ratings

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%.

American Idol still hasn’t settled into a ratings groove, but it’s dropping more slowly. The hit Fox singing show dominated a night littered with repeats, easily lifting the network to a Wednesday night victory. Idol averaged a 3.8 adults 18-49 rating from 8 to 10 p.m., down 5% from a 4.0 last week. Idol is in its third week. Last Wednesday the show slid 15% from its debut, so its ratings slide appears to be easing.

The Winter Olympics will lift the network to a February win, after fall’s November victory. The Super Bowl will push Fox to second ahead of CBS. ABC will lag in fourth.

According to Nielsen, 13 networks carried President Obama’s speech live. CBS was the most-watched broadcast network with an average 7.6 million viewers, followed by NBC with 7 million and ABC with 5.6 million. On cable, Fox News Channel was the leader with 4.7 million viewers. MSNBC averaged 2.3 million, while CNN had 2.1 million.

It was an irregular night on broadcast Tuesday with President Obama’s State of the Union address airing at 9 p.m. NBC finished first among the broadcasters, though all the networks drew generally low numbers for the speech. NBC drew a 1.4 adults 18-49 rating for speech coverage from 9 to 11 p.m.. CBS was second with a 1.3 from 9 to just past 10:30 p.m., with a repeat of Two and a Half Men filling out the final half hour. ABC averaged a 1.1, though it, too, aired a comedy repeat at the end of that block (The Goldbergs). And Fox posted a 1.0 for the speech.

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An estimated 8.3 million people saw ABC anchor Elizabeth Vargas talk about last fall’s stint in rehab, putting the show among the 20 most-viewed of the week. CBS easily won the week in primetime, averaging 11.3 million viewers. Fox had 6.1 million viewers, NBC had 6 million, ABC had 5.4 million, Univision had 2.9 million, the CW had 1.7 million, Telemundo 1.4 million and Ion Television 1.3 million.

NBC, for years a ratings laggard, is ahead in a key contest among broadcasters even before it attracts millions of viewers this month to its marquee event, the Winter Olympics. The Blacklist and the second-year drama Chicago Fire have pushed NBC into the lead among viewers 18 to 49, the group most prized by advertisers. NBC will begin its Olympics telecast on Feb. 6, boosting ratings and giving the network its biggest opportunity this season to promote its regular primetime lineup.

The Following debuted its second season to big numbers following last Sunday’s NFC championship game, but less than half that crowd followed the show to its regular timeslot. Following made its Monday premiere last night with disappointing numbers. The drama averaged a 2.0 adults 18-49 rating at 9 p.m., down from a 4.4 for its post-NFC title game bow. Certainly a decline was expected. Following had no lead-in support last night, running behind a repeat of its season premiere.

NBC’s The Blacklist starring James Spader and Megan Boone, set the record for Live+3 viewership, adding 5.4 million viewers to its original Jan. 20 episode, bringing its total for that episode to 14.3 million viewers (from 8.8 million).

The Pro Bowl got sacked by unfortunate scheduling last night. The NFL all-star game aired against CBS’s Grammy Awards this year, a show it didn’t have to face last year. As expected, considering the ratings power of the Grammys, Pro Bowl ratings were down though still solid. The game posted a 6.6 household rating from 7:30 p.m.-10:45 p.m., off 13% from a 7.7 metered-market rating last year. NBC posted a 3.1 adults 18-49 rating in primetime, second to CBS.

Once upon a time, bowing behind American Idol ensured that you’d get a big audience for your first episode, if not your second. But that’s no longer true. Fox’s new drama Rake debuted to a 1.7 adults 18-49 rating last night at 9 p.m., losing 48% of Idol’s 3.3 lead-in at 8 p.m. Idol’s ratings have declined over the years, of course, and the show was off 13% last night from a 3.8 last Thursday.

American Idol declined from last week’s premiere, though it was still the highest-rated broadcast show in primetime on Wednesday night. Idol averaged a 4.0 adults 18-49 rating, down 15% from a 4.7 last week. Idol has been increasing by a tenth of a point when final numbers are released, so that rating will likely grow to a 4.1, a 13% decline. Idol did improve by 3% on last Thursday’s rating.

Overall for the week, Fox won with an average of 17.2 million viewers. Runner-up CBS had 8.4 million, followed by ABC with 5.2 million and NBC with 4.6 million. Univision had 2.7 million, the CW had 1.6 viewers, Telemundo had 1.4 million and Ion Television had 1.2 million.

Judge Judy and Wheel of Fortune both hit 8.0s in the week ending Jan. 12. Many other shows report strong gains and new season highs.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine strengthened its case for renewal with a big ratings jump last night. The new comedy averaged a 1.9 adults 18-49 rating at 8:30 p.m., up 36% from a 1.4 last week. It marked the show’s best rating since its September premiere, when it posted a 2.6 before the season officially kicked off and it faced tougher competition.

The season finale of Fox’s first-year show Sleepy Hollow grew from last week to tie NBC’s The Blacklist as the No. 1 drama on Monday night. Hollow posted a 2.3 adults 18-49 rating for a special two-hour episode at 8 p.m., up 5% from a 2.2 last week, when it aired only at 9 p.m. Blacklist was off 8% from last week, to a 2.3, a series low for the new show. This was only its second outing without The Voice as a lead-in, and so some decline was expected as it finds its footing.

Fox and CBS couldn’t have asked for much more from Sunday’s NFC and AFC championship games. Both games drew more than 50 million total viewers, according to Nielsen, boding well for the Feb. 2 Super Bowl on Fox. The AFC game, which aired at 3 p.m. on CBS, averaged 51.3 million total viewers, up 8% from last year, while in the 6:30 p.m. NFC championship, which wasn’t decided until the final minute, Fox averaged 55.9 million total viewers, up 33% over 2013.

The Fox drama returns with an ideal lead-in, jumping 38% from its series premiere a year ago, while the rest of the broadcast competition shrinks against football.

American Idol took another ratings hit last night, sliding not just from last year’s second episode but also falling markedly from its Wednesday premiere. Nonetheless the show was still easily the No. 1 program of the night on broadcast and lifted Fox to a dominant Thursday night win. Idol averaged a 3.8 from 8 to 10 p.m., down 32% from last year’s Thursday night bow, which posted a 5.6. The singing show slid 19 percent from Wednesday night’s debut, when it posted a 4.7.

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There will be a lot of headlines today about how American Idol posted its lowest-ever premiere rating last night (there’s one right above this story) and how it dropped a lot from last year (23%). But that was not unexpected, either. Idol still dominated the night for Fox and actually showed improvement over the end of last season, when the show had seemingly become an afterthought for many viewers. Idol posted a 4.6 adults 18-49 rating for its two-hour 13th season premiere last night from 8 to 10 p.m.

Most shows in all genres record ratings gains — many in double digits — in the week ending Jan. 5.

Tuesdays at 10 p.m. are turning into a killer timeslot for ABC. The network’s new drama, Killer Women, fell from last week’s already-low debut rating in its second outing last night, and it may not last much longer with those numbers. Women averaged a 0.7 adults 18-49 rating last night, off 22% from a 0.9 last week. It finished fourth in the slot, just 0.2 ahead of Telemundo.

The network surged with its coverage of the AFC Divisional Playoff game between the Indianapolis Colts and the New England Patriots, which drew nearly 32 million viewers to rank as the week’s most-watched program. Overall for the week, CBS won with an average of 15.2 million viewers. It was the biggest ratings week by any network this season.

NFL teams averaged a 28.5 local rating in their respective home markets for regular-season game telecasts in 2013, up 4% from 2012 and up 3% from 2011. The Saints once again led all teams with a 52.0 local rating in New Orleans, up 14% from last season. The Chiefs saw the biggest local jump, with ratings in Kansas City up 41%.

With many TV broadcasters continuing to suffer with weak viewership on their linear networks, Kevin Reilly, Fox chairman of entertainment,  stressed that live-only TV ratings shouldn’t be looked in a vacuum.

The Blacklist held up OK without a big lead-in from The Voice. The show posted a 2.5 adults 18-49 rating at 10 p.m. last night, down 22% from its most recent episode in December, when it aired behind the finale of Voice. That’s a good number for any show in the timeslot; Blacklist won the hour and finished 32% ahead of the No. 2 show in the slot, ABC’s Castle, which drew a 1.9.

Tina Fey and Amy Poehler may have wrapped up Golden Globes hosting duties indefinitely. Sunday’s awards show, hosted by the former Saturday Night Live stars, posted its best rating in seven years. The show averaged a 14.1 household rating, according to the 56 Nielsen metered markets, marking the top rating since 2007, when the program posted a 16.0 on a Monday night. The Globes were up 8% over last year, when the show averaged a 13.1 metered-market rating.

A huge lead-in audience from the NFL lifted two CBS shows to season highs on Sunday despite airing opposite NBC’s highly rated Golden Globes. The final hour of the San Diego Chargers-Denver Broncos playoff game averaged an 11.8 adults 18-49 rating at 7 p.m.That was easily the top-rated hour of the night on broadcast, and it boosted lead-out 60 Minutes at 8 p.m. to a season-high 4.2 rating, including a 4.9 in its first half hour.

CBS’s entire lineup surged on Thursday night, carrying it to a huge win against light competition. The 8 p.m. comedy The Big Bang Theory led all shows on the night with a 5.6 adults 18-49 rating, its best since posting a 6.1 for the second of two episodes on premiere night in September. That helped lift lead-out The Millers, a new sitcom, to its best performance since its debut as well. The show posted a 3.3, holding 59% of Bang’s audience.