ratings

America’s Got Talent slipped to season lows in the same-day ratings on Tuesday, but the NBC series is so far ahead of its competition that the small decline didn’t matter. It still finished first in primetime in both adults 18-49 and total viewers and led NBC to its sixth straight ratings victory on the night.

ABC’s World News Tonight won the quarter in average total viewers for nightly news broadcasts, according to Nielsen Media Research ratings, topping average and age-demo rankings for the 6:30 p.m. ET slot. For the second quarter of 2020, World News Tonight, hosted by David Muir, brought in an average of 10,331,000 viewers total. Comparatively, NBC’s Nightly News with Lester Holt took in an average of 8,866,000 and CBS’s Evening News, helmed by Norah O’Donnell, secured 6,257,000 viewers on average.

A premiere preview of the new USA Network competition series Cannonball helped NBC blast its way to the top of the TV ratings charts on Monday night. The new series, hosted by WWE star Mike “The Miz” Mizanin scored a 0.6 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 2.7 million viewers in the 10 p.m. time slot. Prior to that, Titan Games, which is hosted by another former WWE talent in Dwayne Johnson, ticked down from last week to a 0.7 rating and 3.9 million viewers.

CBS’s first-ever simulcast of the BET Awards didn’t bring in a huge audience, but it’s likely to help the telecast match or beat last year’s audience. ABC’s game shows, meanwhile, snagged the top spot among adults 18-49 on Sunday.

Freshman CBS series Broke aired its last ever episode on the network to its lowest numbers to date. The Pauley Perrette, Jaime Camil and Natasha Leggero comedy signed off with a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 3.6 million viewers. That represents a series low in both metrics.

Wednesday’s broadcast ratings were once again fairly soft, with two of the five original shows on the English-language networks declining week to week among adults 18-49 and the other three flat. Univision snagged the top spot in the key ad demographic for the second straight week. CBS’s Game On was the most watched original, but it reached season lows in both total viewers (3 million) and adults 18-49 (0.4 rating).

NBC continued its Tuesday winning streak, as America’s Got Talent and World of Dance finished first and second in both adults 18-49 and total viewers Tuesday. The network has topped every Tuesday of the summer season so far across the board, and its demographic streak extends back to late April (including one tie).

While streaming use is outpacing year-ago levels, a linear viewership rise in March and April has faded.

NBC captured the top spot on the broadcast networks in all three hours of primetime Monday, as The Titan Games and The Wall both equaled season highs in adults 18-49. The network also scored a narrow total-viewer win for the evening. The CW’s Whose Line Is It Anyway and Penn & Teller: Fool Us also drew decent ratings to start their summer runs.

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The Sunday night ratings race was won not by a game show or a summer series, but by ABC News’ interview of Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton. The interview, which comes amid the Trump’s failed attempts to block Bolton from publishing a book on his experience working under the current president, scored a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 6.1 million total viewers, placing it among the most-watched programming of the broadcast summer to date.

ABC’s game show Don’t declined some in its second outing, as did lead-out To Tell the Truth. The network, however, still notched a victory in primetime in both adults 18-49 and total viewers, edging out CBS in the latter category.

CBS’s Game On was Wednesday’s top original show on the broadcast networks, but the night was once again soft across the board. Univision snagged the top spot in the key ad demo across primetime.

The dance competition series scored a 0.9 rating (up from a 0.8 last time around) among adults 18-49 and drew 4.4 million total viewers. It was topped only by its America’s Got Talent lead-in which delivered a 1.3 rating and 8.4 million viewers. That’s the same rating as the last two episodes for the singing show, but a small 3% down tick in audience.

NBC swept all three hours of primetime among adults 18-49 Monday, and the season finale of Songland also improved its total-viewer count. The finale of Roswell, New Mexico was steady on The CW.

Celebrity Family Feud scored ABC’s highest rating on the night with a 0.8 among adults 18-49 and 5.2 million total viewers. That represents a slight down tick from last week. Meanwhile both Press Your Luckand Match Game rose from the week before, with the former snagging a 0.7 rating and the latter a 0.6. Both hit season high viewership figures of 3.9 million and 3.5 million respectively. The season finale of America’s Funniest Home Videos scored a 0.6 rating and 4.6 million pairs of eyeballs.

Ryan Reynolds’ latest venture, an ABC game show called Don’t, debuted to decent numbers and won Thursday night ratings race. The Adam Scott-hosted show, which gives contestants the chance to win a cash prize of up to $100,000 by tackling tasks with one simple rule, premiered with a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 4.2 million total viewers. That represents ABC’s best debut of the summer so far, topping the season 2 premiere of Holey Moley and the season 6 opener of Celebrity Family Feud.

Following a slight drop from its series premiere, the new James Corden-inspired CBS show Game On! continued to slide on Wednesday night. Coming in with a 0.5 rating and 3.6 million total viewers, the sports-themed game show was one of the most-watched and highest-rated programs of the night, but still ticked down 17% from last week.

The NBC talent show scored a 1.3 rating and 8.6 million total viewers, retaining 100% in both metrics from last episode and comfortably winning the Tuesday night ratings race. Its premiere from two weeks back scored a 1.5 rating and around 9.9 million viewers for comparison. Later on, World of Dance tangoed its way to a solid 0.8 rating and 4.5 million viewers, which also means it barely lost a step from last week.

ABC aired the first part of its summer stroll down Bachelor Nation memory lane, however, a much smaller audience than is usual for The Bachelor tuned in to watch. The premiere of The Bachelor: The Greatest Seasons — Ever! scored a 0.4 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 2.4 million total viewers. Compared with the lowest scored of the most recent season of Bachelor (a 1.3 rating and 5.1 million viewers), those numbers don’t look so good, but they do aline more closely with the other Bachelor spinoffs.

The final episode of Jimmy Kimmel’s special stint as host of ABC’s Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? finished with decent numbers on Thursday night. The finale topped the night with a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 6.6 million total viewers, a season high for the quiz show. Rating-wise, the show’s biggest number was still a 1.1 from its season premiere.

The highest-rated show on Wednesday night wasn’t a TV show, but the animated movie Up. ABC won the night overall, as the classic 2009 movie scored a 0.7 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 3.4 million total viewers. Agents of SHIELD came in after with a 0.3 rating and 1.5 million viewers, roughly even in both metrics on its seventh and final season premiere.

Amrica’s Got Talent came in with a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 and drew 8.7 million viewers, compared with the 1.5 rating and 9.9 million viewers who tuned in for last week’s premiere. ABC aired its America in Pain: What Comes Next? special which covered the protests taking place across the country in response to the killing of George Floyd, police brutality and systemic racism. The special scored a 0.6 rating and 3.1 million viewers.

Local news viewership is still trending well above pre-pandemic levels say SmithGeiger analysts, but audiences are dispersing and fragmenting, especially younger viewers.

On Monday night, the ABC show’s back-to-back finale rose to a season high rating and total viewership tally. The first episode scored a 0.6 rating and 3 million total viewers, the second a 0.5 and 2.6 million. ABC has yet to make a decision no whether it will bake a second loaf of Baker and the Beauty. Earlier in the night, a Celebrity Family Feud replay scored a 0.8 and 5.1 million viewers.

All five English-language broadcast networks had heavy pre-emptions for news coverage, either local or national, on Sunday of protests over the death of George Floyd. Thus the fast national ratings below are subject to change more than usual. As it stands now, the season premieres of ABC’s Celebrity Family Feud and Press Your Luck are tied for the lead among adults 18-49, and CBS’s 60 Minutes is the most-watched show in primetime.

Following a labored debut last week, Labor of Love grew a little bit with its second episode, while Holey Moley retained 100% of its premiere ratings. The new Fox series scored a 0.3 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 1.1 million viewers, which represents a 50% increase in the former metric and a 22% increase in the latter. Earlier on the network, Celebrity Watch Party came in even at a 0.3 rating and 1.6 million viewers.

Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. returned for its seventh and final season to solid numbers on Wednesday night, while CBS’ new game show Game On! won the night with its premiere. Game On, an equal parts comedy and game show from James Corden and hosted by Keegan-Michael Key, scored a 0.6 rating and 4.5 million viewers, topping the night in both metrics.

America’s Got Talent has been in the headlines recently over complaints from former judge Gabrielle Union about the culture behind the scenes and a series racially charged incidents. Last night, the talent show debuted its 15th season down around 18% on the previous edition. With a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 9.8 million total viewers, AGT comfortably topped a quiet Tuesday night and still managed to retain 100% of its audience from the season 14 premiere.