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Second Week of ABC’s New Sunday Night Drama Beats the Premiere of NBC’s New Drama in Key Demo

Mar 17, 2014  •  Post A Comment

While NBC’s latest round of new programs dealt with ratings challenges Sunday night, ABC coasted to a pretty solid win. The Alphabet Network topped its broadcast rivals as its new Sunday night drama series "Resurrection" came in as the top broadcast show of the night, based on Nielsen overnights for the key 18-49 demo.

NBC’s new drama series "Crisis" premiered with a modest 1.6 average in adults 18-49, finishing a close second in the 10 p.m. hour behind ABC’s "Revenge." NBC had an upbeat take on the premiere, noting in a press release: "The 6.5 million for “Crisis” in total viewers is NBC’s biggest overall audience in the slot, excluding nights featuring sports or the Golden Globes, since Jan. 6, 2013 (a special Sunday premiere for ‘The Biggest Loser’). In 18-49, the 1.6 is NBC’s best rating in the slot excluding nights of sports and Golden Globes since Jan. 5 of this year."

The network also noted that the "Crisis" premiere "won the 10 p.m. ET slot [among NBC, ABC and CBS] in adults 25-54, men 18-49 and men 25-54. ‘Crisis’ built on its 18-49 lead-in by 14%, while rival dramas on ABC and CBS are flat or down versus their lead-ins."

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that "Resurrection" fell 21% from its premiere a week ago in viewers 18-49, settling for a 3.0 average rating — still easily the night’s No. 1 broadcast show in the demo. ABC’s "Once Upon a Time" also continued to show strength, delivering a 2.3, off 4% from a week ago.

The rest of ABC’s lineup was also down: "America’s Funniest Home Videos slipped 7% from its most recent original installment to a 1.4 average in 18-49, while "Revenge" ticked down 11% from a week ago to a 1.7.

The top show for second-place Fox was "Family Guy" with a 2.3 average in the 18-49 demo, up 5% from last week, while Fox’s airing of the "Cosmos" science series ticked down 10% from last week’s premiere to a 1.9. "The Simpsons" also had a 1.9, rising 19%, while "American Dad" fell 13% to a 1.3 and "Bob’s Burgers" rose 22% to a 1.1.

CBS and NBC tied for third place overall, with NBC filling half of its prime time with a two-hour repeat of "The Voice" (1.4 average in 18-49). NBC’s new 9 p.m. series "Believe" lost almost half of its premiere audience from a week ago, falling 48% to a 1.4.

CBS had mixed results for its Sunday prime, with "60 Minutes" drifting up 13% from a week earlier to a 1.7 in 18-49, "The Amazing Race" dipping 5% to a 1.8, "The Good Wife" equaling its 1.3 from last week and "The Mentalist" falling 19% to a 1.3.

For prime time overall, ABC’s 2.1 average in viewers 18-49 was good enough to win the night, followed by Fox (1.7 average), CBS and NBC (both with 1.5 averages) and Univision (0.8). CBS came out on top in total viewers with 9.1 million, ahead of ABC (7.7 million), NBC (5.9 million), Fox (3.9 million) and Univision (2.3 million).

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