US Television Ratings

NBC won the ratings battle in the FTA coverage of US Presidential Election, in both 18-49 ratings and total viewers. It was followed by ABC, CBS and FOX. CNN and Fox News both posted record ratings on cable.

Hairspray Live helped NBC winning Wednesday night, but its 18-49 ratings of 2.3 and audience of 8.92 million were lower than the previous three live musicals: The Sound of Music in 2013, Peter Pan in 2014 and The Wiz Live last year. Hairspray Live airs on SBS tomorrow (Saturday) from 7.30pm.

The Golden Globe Awards attracted just over 20 million viewers on Sunday with a 18-49 rating of 5.6, slightly up from a 5.5 and 18.73 million viewers in 2016.

The US celebrity version of My Kitchen Rules started softly on Thursday, with a 18-49 rating of 0.9 and 2.51 million viewers, fourth in its timeslot behind Mom, Chicago Med (both 1.3), and even an ABC special on African American music (1.0).

Doesn’t that network usually come fourth in most timeslots? How does it compare to what was previously shown in that timeslot?

Meanwhile

The debut of MKR US was a bit lower than Hell’s Kitchen (1.1) which was previously shown in that timeslot the week before. Since then, MKR’s 18-49 ratings has slipped every week.

Meanwhile, New England’s amazing comeback win over Atlanta in NFL Super Bowl LI attracted a 18-49 rating of 33.8 with 111.3 million viewers, just a bit lower than 111.86 million for Super Bowl 50 on CBS last year.
EDIT: the debut of 24: Legacy, which was pushed back to 11pm US Eastern Time due to the Super Bowl going into overtime, delivered 17.6 million viewers and a 6.1 rating in adults 18-49, the smallest audience for a Super Bowl lead-out show since Alias pulled 17.36 million in 2003.

Sunday’s Academy Awards, which ended in a farce when Faye Dunaway read out the wrong winner for Best Picture, attracted the smallest audience in 9 years. The telecast (which finished at 12.03am ET or 4.30pm AEDT) had 32.9 million viewers with a 18-49 rating of 9.1.

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The much delayed premiere of The Amazing Race’s 29th season could only manage a 18-49 rating of 0.9 on Thursday with 4.3 million viewers, just ahead of The Blacklist: Redemption and The Catch in the 10pm timeslot. The premiere rating was lower than that of every episode last season when the show aired on Friday nights.

That’s almost double what The Simpsons is getting on 8:00pm on Sunday night on Fox. It’s time for the supposed “most successful comedy” to be put down.

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The return of Prison Break after a 8-year break grabbed decent ratings on Tuesday, with a 18-49 rating of 1.5 (No.1 in its timeslot and No.2 for the night) and audience of 3.83 million.

Survivor: Game Changers scored a 18-49 rating of 1.9 and audience of 8.48 million for the finale, and rating of 1.4 and 5.84 million viewers for the reunion.

An Australian show a ratings hit in the US!

Based on overnight Nielsen results, the “Battle of Brisbane” is likely to be the highest-rated fight on ESPN’s networks since the mid 1990’s.

The much awaited season 7 premiere of Game of Thrones attracted the show’s biggest ever American TV audience - 10.1 million, beating the 8.89 million for the Season 6 finale last year.
EDIT: the episode attracted a 18-49 rating of 4.7 which is a series high.
The episode was so popular that HBO Now catch up service crashed in both the US and Latin America.

Game of Thrones has posted a new record audience for HBO. Sunday’s season 7 finale attracted 12.1 million viewers, breaking the previous series record of 10.72 million for episode 5 which aired two weeks earlier. Every episode of season 7 had more viewers than the biggest one for all of the first six seasons. The finale’s 18-49 rating of 5.7 was also a series high, breaking the previous high of 5.0 two weeks ago.
The MTV Video Music Awards, which aired against GoT, drew a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.66 million viewers, down 22 percent and 19 percent from last year’s 1.8 and 3.27 million viewers. The 2.66 million viewers is the smallest audience for the VMAs since Nielsen started measuring the show in 1994.

The Primetime Emmy Awards were close to an all-time low in the ratings on Sunday even with a new host (Stephen Colbert). The CBS telecast had a 18-49 rating of 2.5 and total audience of 11.38 million, compared with last year’s ceremony which finished with a 2.8 rating and 11.38 million viewers.

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Will & Grace returned with solid ratings after an 11-year break. It had 18-49 rating of 3.0 and total audience of 10.19 million.

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The Walking Dead had one of its lowest season premieres in several years. The season 8 premiere on Sunday recorded an 18-49 rating of 5.0 and total audience of 11.439 million, well down on last year’s massive audience of 17 million and demo rating of 8.4. It is also the show’s smallest demo rating since season 2 and smallest season premiere audience since season 3.

Moving into its regular Thursday night timeslot, Young Sheldon attracted a 18-49 demo of 2.2 and 12.66 million total viewers, which was well down from the pilot screening on September 25 (3.8, 17.21 million). The ratings were also affected by CBS affiliates in New York City and Buffalo showing the NFL match between the Jets and the Bills.

I don’t follow US TV ratings, but wanted to have a look and Good Doctor is doing just as well there.

No. 1 program with over 10m, increasing to over 17m with consolidated!

Philadelphia Eagles just won a thrilling Super Bowl. 58 year drought broken!

Not here and I’m not sure how big they are in the US, but over there it’ll be reminiscent of the Western Bulldogs and Cronulla Sharks wins here in 2016 I’m sure :trophy:

So will be keen to see the US ratings tomorrow morning, wonder if it’ll be a record, I’d think highest since the 2014 record at least.

Hopefully our US ratings guru @JohnsonTV will be onto it :ok_hand: