or


[09/12/20 - 09:46 AM]
Friday's Broadcast Ratings: FOX, "SmackDown" Hold Onto Demo Crown
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 (9/11/20):

FOX (2.261 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.6, #1) was still the demo champ on Friday with its weekly telecast of "WWE SmackDown" (2.261 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.6, #1).

The silver went to ABC (3.284 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2) with its duo of "9/11 Remembered: The Day We Came Together" (2.790 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6) and "20/20" (3.532 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2).

Next up was CBS (2.422 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #3) and its mix of "MacGyver" (2.804 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4), "Love Island" (1.797 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.5, #T2) and "Blue Bloods" (2.664 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6).

Meanwhile, NBC (1.895 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #4) served up "America's Got Talent" (1.815 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T6) and "Dateline NBC" (2.055 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T4).

And finally, repeats of "Masters of Illusion" (0.684 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T9) and another "Masters of Illusion" (0.551 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T9) led into a new "Being Rueben" (0.258 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.0, #T11) and the season finale of "Being Rueben" (0.225 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.0, #T11) to round out the night on The CW (0.429 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
#DIV/0! - Being Rueben - 9:00
#DIV/0! - Being Rueben - 9:30
+150.00% - 20/20 (vs. 8/28/20)
+66.67% - Love Island
0.00% - WWE SmackDown
-20.00% - Dateline NBC (vs. 5/15/20)

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+100.00% - WWE SmackDown (vs. Various)
+42.86% - 20/20 (vs. Reef Break/20/20)
+25.00% - Love Island (vs. Magnum P.I. (Repeat))
-14.29% - 9/11 Remembered: The Day We Came Together (vs. American Housewife/Fresh Off the Boat (Repeats))
-33.33% - Dateline NBC
-100.00% - Being Rueben - 9:00 (vs. Red Bull Peaking)
-100.00% - Being Rueben - 9:30 (vs. Red Bull Peaking)


Here are the highlights of the 14 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (9/13/19):

NBC (2.823 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.6, #1) was the demo champ for the third consecutive Friday with its duo of "American Ninja Warrior" (2.539 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2) and "Dateline NBC" (3.390 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.6, #1).

CBS (3.962 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.4, #2) then was the silver draw with its repeat mix of "Hawaii Five-0" (3.860 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3), "Magnum P.I." (3.836 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3) and "Blue Bloods" (4.191 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T7).

Next up was ABC (2.245 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3) with repeats of "American Housewife" (2.349 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3) and "Fresh Off the Boat" (1.909 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T7) followed by the season finale of "Reef Break" (2.075 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T7) and a new "20/20" (2.531 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T3).

Meanwhile, FOX (0.993 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T3) offered up encores of "BH90210" (0.927 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T7) and "MasterChef" (1.058 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T7).

And finally, The CW (0.339 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5) closed out the night with the special "EA Sports Madden NFL 20 Classic" (0.434 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T12) followed by the premiere of "Red Bull Peaking" (0.250 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T12) and a second "Red Bull Peaking" (0.239 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T12).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - Dateline NBC
0.00% - Reef Break (vs. 9/5/19)
-20.00% - 20/20

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
-14.29% - Dateline NBC
-20.00% - 20/20
-25.00% - Reef Break (vs. Child Support (Repeat))
-50.00% - EA Sports Madden NFL 20 Classic (vs. Masters of Illusion)
-50.00% - Red Bull Peaking - 9:00 (vs. Penn & Teller: Fool Us (Repeat))
-50.00% - Red Bull Peaking - 9:30 (vs. Penn & Teller: Fool Us (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," 1.5/4 with an encore telecast; "Late Show with Stephen Colbert," 1.8/5 with an encore; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.3/4 with an encore.

· In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, adult 18-49 results were: "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," 0.4/3 with an encore; "Late Show," 0.2/2 with an encore; and "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 0.3/2 with an encore.

· From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 0.9/3 in metered-market households and a 0.2/2 in 18-49 in the Local People Meters.

· From 12:35-1:35 a.m. ET, ratings were: "Late Night with Seth Meyers," 0.9/3 in metered-market households with an encore; CBS's "Late Late Show," 0.9/3 with an encore. In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, averages were: "Late Night," 0.2/2 in 18-49 with an encore; "Late Late Show," 0.1/1 with an encore.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [september 2020]  
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
[10/28/25 - 02:07 PM]
"Sunday Night Football" on Record Pace Through Week 8, Averaging 24.7 Million Viewers on NBC and Peacock
Packers-Steelers audience peaked at 28.2 million viewers on NBC and Peacock in the second quarter (9:15-9:30 p.m. ET).

[10/28/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of October 20 - "A House of Dynamite" Hits the Target at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Plus: "Nobody Wants This," "The Elixir," and "The Monster of Florence" rise to the top in their opening weekends.

[10/27/25 - 12:03 PM]
Second-Most Viewed NBA Opening Week on ESPN Since 2014; "Inside the NBA" Averaged 1M Viewers in Its Opening Week Debut on ESPN
Last week's NBA coverage averaged 2.2 million viewers.

[10/24/25 - 02:54 PM]
ESPN's Third-Most Watched NBA Season-Opening Wednesday Ever
The two-game slate averaged 2.33 million viewers, up 44 percent from last year.

[10/24/25 - 02:02 PM]
"20/20" Is Friday's Most-Watched Newsmagazine Across the Board
In addition, "20/20" posted its best Adults 25-54 in more than four months.

[10/24/25 - 02:01 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 Across the Board, Leading NBC in All Key Demos for the 4th Straight Week
"Nightline" grew year to year across the board: Total Viewers, Adults 25-54, and Adults 18-49.

[10/24/25 - 01:05 PM]
"Dancing with the Stars" Makes Television History - Rising for Fifth Straight Week
The October 21 episode scored 6.63 million Total Viewers and a 1.38 rating among Adults 18-49, hitting new season highs in both demographics.

[10/23/25 - 02:33 PM]
Largest Audience for "NBA Tip-Off" Doubleheader Since 2010 as NBA Returned to NBC and Debuted on Peacock
Tuesday night's audience across NBC and Peacock peaked at 7.1 million viewers from 10:45-11 p.m. ET as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder to a one-point win over the Houston Rockets in double overtime.

[10/23/25 - 11:28 AM]
"High Potential" Rises to Season High as Show Nears Fall Finale
ABC's popular drama rose to a multiplatform season high in Total Viewers (12.50 million) and Adults 18-49 (2.31 rating) after seven days of viewing on ABC, Hulu, Hulu on Disney+ and digital platforms.

[10/22/25 - 03:06 PM]
FOX Sports Delivers Most-Watched ALCS Game Since 2017
9,028,000 viewers tuned in across FOX, FS1, FOX Deportes & FOX Sports streaming services for the Toronto Blue Jays' ALCS Game 7 victory over the Seattle Mariners.

[10/22/25 - 08:07 AM]
ESPN College Football on ABC Delivers Top Three Games Across All Networks for Saturday, Oct. 18 - Off to Best Start Since '09
Coverage of Ole Miss at Georgia averaged 9.8 million viewers.

[10/22/25 - 08:03 AM]
FOX NFL's America's Game of the Week Delivers 25,630,000 Average Viewers for Commanders-Cowboys
Season-to-date, the NFL on FOX is off to its best start to the season since 2014, averaging 19,646,000 viewers and up +4% over last year's season-to-date average.

[10/22/25 - 07:44 AM]
"9-1-1: Nashville" Debuts with Over 12 Million Total Audience to Date
The star-studded, high-octane first-responder drama delivered 7.80 million Total Viewers and 1.51 rating among Adults 18-49, excluding encores.

[10/22/25 - 06:21 AM]
ABC's Telecast of Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix Draws Event's Largest TV Audience on Record
Viewership peaked at 1.6 million between 4:15-4:30 p.m. as Max Verstappen drove to victory, further tightening up the battle for the F1 driver's championship with only five races left in the season.

[10/21/25 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10 Week of October 13: "The Woman in Cabin 10" Sails Smoothly to No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
In the final stretch to Halloween, those lured in by the story of the OG horror villain put "Monster: The Ed Gein Story" at No. 1 on the English TV list with 9.5 million views.