HispanicBusiness

Major League Baseball's "Mid-Summer Classic" All-Star Game and Mexico's semifinal loss in the Copa America soccer tournament captured the attention of Hispanics, according to TV ratings released by the Nielsen Media Group for the week of July 9-15.

More than 530,000 Hispanic households tuned in to watch the American League win its 10th straight game over the National League and claim home-field advantage for the its league's representative in the World Series, which begins in October. The All-Star Game earned a 4.6 mark to lead the Hispanic TV ratings for English-language programs. The game edged Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance" (4.1) for the top spot, and its All-Star pregame show also posted a top-five mark, tying for third with ABC's "George Lopez Show" with a 3.6.

Fox's new karaoke-style game show, "Don't Forget the Lyrics," hosted by comedian Wayne Brady, rounded out the top five with a 3.5 mark.

More than 3 million Hispanic households tuned in Wednesday to see Mexico's appearance in the Copa America semifinals. The game, which was broadcast on Univision, drew a whopping 26.8 mark to lead the ratings for Spanish-language programs, but the fan support was unable to lift the North American team. Argentina erupted with a 3-0 victory to oust Mexico and advance to the final.

Univision telenovela "Destilando Amor" edged Cristina Saralegui's weekly Univision talk show to claim No. 2 in the poll. "Destilando Amor" garnered a 19.4 rating and "Cristina" followed with an 18.4 mark to round out the top three.

Nielsen's figures, however, have their detractors. One group has started a petition, hoping Nielsen Media Group will change the way it samples the U.S. Hispanic population in its English and Spanish TV ratings. The Help Change TV group, which has a petition at www.HelpChangeTV.com, claims that Nielsen does not include enough U.S.-born Hispanics in its audience sample, leading to the impression that a vast majority of Hispanics watch Spanish-language TV.

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

Top 10 English-language shows (July 9-15)
1. MLB All-Star Game (Fox), 4.6
2. So You Think You Can Dance (Fox), 4.1
3. MLB All-Star Pregame Show (Fox), 3.6
3. George Lopez (ABC), 3.6
5. Don't Forget the Lyrics (Fox), 3.5
6. Primetime: Family Secrets (ABC), 3.4
7. Singing Bee (NBC), 3.3
7. So You Think You Can Dance (Fox), 3.3
9. America's Got Talent (NBC), 3.2
10. America's Most Wanted (Fox), 3.0

Top 10 Spanish-language shows (July 9-15)
1. Copa America Semifinals – Wednesday (Univision), 26.8
2. Destilando Amor – four-night avg. (Univision), 19.4
3. Cristina (Univision), 18.4
4. Duelo de Pasiones – four-night avg. (Univision), 16.9
5. Primer Impacto Copa America (Univision), 16.2
6. Don Francisco Presenta (Univision), 14.6
7. Aqui y Ahora (Univision), 13.3
8. Viva La Copa America (Univision), 13.1
9. Copa America Semifinal – Tuesday (Telefutura), 12.7
10. Yo Amo Juan Querendon – five-night avg. (Univision), 11.6