or


[12/06/19 - 08:12 AM]
Thursday's Broadcast Ratings: FOX Wins Big with "Thursday Night Football"
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 13 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks last night (12/5/19):

[Note: Fast affiliate ratings are inaccurate for live sports.]

FOX (13.638 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.7, #1) got another boost on Thursday with its presentations of "Thursday Night Football Pre-Game" (11.582 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.9, #2) and "Thursday Night Football" (14.049 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 3.9, #1).

ABC (4.124 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.8, #2) then was a distant second with its annual telecast of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (4.954 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 1.0, #4) followed by the original movie "Same Time, Next Christmas" (3.709 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T7).

Next up was CBS (5.263 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.7, #3) and its mix of "Young Sheldon" (8.390 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 1.1, #3), "The Unicorn" (5.832 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T5), "Mom" (5.981 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T5), "Carol's Second Act" (4.685 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T7) and "Evil" (3.346 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.5, #10).

Meanwhile, NBC (2.651 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.5, #4) offered up "A Saturday Night Live Christmas Special" (3.125 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T7) and a new "Making It" (1.702 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.4, #11).

And finally, The CW (0.962 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.3, #5) rounded out the night with new episodes from "Supernatural" (1.066 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12) and "Legacies" (0.857 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T12).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+50.00% - Supernatural (vs. 11/21/19)
+50.00% - Legacies (vs. 11/21/19)
+44.44% - Thursday Night Football (vs. 11/21/19)
+31.82% - Thursday Night Football Pre-Game (vs. 11/21/19)
+14.29% - The Unicorn (vs. 11/21/19)
+10.00% - Young Sheldon (vs. 11/21/19)
0.00% - Mom (vs. 11/21/19)
0.00% - Carol's Second Act (vs. 11/21/19)
0.00% - Evil (vs. 11/21/19)

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+70.59% - Thursday Night Football Pre-Game
+69.57% - Thursday Night Football
0.00% - Making It (vs. Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (Repeat))
-14.29% - Same Time, Next Christmas (vs. The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition)
-25.00% - Legacies
-25.00% - Carol's Second Act (vs. Murphy Brown)
-28.57% - Evil (vs. SWAT)
-33.33% - Mom
-40.00% - Supernatural
-47.62% - Young Sheldon (vs. The Big Bang Theory)
-50.00% - The Unicorn (vs. Young Sheldon)


Here are the highlights of the 16 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (12/6/18):

[Note: Fast affiliate ratings are inaccurate for live sports.]

FOX (7.762 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 2.2, #1) snagged the demo crown last night thanks to its "Thursday Night Football Pre-Game" (6.381 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 1.7, #3) and "Thursday Night Football" (8.038 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 2.3, #1).

CBS (7.969 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.2, #2) then took home the silver with originals from "The Big Bang Theory" (12.334 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 2.1, #2), "Young Sheldon" (10.866 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 1.6, #4), "Mom" (7.981 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T5), "Murphy Brown" (5.993 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T8) and "SWAT" (5.319 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T10).

Next up was ABC (4.192 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.9, #3) with a rebroadcast of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (5.237 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 1.2, #T5) and the return of "The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition" (3.669 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T10).

Meanwhile, NBC (2.597 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.6, #4) offered up new episodes from "Superstore" (3.422 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.9, #7), "The Good Place" (2.565 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T8), "Will & Grace" (2.842 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T10) and "I Feel Bad" (1.831 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T14) plus a repeat "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2.462 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T14).

And finally, new episodes of "Supernatural" (1.537 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.5, #13) and "Legacies" (1.203 million viewers, #16; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T14) on The CW (1.370 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #5) rounded out the evening.

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+33.33% - Legacies
+25.00% - Supernatural
+16.67% - Will & Grace
+9.09% - Mom
0.00% - Superstore (vs. 11/15/18)
0.00% - Murphy Brown
0.00% - The Good Place (vs. 11/15/18)
0.00% - SWAT
0.00% - I Feel Bad
-8.70% - The Big Bang Theory (vs. 11/15/18)
-11.11% - Young Sheldon (vs. 11/15/18)
-46.88% - Thursday Night Football Pre-Game
-52.08% - Thursday Night Football

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+170.59% - Thursday Night Football (vs. Gotham/The Orville)
+112.50% - Thursday Night Football Pre-Game (vs. Gotham)
0.00% - Legacies (vs. Arrow)
0.00% - Supernatural
-12.50% - The Great American Baking Show: Holiday Edition
-14.29% - Mom
-22.22% - SWAT
-25.00% - The Big Bang Theory
-27.27% - Murphy Brown (vs. Life in Pieces)
-27.27% - Young Sheldon
-52.63% - Superstore (vs. Thursday Night Football Pre-Game)
-72.41% - The Good Place (vs. Thursday Night Football)
-75.86% - Will & Grace (vs. Thursday Night Football)
-86.21% - I Feel Bad (vs. Thursday Night Football)

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," 1.6/4; "Late Show with Stephen Colbert," 2.8/8; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.6/4.

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

· From 12:35-1:05 a.m. ET, ABC's "Nightline" averaged a 1.2/4 in metered-market households and a 0.3/3 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; CBS's "Late Late Show," 1.3/5. In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, averages were: "Late Night," 0.3/3 in 18-49; "Late Late Show," 0.2/2.

· At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.7/3 in metered-market households and a 0.2/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [january 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
[01/16/26 - 01:08 PM]
"20/20" Is the Most-Watched Program Across Broadcast and Cable on Friday Night - Scoring Largest Viewership in Over 7 Months
For the second week in a row, "20/20" posted Total Viewers increases versus the previous week and the corresponding year-ago telecast.

[01/15/26 - 01:38 PM]
"Live with Kelly and Mark" Christmas Week Shoots to a Season High Among Total Viewers - Scoring Show's Best Performance in 10 Months
"Live" has now ranked as the No. 1 talk show in syndication for 152 consecutive weeks across all key measures.

[01/13/26 - 03:02 PM]
2025-26 College Football Playoff Semifinals Averaging 14.9 Million Viewers, On Par with 2024-25 Season
The Peach Bowl (Oregon vs. Indiana) drew 18 million viewers on average, while the Fiesta Bowl (Miami vs. Ole Miss) scored 15.8 million viewers.

[01/13/26 - 02:30 PM]
FOX Sports Holds Winning Hand Leading All Networks in Viewership on Wild Card Weekend
41 million viewers watched FOX Sports' presentation of Sunday's NFC Wild Card Round showdown featuring the San Francisco 49ers' win over the Philadelphia Eagles.

[01/13/26 - 02:26 PM]
31.61 Million Viewers for Packers-Bears Playoff on Prime Video Shatters NFL Streaming Record
According to Amazon first-party viewership data, Packers-Bears attracted the most concurrent viewers and highest single-day global viewership in the history of Prime Video.

[01/13/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of January 5 - "People We Meet on Vacation" Takes a Trip to No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
In addition to a will they, won't they romance, viewers were sucked into the he said, she said intrigue of "His & Hers," putting the thriller series at No. 1 on the English TV list with 19.9 million views.

[01/12/26 - 10:30 AM]
ESPN Studio Shows' Deliver Records, Multiyear Highs in 2025
ESPN's daily sports studio shows enjoyed remarkable viewership success in 2025, with "Get Up," "First Take" and "The Pat McAfee Show" delivering their most-watched years ever and "SportsCenter" (6 p.m. ET) delivering its most watched year in a decade.

[01/12/26 - 10:01 AM]
WWE by the Numbers: Celebrating One Year on Netflix
In 2025, Netflix members watched 525M hours of WWE content.

[01/09/26 - 08:47 AM]
ESPN's Second Most-Watched NBA Regular Season Ever
Through 21 games, the NBA on ESPN networks is averaging 2.6M viewers, up 35 percent from last season.

[01/08/26 - 02:00 PM]
ESPN Networks Deliver Record-Breaking Viewership for 2025-26 FCS Playoffs and Championship
The 2026 FCS Championship Game averaged 2.3 million viewers on ESPN, ranking as the third-best FCS Championship audience ever.

[01/08/26 - 01:17 PM]
ABC News' "Nightline" Ranks No. 1 in All Key Demos
In fact, "Nightline" is ranking No. 1 in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49 for the 3rd straight year.

[01/08/26 - 01:16 PM]
ABC News' Primetime Special "The Year: 2025" Earns Nearly 4 Million Total Viewers - Growing by Double Digits Over Last Year in Multiplatform Viewing
The 15th annual year-end special earned 3.857 million Total Viewers, growing impressively over last year's performance by +37% (vs. 2.818 million), after three days of viewing on ABC, Disney+, Hulu and digital platforms.

[01/07/26 - 12:32 PM]
Bowl Season on ESPN Networks Delivers Strongest Audience Since 2015-16
ABC delivered its largest non CFP bowl audience in 12 years, averaging 6.2 million viewers across six games.

[01/07/26 - 09:29 AM]
In 2025, Fans Power ESPN and "ESPN on ABC" to Its Most-Watched Year in Over a Decade
ESPN networks increased industry-leading sports share to 35 percent, up from 31 percent in 2024.

[01/06/26 - 03:18 PM]
FOX NFL Rings in Best Regular Season Since 2015
The regular season averaged 19.633 million viewers for the network.