Logo

TVbytheNumbers

Ratings for Scripted Shows Plummet as Football Dominates Thursday Night

Oct 2, 2015  •  Post A Comment

A number of scripted shows airing on the broadcast networks Thursday night struggled to match their premiere week ratings as CBS’s “Thursday Night Football” dominated the night.

With help from an overtime NFL showdown between Baltimore and Pittsburgh, won by the Ravens 23-20, CBS rolled to a 4.7 average rating in the key 18-49 demo, almost twice that of its closest competitor, TVbytheNumbers.com reports, citing Nielsen overnights. ABC came in second among the broadcast nets with a 2.5, followed by NBC (1.4), Fox (1.2) and CW (0.3).

Total viewers saw a similar result, as CBS won big with an average of 14.194 million, ahead of ABC (8.362 million), NBC (5.699 million), Fox (4.810 million) and CW (1.007 million).

A preliminary average of 5.0 in 18-49 for “Thursday Night Football” represented a big jump from a 4.0 a week earlier.

ABC’s all-drama, all-Shonda Rhimes Thursday night lineup was down across the board from premiere week. “Grey’s Anatomy” delivered a 2.3 average in 18-49, down from last week’s 2.8; “Scandal” fell from a 3.2 in week one to a 2.8 last night; and “How to Get Away With Murder” slipped from a 2.6 to a 2.3.

NBC’s “Heroes Reborn” fell from a 1.9 in the 18-49 demo in week one to a 1.6, while “The Player” dipped from a 1.2 to a 0.9. The network rolled out its season premiere of “The Blacklist,” which pulled a 1.8, nowhere near the 3.4 delivered by the premiere a year ago.

Fox had a couple of season premieres, with “Bones” delivering a 1.3 average in adults 18-49, below the 1.6 for the previous season premiere but better than the 1.1 for the season finale. “Sleepy Hollow” managed only half what its previous season premiere delivered, settling for a 1.0.

THursdayNightFootballCBS

Your Comment

Email (will not be published)