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Sunday’s Network Premieres Overshadowed by Football, Record ‘Breaking Bad’ Finale

Sep 30, 2013  •  Post A Comment

The broadcast networks continued to roll out fall premieres Sunday night, but in the end nothing came close to NBC’s "Sunday Night Football" numbers, based on Nielsen overnights for the key 18-49 demo.

The networks’ new fall lineups also had to compete with the series finale of "Breaking Bad" on AMC, which delivered a series-record 10.3 million total viewers and 6.7 million in the 18-49 demo, according to AMC.

TVbytheNumbers.com reports that NBC coasted to an easy win among the broadcast networks in viewers 18-49 for prime time overall, averaging a 5.6 rating to place well ahead of Fox (3.3 average), ABC (2.0), CBS (1.6) and Univision (1.1). NBC also won big in total viewers, averaging 15.3 million for prime time to lead CBS (9.5 million), Fox (8.1 million), ABC (6.7 million) and Univision (2.9 million).

NBC’s "Sunday Night Football" clash between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons averaged a preliminary 6.7 in the 18-49 demo, down from a 6.9 for last week’s game. Sunday’s broadcast also average 18.47 million total viewers.

The one new series to roll out on the broadcast nets was ABC’s "Betrayal," which managed only a 1.5 average rating in 18-49 at 10 p.m. That number was down 29% from the "666 Park Avenue" premiere in the same time slot a year ago, and matched "Red Widow" as ABC’s lowest-rated in-season Sunday premiere of all time.

ABC’s season premiere of "Once Upon a Time" delivered a 2.6, down a hefty 33% from last year’s season premiere but up 13% from the spring finale. The network’s "Once Upon a Time" clip show at 7 p.m. drew only a 1.3, down 32% from last year.

ABC’s "Revenge" opened its new season with a 2.4 in adults 18-49, off 25% from the year-ago premiere but up 41% from the season two finale.

Fox’s season premieres of its Sunday "Animation Domination" lineup were down, with the best rating delivered by "The Simpsons" — a 2.8 average in 18-49, down 26% from last year’s premiere. "Family Guy" had a preliminary 2.6 (down 21%), "Bob’s Burgers" came through with a 2.1 (down 19%) and "American Dad" also had a 2.1 (down 16%)

CBS’s start times were offset by a 15-minute football overrun, scrambling the network’s preliminary ratings, but the report notes that the entire lineup was down from last year. The network’s best number was for the 8 p.m. hour, with a 2.0 in the 18-49 demo for the combo of "60 Minutes" and "The Amazing Race."

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