or


[08/08/20 - 08:29 AM]
Friday's Broadcast Ratings: FOX, "WWE SmackDown" Lead Demo Race
By The Futon Critic Staff (TFC)

Primetime Preliminary Fast National Nielsen Data
(includes all DVR playback through 3:00 am)

Here are the highlights of the 12 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night (8/7/20):

FOX (1.956 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.5, #1) took home another demo victory on Friday thanks to "WWE SmackDown" (1.956 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.5, #1).

NBC (2.851 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) and ABC (2.221 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) shared the silver with their repeats of "The Wall" (2.263 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T5) and "Dateline NBC" (3.145 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2); and "Shark Tank" (2.665 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) and "20/20" (1.999 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T5), respectively.

Next up was CBS (3.564 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.3, #4) with a new "The Greatest #AtHome Videos" (3.736 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) alongside repeats of "Magnum P.I." (3.261 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T5) and "Blue Bloods" (3.695 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T5).

And finally, The CW (0.376 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5) rounded out the night with a new "Masters of Illusion" (0.555 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T9), a repeat "Masters of Illusion" (0.480 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T9), the premiere of "Being Rueben" (0.253 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.0, #T11) and a second "Being Rueben" (0.215 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.0, #T11).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - WWE SmackDown
0.00% - The Greatest #AtHome Videos
-50.00% - Masters of Illusion (vs. 7/17/20)

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - WWE SmackDown (vs. Various)
0.00% - The Greatest #AtHome Videos (vs. Hawaii Five-0 (Repeat))
-50.00% - Masters of Illusion
-100.00% - Being Rueben - 9:00 (vs. Hypnotize Me (Repeat))
-100.00% - Being Rueben - 9:30 (vs. Hypnotize Me (Repeat))


Here are the highlights of the 13 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (8/9/19):

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Some high rated local pre-season NFL games (across all networks) are included here but will be excluded from Officials.]

NBC (2.787 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) and FOX (1.952 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) led the demo race on Friday with the latter offering up repeats of "BH90210" (1.997 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) and "MasterChef" (1.908 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1).

The Peacock then served up second runs of "American Ninja Warrior" (2.657 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) and "Dateline NBC" (3.047 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1).

Next up was CBS (3.673 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3) and its all-repeat lineup of "Hawaii Five-0" (3.610 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T7), "Magnum P.I." (3.476 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T7) and "Blue Bloods" (3.932 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T7).

Meanwhile, ABC (2.335 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3) offered up the special "WE Day" (1.705 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.3, #10) alongside the return of "What Would You Do?" (2.570 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) and a repeat "20/20" (2.729 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1).

And finally, new episodes of "Masters of Illusion" (0.701 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.2, #11) and "The Big Stage" (0.575 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T12) plus a repeat "Hypnotize Me" (0.503 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T12) rounded out the night on The CW (0.571 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - Masters of Illusion
0.00% - The Big Stage

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - What Would You Do?
-14.29% - WE Day (vs. Fresh Off the Boat/Speechless (Repeats))
-33.33% - Masters of Illusion
-66.67% - The Big Stage (vs. Masters of Illusion (Repeat))

In late-night metered market ratings (via NBC's press release):

Late-night metered market results for Friday night are currently unavailable.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [july 2026]  
S
M
T
W
T
F
S
   


· SHOWATCH
(series past and present)
· DEVWATCH
(series in development)
· MOVIEWATCH
(tv movies and mini-series)





most recent ratings | view all posts
[07/20/26 - 10:00 AM]
CBS Leads Broadcast Series in Multiplatform Viewing for the 2025-2026 Season
Against broadcast competition, CBS finishes the season with four of the top five series.

[07/17/26 - 03:12 PM]
FOX Sports' 15.088 Million Average Viewers for FIFA World Cup 2026 Semifinals is Best in U.S. History
16.900 million viewers watched Argentina knock out England in the semifinals Wednesday afternoon on FOX.

[07/17/26 - 02:01 PM]
ABC News Is No. 1 in Total Viewers on Sunday Morning, in Late Night and Friday Evening
"20/20" improved on the year-ago telecast by double digits in all key target demos: Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49.

[07/16/26 - 02:41 PM]
FOX Sports Rings the Bell, Captures Most-Watched MLB All-Star Game Since 2018
Coverage reached a peak audience of 10,186,000 viewers from 8:45-9:00 PM ET.

[07/16/26 - 01:48 PM]
Netflix: What We Watched the First Half of 2026
Starting in Q1 2027, Netflix will move from a six-month to a yearly snapshot.

[07/16/26 - 01:09 PM]
Messi Shines, FOX Sports is Golden with Record-Breaking England-Argentina FIFA World Cup 2026 Semifinal
15.063 million viewers watched Lionel Messi and Argentina knock out England in the semifinal Wednesday afternoon on FOX.

[07/16/26 - 12:03 PM]
Paramount+ Reaches Nearly 16M Viewers for UFC 329: McGregor vs Holloway 2, Peaking with Record-Breaking 8M Streams in U.S. and Latin America
The main event concluded in 69 seconds as Max Holloway secured a first-round TKO against Conor McGregor, whose return from a five-year layoff ended after he suffered an early knee injury.

[07/16/26 - 11:00 AM]
ESPN Delivers Strongest First Half Viewership Performance Since 2012 Across Television Networks
Fans consumed a combined 288 billion minutes of sports content across ESPN and ESPN on ABC during Nielsen's first half 2026 calendar period.

[07/15/26 - 01:01 PM]
"The Five Star Weekend" Is the #1 Original Scripted Launch in Peacock's History
Off to a five star start.

[07/15/26 - 12:50 PM]
FOX Sports Secures Most-Watched FIFA Men's World Cup Semifinals Telecast in English-Language U.S. History
11.462 million viewers watched Spain knock out France in the semifinal Tuesday afternoon on FOX.

[07/15/26 - 12:01 PM]
Top 10 Most-Watched Prime Original Films & Series for the Week of July 6
"Elle," "Off Campus," "Every Year After," "Clarkson's Farm," and "The Boys" led all original series worldwide.

[07/15/26 - 08:28 AM]
NBC and Peacock Deliver Most-Watched WNBA Game of 2026 Season with Fever-Aces on "Sunday Night Basketball"
The July 12 game averaged a Total Audience Delivery (TAD) of 2.64 million viewers on NBC and Peacock in primetime.

[07/14/26 - 05:18 PM]
ESPN Delivers Its Second Most-Watched Wimbledon Coverage
Saturday's Wimbledon Ladies Championship, a three-set victory for No. 9 Linda Noskova over No. 10 Karolina Muchova, averaged 1.9 million viewers, an increase of 48% compared to last year and ranking as ESPN's most-viewed women's championship ever.

[07/14/26 - 03:38 PM]
FOX Sports Continues to Smash Records - 15.644 Million Average Viewers for FIFA World Cup 2026 Quarterfinals - Best in English-Language U.S. History
21.796 million viewers watched Norway-England Saturday on FOX.

[07/14/26 - 02:03 PM]
NBC Sports Delivers Largest Final Round Audience for American Century Championship Celebrity Tournament Since 2004
The final round audience averaged 1.5 million viewers on NBC and Peacock.