or


[08/14/20 - 08:11 AM]
Thursday's Broadcast Ratings: ABC Holds Off Competition in Viewers, Demos
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 (8/13/20):

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

ABC (2.961 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.6, #1) held off the competition on Thursday with its mix of "Holey Moley" (3.349 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T2), the season finale of "Don't" (2.490 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.5, #4) and "To Tell the Truth" (3.044 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T2).

CBS (2.806 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.5, #2) was a close second thanks to a new "Big Brother 22" (4.060 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.0, #1) alongside repeats of "Young Sheldon" (2.582 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T5), "The Unicorn" (1.961 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T8) and "Bull" (2.087 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T8).

Next up was FOX (1.668 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #3) with its latest installment of "MLB on FOX" (1.668 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T5).

Meanwhile, NBC (2.070 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.3, #4) served up its "NBC News Special: Coronavirus & The Classroom" (2.607 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #T5) alongside repeats of "Ellen's Game of Games" (1.708 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T8) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (1.896 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T8).

And finally, the season finale of "Killer Camp" (0.480 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T12) and a repeat "Penn & Teller: Fool Us" (0.515 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.1, #T12) rounded out the night on The CW (0.497 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.1, #5).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
+20.00% - Holey Moley
0.00% - To Tell the Truth
0.00% - Don't
0.00% - MLB on FOX
0.00% - Killer Camp

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+100.00% - To Tell the Truth (vs. Reef Break)
+66.67% - Don't (vs. Family Food Fight)
+66.67% - Big Brother 22 (vs. The Big Bang Theory/Young Sheldon (Repeats))
+20.00% - Holey Moley
-42.86% - MLB on FOX (vs. MasterChef/Spin the Wheel)
-50.00% - Killer Camp (vs. The Outpost)
-50.00% - NBC News Special: Coronavirus & The Classroom (vs. The Wall (Repeat))


Here are the highlights of the 15 ad-sustained programs that aired in primetime on the broadcast networks one year ago (8/15/19):

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

NBC (3.736 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.8, #1) was the top adults 18-49 draw on another NFL-fueled Thursday with its lineup of "The Wall" (4.159 million viewers, #2; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T2), "Ellen's Game of Games" (3.901 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T2) and "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (3.149 million viewers, #7; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T5).

CBS (3.865 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T2) then was a close second with its mix of "The Big Bang Theory" (4.150 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T5), "Young Sheldon" (3.990 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T5), "Big Brother 21" (4.401 million viewers, #1; adults 18-49: 1.1, #1) and the series finale of "Elementary" (3.123 million viewers, #8; adults 18-49: 0.4, #10).

Sharing the silver was FOX (3.021 million viewers, #3; adults 18-49: 0.7, #T2) with originals from "MasterChef" (3.450 million viewers, #6; adults 18-49: 0.8, #T2) and "Spin the Wheel" (2.593 million viewers, #10; adults 18-49: 0.6, #T5).

Meanwhile, ABC (2.312 million viewers, #4; adults 18-49: 0.4, #4) offered up a new "Holey Moley" (2.877 million viewers, #9; adults 18-49: 0.5, #9), the season finale of "Family Food Fight" (1.982 million viewers, #12; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T11) and a new "Reef Break" (2.078 million viewers, #11; adults 18-49: 0.3, #T11).

And finally, The CW (0.804 million viewers, #5; adults 18-49: 0.2, #5) closed out the evening with "The Outpost" (0.898 million viewers, #13; adults 18-49: 0.2, #T13), "Two Sentence Horror Stories" (0.708 million viewers, #15; adults 18-49: 0.2, #T13) and another "Two Sentence Horror Stories" (0.713 million viewers, #14; adults 18-49: 0.2, #T13).

Week-to-week changes (adults 18-49):
0.00% - The Outpost
-15.38% - Big Brother 21
-33.33% - MasterChef
-33.33% - Elementary
-33.33% - Two Sentence Horror Stories - 9:00
-33.33% - Two Sentence Horror Stories - 9:30
-40.00% - Spin the Wheel
-54.55% - Holey Moley
-57.14% - Reef Break
-66.67% - Family Food Fight

Year-to-year changes (adults 18-49):
+166.67% - MasterChef (vs. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series)
+100.00% - Spin the Wheel (vs. NASCAR Camping World Truck Series)
0.00% - The Outpost (vs. Supernatural (Repeat))
0.00% - Two Sentence Horror Stories - 9:00 (vs. Black Lightning (Repeat))
0.00% - Two Sentence Horror Stories - 9:30 (vs. Black Lightning (Repeat))
-37.50% - Holey Moley (vs. 20/20: Aretha: Soul, Song, R E S P E C T)
-38.89% - Big Brother 21
-42.86% - Elementary (vs. SWAT (Repeat))
-50.00% - Reef Break (vs. Take Two)
-62.50% - Family Food Fight (vs. Match Game)

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," 1.6/5; "Late Show with Stephen Colbert," 2.1/6; and ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live," 1.3/4.

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

· 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," 1.0/4 in metered-market households; CBS's "Late Late Show," 1.0/4. In the 25 markets with Local People Meters, averages were: "Late Night," 0.2/2 in 18-49; "Late Late Show," 0.2/2.

· At 1:35 a.m., "Last Call with Carson Daly" averaged a 0.6/3 in metered-market households with an encore and a 0.1/2 in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Source: Nielsen Media Research





  [march 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
[03/13/26 - 01:45 PM]
ABC News Is #1 in Total Viewers in Late Night, Friday Night and Sunday Morning
"20/20" saw week-to-week gains in Adults 25-54 and Adults 18-49.

[03/12/26 - 03:18 PM]
FOX Sports Scores All-Time High Team USA World Baseball Classic Viewership
3,171,000 viewers on average watched the four Team USA World Baseball Classic Pool play games across FOX, FS1 and FOX Deportes.

[03/12/26 - 03:01 PM]
CBS Midseason Premiere Week Tops Broadcast and Streaming Rankings in Live + 7-Day Multiplatform Viewership
The network scored three of the top four and 12 of the top 20 most-watched series among all broadcast and streaming competition.

[03/11/26 - 03:16 PM]
FOX Sports Sets All-Time World Baseball Classic Viewership Record with Mexico-USA
5,018,000 viewers watched on FOX and FOX Deportes as Team USA defeated Mexico 5-3 in World Baseball Classic pool play on Monday night.

[03/11/26 - 11:30 AM]
ESPN Delivers Most-Watched Women's College Basketball Regular Season Since 2008-09
ESPN networks were home to six of the top 10 women's college basketball regular season games across all networks this season and 29 of the top 30 on cable.

[03/10/26 - 03:04 PM]
FOX Sports Smashes World Baseball Classic Pool Play Viewership Records
Great Britain at USA drew 2.98 million viewers on Saturday, March 7.

[03/10/26 - 02:09 PM]
"R.J. Decker" Gets Down to Business with Over 11 Million Total Audience to Date for Series Debut
In fact, "R.J. Decker" was the most compatible telecast to air following "High Potential" to date, with 73% of the hit drama's live audience flowing through to the series debut.

[03/10/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of March 2 - "War Machine" Powers Up at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Plus: "Bridgerton" Season 4 claimed the No. 1 spot on the English TV list with 13.1 million views in its sixth week in the Top 10.

[03/09/26 - 04:44 PM]
"90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days" Delivers Its Highest Rated Episode in Nearly Four Years
TLC continued its Sunday momentum as the #1 cable network of the night, including news and sports, marking one of TLC's highest rated Sunday nights in in the last two years.

[03/09/26 - 04:35 PM]
Pilot for New NBC Comedy "The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins" Has Now Been Seen by Nearly 13 Million Viewers
Continuing off the momentum of the pilot, episode two is now the most-watched NBC comedy on Peacock this season.

[03/04/26 - 04:36 PM]
"American Idol" Leads Monday Night - Powering ABC to Another Victory in Both Total Viewers and Adults 18-49
The show's strong performance lifted ABC to a Monday night win across broadcast and cable in both Total Viewers (4.32 million) and Adults 18-49 (0.36 rating).

[03/04/26 - 09:29 AM]
ABC Continues Multiplatform Success With Midseason Lineup
Season to date, ABC continues to dominate the competitive cross-platform landscape among broadcast series based in viewing over seven days on ABC, Hulu, Disney+ and digital platforms.

[03/03/26 - 03:30 PM]
ABC's Beloved Comedy "Scrubs" Returns with Over 11 Million Total Audience to Date
On linear over three days, "Scrubs" was the top comedy telecast among Adults 18-49 (0.74 rating) on any network (excluding post-NFL telecasts) in over a year.

[03/03/26 - 03:00 PM]
"Marshals" Premiere on CBS Is the Most-Watched New Scripted Debut Without a Football Lead-In Since 2018, with 9.5 Million Viewers
"Marshals," "Tracker" and "60 Minutes" are the top three series on television for the week.

[03/03/26 - 12:01 PM]
Netflix Top 10: Week of February 23 - "Bridgerton" Season 4 Lives Happily Ever After at No. 1 in This Week's Top 10
Coming in at No. 2 on the English TV list is Season 3 of "The Night Agent" with 9.9 million views.