or


[12/21/19 - 08:29 AM]
Friday's Broadcast Ratings: "WWE SmackDown" Continues Demo Reign
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 (12/20/19):

FOX (2.414 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.7, #1) continued its demo reign on Friday with its weekly presentation of "WWE SmackDown" (2.414 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.7, #1).

The most-watched network then was CBS (4.431 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) with repeats of "I Love Lucy Christmas Special" (4.892 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2), "Magnum P.I." (3.823 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4) and "Blue Bloods" (4.578 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4).

Next up was ABC (2.815 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) and its pairing of "Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee" (2.528 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4) and a two-hour "20/20" (2.958 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4).

Meanwhile, NBC (2.659 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T2) served up the "Global Citizen Prize" (1.849 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.3, #8) alongside its own two-hour "Dateline NBC" (3.064 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2).

And finally, repeats of "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" (0.903 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.2, #9), "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (0.669 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T10) and another "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (0.605 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T10) closed out the night on The CW (0.770 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - WWE SmackDown
0.00% - Dateline NBC
-20.00% - 20/20

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+75.00% - WWE SmackDown (vs. Various)
+11.11% - Dateline NBC (vs. Various)
-20.00% - 20/20 (vs. Various)
-25.00% - Global Citizen Prize (vs. Midnight, Texas)
-42.86% - Celebrating Marvel's Stan Lee (vs. I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (Repeat))


Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/21/18):

CBS (4.261 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) was the most-watched network on Friday with its mix of "A Home for the Holidays: The 20th Anniversary" (3.474 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2), "Hawaii Five-0" (4.111 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T9) and "Blue Bloods" (5.199 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2).

NBC (2.803 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) then was the number two draw with "Midnight, Texas" (2.604 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T9), a rebroadcast of "America's Got Talent: A Holiday of Champions" (2.752 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T9) and "Dateline NBC" (3.054 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2).

Next up was ABC (2.787 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T1) and its second run lineup of "I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown" (3.422 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.7, #1), "The Great Christmas Light Fight: All Stars" (2.409 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2) and "20/20" (2.531 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2).

Meanwhile, FOX (2.227 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #4) served up repeats of "Last Man Standing" (3.304 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2), "The Cool Kids" (2.731 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2) and "Hell's Kitchen" (1.437 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T9).

And finally, a new "Dynasty" (0.675 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T13) and a repeat "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" (0.728 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T13) rounded out the night on The CW (0.702 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - Midnight, Texas
-37.50% - Dateline NBC
-50.00% - Dynasty (vs. 12/7/18)

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
-33.33% - Midnight, Texas (vs. Blindspot)
-37.50% - Dateline NBC
-37.50% - A Home for the Holidays: The 20th Anniversary (vs. I Love Lucy Christmas Special (Repeat))
-50.00% - Dynasty (vs. Masters of Illusion: Christmas Magic (Repeat))

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

· In Nielsen's 56 metered markets, household results were: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," 1.9/5; "Late Show with Stephen Colbert," 2.6/7; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.4/4 with an encore.

· In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," 0.5/3; "Late Show," 0.3/2; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.4/2 with an encore.

· From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 1.0/3 in metered-market households and a 0.3/2 in 18-49 in the Local People Meters.

· From 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET, ratings were: "Late Night with Seth Meyers," 1.1/4 in metered-market households with an encore; CBS's "Late Late Show," 1.2/4 with an encore. In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, averages were: "Late Night," 0.3/2 in 18-49 with an encore; "Late Late Show," 0.1/1 with an encore.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [december 2019]  
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
[10/16/25 - 06:01 AM]
ESPN's Monumental 2025 WNBA Season Sets New Viewership Records
Across all networks, the 2025 WNBA Postseason was the most-viewed since 1999.

[10/15/25 - 04:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's No. 1 Program on Broadcast TV
"20/20" increased its lead week to week over "Dateline" in Total Viewers to post its largest of the season.

[10/15/25 - 04:01 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in Total Viewers, Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49, Leading NBC in All Key Demos for the 3rd Straight Week
"Nightline" saw double-digit gains in the year-ago week in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[10/14/25 - 03:06 PM]
ESPN Records the Most-Watched WNBA Postseason Ever Across Its Networks
Across 24 games, the '25 WNBA postseason averaged 1.2 million viewers, up 5% from last year.

[10/14/25 - 03:03 PM]
"College GameDay Built by The Home Depot" Delivers Most-Watched West Coast Episode Ever; ESPN College Football on ABC Scores Top Three Programs Across All Networks and Content for Saturday, Oct. 11
The Texas Longhorns' upset victory over the Oklahoma Sooners averaged 8.7 million viewers.

[10/14/25 - 02:50 PM]
ALCS Game 1 on FOX and FOX Deportes Draws 5.3 Million Viewers
The Mariners victory over the Blue Jays averaged 5,310,000 viewers across FOX, FOX Deportes and FOX Sports streaming services.

[10/14/25 - 02:39 PM]
FOX Sports Delivers Most-Watched LDS on FOX/FS1 Since Launch of Postseason Baseball on FS1 in 2014
On Friday, 8,723,000 viewers tuned in for the Mariners' historic 15-inning ALDS Game 5 victory.

[10/14/25 - 02:15 PM]
"Sunday Night Football" Registers Record Fourth Blockbuster Audience of 25+ Million Viewers This Season, As Lions-Chiefs Averages 27.3 Million Viewers on NBC & Peacock
Lions-Chiefs averaged 27.3 million viewers across NBC and Peacock, based on official Nielsen Big Data + Panel and digital data from Adobe Analytics, marking the second-most watched October audience in the history of NBC "SNF."

[10/14/25 - 01:45 PM]
ABC Wednesday Comedies Return Strong for New Seasons
"Shifting Gears" earned the biggest audience since the show's Valentine's Day episode; while "Abbott Elementary" jumped over the show's season four premiere among Total Viewers as well as the season four average.

[10/14/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of October 6: "The Woman in Cabin 10" Rocks the Boat as No. 1 Debut in This Week's Top 10
In the spirit of the season of chills, "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" claimed the No. 1 spot on the English TV list, rising to the top in its second week with 20.7 million views.

[10/10/25 - 03:07 PM]
3,287,000 Viewers Tuned in on Average Through Game 4 of the ALDS Across FOX, FS1 and FS2
Through Game 4, coverage of the ALDS across FOX, FS1 and FS2 is up +11% from 2024 and +31% over 2023.

[10/10/25 - 09:04 AM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Scores Historic Growth in Week Four
"Dancing with the Stars" rose for the third straight week following its season premiere, for the first time in the show's history, in both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49.

[10/09/25 - 05:01 PM]
3,177,000 Viewers Tuned in on Average Through Game 3 of the ALDS Across FOX, FS1 and FS2
Through Game 3, coverage of the ALDS across FOX, FS1 and FS2 is up +14% from 2024 and +28% over 2023.

[10/09/25 - 03:11 PM]
"Jimmy Kimmel Live" Tops Late-Night with Week of Live Shows from Brooklyn Academy of Music
Continuing the show's momentum this season, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" earned 2.20 million Total Viewers and a 0.22 rating among Adults 18-49, topping late-night for the week in both measures.

[10/09/25 - 01:00 PM]
NBC Wins First Two Weeks of the New TV Season and Sees Year-to-Year Growth
Across all platforms (7-day), "Law & Order" and "SVU" amassed 6 million and 7.6 million viewers, respectively, both showing an increase over last season's premieres.