‘Dancing With The Stars’ Debut Ratings Hit Low, ‘Monday Night Football’ Up In Week 2
Maybe it was because they didn’t end up getting Sean Spicer as a contestant after all but Dancing With The Stars (1.7/6) wasn’t so sure footed in its season debut last night.
Down 19% among adults 18-49 from both its Season 23 opener of September 12, 2016 and its Season 24 premiere of March 20 this year, the beginning of Season 25 last night was an all-time debut demo low for the celeb competition show. With Debbie Gibson, Nick Lachey, ex-NFL player Terrell Owens and ex-NBA star Derek Fisher among those hitting the dance floor and hitting an viewership debut low too, the 8 – 10 PM DWTS pulled in 10.8 million sets of eyeballs on Monday to still be the most watched and highest rated show of the night on the Big 4.
With To Tell The Truth (0.9/3) up 50% from last week, ABC won the night among the Big 4 with a 1.4/5 rating and 8.96 million viewers. Worth noting that the ABC affiliate in Detroit and the CW affiliate in NYC were preempted to show the Detroit Lions beat the NY Giants 24-10, so you could see some adjust later because of that.
On that other end of the Disney media empire, ESPN’s Monday Night Football had a very good night, and I don’t just mean the Lions slamming the Giants.
With an 8.7 rating in metered markets, the NFL game was up 12% compare to last week’s MNF season opener. For a league that saw double-digit declines at the beginning of last season, ratings like that must feel good to Commissioner Roger Goodell, the owners and the broadcasters who pay out big bucks for the games. In fact, compared to the Week 2 MNF match-up between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears in 2016, last night’s game was bopped up 4%.
All of which means Monday Night Football looks assured to win the night on both broadcast and cable.
Over on NBC, American Ninja Warriors (1.5/6) ended its ninth season down a tenth from last week and down two-tenths from its Season 8 ender of September 12 last year. After that, Midnight, Texas (0.8/3) wrapped up its first season up a tenth from the Hurricane Irma delayed fast affiliates of September 11. Those demo numbers went down to a 0.6/2 rating for the struggling series.
CBS and the CW were all encores last night.
Related stories
'Monday Night Football' Debut Ratings Take A Hit In Hurricane Irma Aftermath
'American Ninja Warrior' Dominates Broadcast Monday For NBC
No 'Monday Night Football' Debut Ratings Yet As Nielsen Still Recovering From Irma
Get more from Deadline.com: Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Newsletter
