ratings

Last week, Fox-owned WNYW New York’s Good Day New York (Monday-Friday, 7-9 a.m.) outdelivered WNBC’s The Today Show during that same time period among the adults 25-54 demographic. Good Day […]

The Academy Awards blew away the competition last night, to no one’s surprise. ABC averaged a 21.4 metered-market household rating in primetime, bettering the combined averages for CBS, Fox and NBC by 224%. The other three networks combined for a 6.6.

Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal returned from a nearly three-month hiatus last night to strong numbers. Both shows won their timeslot and posted gains over their most recent episodes on Dec. 12. Scandal drew a 3.3 adults 18-49 rating, up 3% from its last original and matching its second-highest rating ever. It bettered the combined ratings for rival 10 p.m. shows Elementary and Parenthood. Grey’s posted a 3.0, its best rating in five months and up 11% from its last original. The shows lifted ABC to a close second behind CBS for the night.

The February sweeps were all about sports. NBC won the four-week period used to set ad rates by local stations, thanks to 16 days of Winter Olympics coverage. But Fox was a fairly close second, buoyed by a record-setting Super Bowl during the first week of the sweeps period. NBC averaged a 4.0 adults 18-49 rating during sweeps, which wrapped up on Wednesday. That was up 233% over last year, when the network averaged a 1.2 and famously finished fifth, behind Univision.

In a February that saw ABC and CBS air plenty of repeats opposite NBC’s coverage of the Winter Olympics, Univision rose to third place among adults under 35 — a first for the network in any sweeps month.

That old reliable ratings gambit, the crossover, worked well to pump up ratings for two NBC shows on the final night of sweeps. Last night a crossover between Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Chicago P.D. boosted the latter to record ratings and the former to an 11% gain over its most recent episode. Chicago averaged a 2.2 at 10 p.m., according to Nielsen overnights, second in the timeslot and just a tenth behind CBS’s leading Criminal Minds.

Even in the era of the DVR, a strong lead-in can still get a new show off to a good beginning. The new NBC comedy About a Boy bowed to a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating last night, benefitting from the big audience for the show that airs before it. Boy aired at 9 p.m., right behind The Voice, the evening’s top show with a 3.7 and NBC’s best non-Olympic result in the 8 p.m. Tuesday slot since October.

Intermountain West Communications, owner of KSNV, the NBC affiliate in Las Vegas (DMA 42), today announced an agreement to use both Nielsen television audience measurement and Nielsen Local Custom Toolbox […]

Overall for the week in prime time, NBC averaged 17.7 million viewers, a drop from the previous week’s 21.2 million. Far behind, CBS and Fox tied with 6.1 million viewers apiece, followed by ABC with 4.2 million. Univision had 3.4 million, Ion Television had 1.2 million, Telemundo had 980,000 and the CW had 920,000 viewers.

The Voice returned to big numbers last night, though not quite as big as last fall’s debut. The hit NBC singing show posted a 4.7 adults 18-49 rating in its sixth-season premiere from 8 to 10 p.m. Monday night. That was down 8% from its fifth-season premiere in September, but up 18% from the show’s fall finale in December. It was also a tenth behind the fourth-season premiere last spring, which posted a 4.8. The show was easily the highest-rated program of the night on broadcast.

An average of 8.5 million viewers tuned in for Downton Abbey‘s fourth season finale Sunday night. That’s a personal finale best for the period drama on PBS. The Season 3 finale drew 8.2 million viewers on February 17 last year, a 50% surge from the Season 2 ender in 2012.

Airing against the Olympic closing ceremony is tough. Airing against the Olympic closing ceremony and the Daytona 500 is brutal. CBS’s The Amazing Race had the misfortune of doing exactly that last night after the season-opening NASCAR race was delayed by rain and pushed largely in primetime rather than earlier in the day as it was scheduled. Opposite the increased competition, Race posted its lowest premiere rating ever Sunday night, averaging a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating, off 20% from a 2.0 for last fall’s debut.

In the last big sweeps period, the perennial last-place station in Kansas City did something it had apparently never done before. One of its daily newscasts finished No. 1. This month, with NBC’s wall-to-wall coverage of the Winter Olympics, the good news has just kept on coming for KSHB.

Fox’s long-running hit reality show American Idol fell to its lowest-ever rating last night opposite the Winter Games. Idol averaged a 2.4 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., off 20% from last week, when the show posted a 3.0 on Thursday. The Olympics clearly stole away viewers. The ladies’ figure skating finals aired last night, and that’s always a huge draw for the Games. Still, while the decline is not unexpected, it is notable for a program that has dominated in the ratings for so long.

The Olympics took a big toll on most of the original shows on broadcast last night. And there were more than usual. CBS aired two originals for the first time in days after relying mostly on repeats during the Games so far. Fox’s American Idol took a notable hit, down 24% from last week’s 3.4 opposite the Games to a Wednesday season-low 2.6. The show, which aired from 8 to 10 p.m., was the No. 1 non-sports program of the night.

Adding an extra American Idol to the schedule is always a sure way to pump up ratings. Fox had its best Tuesday in weeks with a special edition of “Idol” last night, which posted solid numbers despite airing opposite NBC’s Winter Olympics. Idol averaged a 2.7 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m. That was down 7% from the most recent Idol on Thursday, but still easily the No. 1 non-sports show on broadcast last night.

The Monday debut brought in the show’s second-biggest audience in five years.

Airing opposite the Olympics is no easy task, and last night ABC’s lineup hit a bump against the Games, though it did place second on the night. The Bachelor was the evening’s No. 2 non-sports show on broadcast, averaging a 2.2 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m. That was down 4% from last week, though, and tied a season low for the program. Lead-out Castle slid 19% from its last original two weeks ago, before the Games began, to a 1.7, also a season low.

The Winter Olympics again saw virtually no broadcast competition on Sunday night, giving NBC easy victories among total viewers and adults 18-49. Sunday’s Sochi games averaged a 4.8 rating among adults 18-49 and 21.1 million viewers during primetime. Both figures mark more dips from the last Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Compared to the same night in 2010, the games were down nearly 20 percent in the key demographic.

Fox’s American Idol took a smaller week-to-week hit on Thursday up against the Olympics than it did on Wednesday. The reality show posted a 2.9 adults 18-49 rating at 8 p.m., off 6% from a 3.1 the previous week. On Wednesday, Idol slid 13% from the previous week, to a 3.4, airing against NBC’s Winter Games coverage. NBC easily won the night, but Idol was the top non-sports show. Actually, just a handful of original programs aired on broadcast, and Fox had the bulk of them.

Fox is still daring to schedule original content opposite the Olympics, unlike ABC and CBS, which are largely relying on reruns. Fox once again saw its schedule decline Wednesday against the Games. Fox’s American Idol averaged a 3.4 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, easily the top non-Olympic show of the night. (The overnights were delayed by about four hours today by Nielsen server issues.) That was off 13% from last week’s edition of Idol, before the Olympics began.

In the past five days, Fox-owned WNYW New York’s Good Day New York (Monday-Friday, 7-9 a.m.) outdelivered WNBC’s The Today Show during that same time period among the adults 25-54 […]

Fox’s comedies ran into the Olympic battering ram last night. With viewers flocking to NBC to watch the snowboarding halfpipe, where American favorite Shaun White failed to medal, Fox’s lineup saw big declines. It was the only Big Four competitor to air an original lineup. CBS aired all repeats and ABC had one new show.

As expected, the other broadcast networks took a hit last night against NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage. ABC’s The Bachelor and Fox’s The Following tied or dipped to season lows. Bachelor was off 12% from last week to a 2.3, matching a season low. It was still the No. 1 non-sports program on broadcast last night, with CBS’s lineup largely in reruns.

The Olympics dominated broadcast on Sunday night, as they’re probably going to do every night through the closing ceremony on Feb. 23. But CBS still managed a good crowd for its much-hyped special on the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles: The Night That Changed America, A Grammy Salute drew 14 million total viewers from 8 to 10:30 p.m. The special also drew a solid 2.1 adults 18-49 rating, second behind NBC in primetime.

That’s second only to the 22.4 million who watched on May 20, 1993, after the Cheers series finale, according to the network.

Posting his highest overnights yet, the incoming Tonight host improves from the night before with a special midnight episode.

Despite the lengthy U.S. broadcast delay from the Russian event, NBC’s coverage nears 32 million in primetime — a shade below the last Winter Games.

The final Tonight Show posts a 9.2 metered-market household rating, triple its season average and the best since 2009. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon hits a series high.

A handful of shows held up quite well against the first night of Winter Olympics coverage on NBC last night. Fox’s American Idol and CBS’s Big Bang Theory were off only a tenth from last week, and CBS’s The Millers even grew. But other shows didn’t fare as well. Fox’s Rake and CBS’s The Crazy Ones and Two and a Half Men all fell to series lows opposite the highly rated Games. Bang was the No. 1 non-Olympic show, posting a 5.0 at 8 p.m., down 4% from last week. Lead-out Millers was up a tenth, to a 2.7 at 8:30 p.m.

Chuck Lorre already is the showrunner with most current series, four. Last week, the prolific producer scored a first for a showrunner when all four ranked in the Top 20 among adults 18-49 — something no writing producer had accomplished since the introduction of Nielsen electronic ratings measurement in 1991

The 200th episode of Criminal Minds matched a season best among adults 18-49 and drew the show’s biggest audience since 2012 last night. Minds averaged a 2.8 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., up 27% from a 2.2 for its most recent original episode on Jan. 22. It also drew 12.8 million total viewers, the drama’s biggest audience since May 6, 2012, and up 24% over its previous original. American Idol remained the No. 1 show for the night, posting a 3.9 in the demo from 8 to 10 p.m., even to last week. I

The shows that aired after Sunday’s Super Bowl saw no bump for their next original episodes. In fact, both New Girl and Brooklyn Nine-Nine were down last night from their most recent Tuesday outings. Girl posted a 1.6 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., off 16 percent from its previous Tuesday original, which posted a 1.9 on Jan. 21. Brooklyn, moving into its new 9:30 p.m. timeslot for the first time, posted a 1.4, sliding from a 1.9 two weeks ago when it aired at 8:30 and down from the 1.5 that The Mindy Project posted in the slot on Jan. 21.

ABC continues to make inroads in the evening news ratings derby, with World News With Diane Sawyer hitting a three-year demo high in a news-heavy week.

Earlier Tuesday, Nielsen issued final Live + Same Day national ratings for Super Bowl XLVIII and both the household rating and average audience figures have risen compared to the time zone adjusted fast nationals released yesterday.  The average audience for the game has increased to 112.2 million viewers, up from 111.5 million reported yesterday, which was already record-breaking.  The household rating for Super Bowl XLVIII now stands at 46.7, up from a 46.4 based on fast nationals issued Monday.  Super Bowl XLVIII now ranks alone as seventh highest rated Super Bowl ever; at 46.4 it had been tied for seventh best. The 69 share reported yesterday is unchanged.

Jay Leno’s final week as host of The Tonight Show got off to a strong start Monday night. Tonight matched its best metered-market household rating in 15 months, as well as the show’s best Monday rating in almost four years. Tonight posted a 3.9 household rating at 11:35 p.m., tying with last Friday as the show’s highest-rated program since President Barack Obama visited on Oct. 24, 2012, a night Leno drew a 4.0.

It produced a lopsided result, but Sunday’s telecast of the Super Bowl on Fox drew a record 111.5 million viewers, according to updated Nielsen estimates — a reversal of preliminary numbers which showed the game was merely fifth all-time.

Known for producing the highest national viewership of the year, the Super Bowl is also a very local story. Despite the blowout performance of 2014’s Super Bowl XLVIII champions, the Seattle Seahawks, the average broadcast rating for the home-­team markets of Denver and Seattle both exceeded TVB’s projected national average* (46.3) by 11% and 22%, respectively. Additionally, the game’s host market, New York, saw ratings that exceeded the projected national average by 9%.

The other networks never do all that well against the Super Bowl, but Telemundo did put up some better-than-average numbers against the big game. In fact, the network surged to an extremely rare No. 2 showing in primetime among adults 18-49 Sunday night opposite Fox’s Super Bowl. Telemundo averaged a 0.8 adults 18-49 rating and 2 share from 7 to 11 p.m., just ahead of ABC at 0.7/1. By comparison, season to date Telemundo is averaging a 0.6/1 in primetime. Fox, of course, placed a dominant first Sunday night with a 29.0/60 based on early numbers, but those will adjust significantly.

Fox’s newest drama isn’t raking in the viewers. Last night Rake tumbled 24% from its already-low debut, posting a 1.3 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m. Rake lost more than half of American Idol’s 3.1 lead-in, and it fell from a 1.5 in its first half hour to a 1.2 in its second. Idol was also off from the previous week but only by 6%.