanish-language ranking.

ABC's Vote 2008 was the top-rated election night coverage overall, and the highest-rated show with Hispanic viewers that week. In fact, it was the only coverage to make the top ten on that chart. The show, which ran from 8 p.m. EST through the post-victory euphoria, was anchored by Charles Gibson, Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopoulos.

60 Minutes made an appearance on the charts with its first show after the election show, which included an interview with television mogul Ted Turner, a look at the disposal of electronic trash, and most importantly, an election night behind-the-scenes feature with now President-elect Barack Obama's campaign strategists. The show ended with poignant commentary by Andy Rooney: "I've lived through a lot of interesting elections in my lifetime starting with the one between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Herbert Hoover, but none were more interesting or important than the one we just had that elected Barack Obama our next president."

The final election-related program in the top ten of the English-language chart is the SNL Presidential Bash, which contained new material and gems from the entire 2008 election, including sketches from the primaries. Some highlights were the parody of the Katie Couric interview of Sara Palin and Amy Poehler's Sarah Palin rap during the actual Sarah Palin's appearance. The show finished with montage of 'Senator Obama' and 'Senator McCain's' favorite Saturday Night Live election skits, including the Clinton/Obama primary debate, Tina Fey's appearance on Weekend Update, the actual appearances of Senators Clinton and Obama, Senator McCain walking in front of the camera during the town hall debate, and golden oldies from the Bush/Ducakus and Bush/Gore debates, after which the 'senators' signed off with a joke about Senator Obama buying the final minutes of the show.

The Spanish-language chart was dominated by the final five hours of Univision's election coverage, Destino 2008. The special, which began at 7:00 p.m. EST and lasted a total of eight hours, averaged 4 million viewers, including the youngest viewers watching election-night coverage. Destino 2008 was anchored by Malina Elena Salinas of magazine news show Aqui y Ahora, and Joorge Ramos of current issue analysis show Al Punto. The show had a much larger increase in audience size than the major English-language election-night broadcasts, and was the only coverage with a double-digit audience increase from the 2004 election.

The following TV ratings are based on Hispanic viewership. Nielsen's ratings include viewers who watched the program while it aired and those who viewed the shows via digital video recorder within 24 hours of their airing. Nielsen says that the Hispanic TV audience represents more than 11.63 million television households in the United States. The rating is the percentage of households watching a TV program out of the potential audience of 11.63 million households.

Top 10 English-language shows and ratings (November 3-9, 2008)
1. Vote 2008 (Special) - Tuesday (ABC) 5.6
2. Sunday Night Football - Sunday (NBC) 5.5
3. Grey's Anatomy - Thursday (ABC) 5.1
4. Family Guy - Sunday (FOX) 5.0
5. Dancing With The Stars - Monday (ABC) 4.3
5. Desperate Housewives - Sunday (ABC) 4.3
7. 60 Minutes - Sunday (CBS) 4.2
7. SNL Presidential Bash '08 (Special) - Monday (NBC) 4.2
9. American Dad - Sunday (FOX) 4.1
9. The Simpsons - Sunday (FOX) 4.1

Top 10 Spanish-language shows and ratings (November 3-9, 2008)
1. Fuego En La Sangre - Monday-Friday Avg. (UNI) 22.1
2. Cuidado Con El Angel - Monday-Friday Avg. (UNI) 20.4
3. Destino 2008 Part 7 (Special) - Tuesday (UNI) 19.9
4. Querida Enemiga - Monday-Friday Avg. (UNI) 19.3
5. Destino 2008 Part 8 (Special) - Tuesday (UNI) 19.0
6. Destino 2008 Part 6 (Special) - Tuesday (UNI) 18.8
7. Destino 2008 Part 4 (Special) - Tuesday (UNI) 15.6
8. Don Francisco Presenta - Wednesday (UNI)15.2
9. Destino 2008 Part 5 (Special) - Tuesday (UNI) 14.7
9. Rosa de Guadalupe - Thursday-Friday Avg. (UNI) 14.7