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Nielsen Ratings for
Buffy's First Season
National Ratings for the First Season
Notes:
1. For the 1996-1997 television season, each ratings point represents 970,000 households or one percent of the nation's estimated 97 million television households. So, for example, a rating of 3.4 means that an average of approximately (3.4 x 970,000) = 3,298,000 households were watching Buffy.
2. In the fourth column is the episode's rank among all prime time network shows for the week. For example, 93/112 means that particular episode of Buffy was in 93rd place out of the 112 network prime time shows that week. In the last column is the episode's rank among The WB network's shows for the week. For example, 4/14 means that particular episode of Buffy placed 4th out of the 14 programs on The WB that week. A "(t)" indicates a tie for that position.
3. If you want to compare Buffy's ratings with those of other shows for any given week, check out the latest list of national Nielsen ratings from the San Jose Mercury News. In addition, the San Francisco Examiner has a searchable archive that contains national Nielsen ratings for most weeks of 1997.
4. If you want insight into the way that Nielsen ratings are obtained, here is an article entitled What TV Ratings Really Mean from the official site of Nielsen Media Research.
| Date | Episode | National Rating | Rank: All Prime Time Shows | Rank: All WB Shows |
|---|
| Jun 2, 1997 | Prophecy Girl (Season Finale) | 2.8 | 97/113 (t) | 1/12 (t) |
|---|
| May 26, 1997 | Angel (repeat) | 2.0 | 102/107 | 7/12 |
|---|
| May 19, 1997 | Invisible Girl | 2.4 | -- | -- |
|---|
| May 12, 1997 | Nightmares | 2.5 | 88/94 (t) | 5/11 (t) |
|---|
| May 5, 1997 | Puppet Show | 1.9 | 104/107 | 9/12 |
|---|
| Apr 28, 1997 | I Robot, You Jane | 2.3 | -- | -- |
|---|
| Apr 21, 1997 | The Witch (repeat) | 2.3 | 101/106 (t) | 8/12 (t) |
|---|
| Apr 14, 1997 | Angel | 2.3 | 105/111 | 7/12 |
|---|
| Apr 7, 1997 | The Pack | 2.4 | 110/118 (t) | 6/12 |
|---|
| Mar 31, 1997 | Never Kill A Boy On The First Date | 2.8 | 104/115 | 5/11 |
|---|
| Mar 25, 1997 | Teacher's Pet | 2.0 | -- | -- |
|---|
| Mar 17, 1997 | The Witch | 3.2 | 102/112 (t) | 3/12 (t) |
|---|
| Mar 10, 1997 | Welcome To The Hellmouth
(Part 1 of 2) &
The Harvest (Part 2 of 2)
(Series Premiere) | 3.4 | -- | -- |
|---|
Main Buffy/Angel Ratings Page | Summer 2003 | Seventh Season | Summer 2002 | Sixth Season | Summer 2001 | Fifth Season |
Summer 2000 | Fourth Season | Summer 1999 | Third Season | Summer 1998 | Second Season | Summer 1997 | First Season