Thursday Cable Ratings: ‘Lip Sync Battle,’ ‘Dominion’ Return Down; ‘Teen Mom’ Solid
PRIMETIME CABLE REPORT: Moving to a new night, MTV’s Teen Mom II kicked off its sixth season Thursday with a solid 1.14 rating in adults 18-49 and 1.953 million viewers overall, in line with where it left off its fifth season last October (on Wednesday) and solidifying itself as the network’s top-rated series. According to Nielsen “live plus same-day” estimates, it stood as cable’s No. 2 program of the night in adults 18-49 and No. 1 in adults 18-34 (1.44) and all female demos. And among women 18-34, its 2.2 rating led all of television, miles ahead of CBS’ “Big Brother” (1.5).
Lip Sync Battle, which had a very good first season for Spike in the spring, returned softer on Thursday (0.60 rating in 18-49, 1.273 million viewers overall), with these numbers right at the show’s previous low-water marks. The reality show opened last April with a 0.94 in the demo and about 2 million viewers, and closed with a 1.0 and 1.913 million total viewers in late May. Still, it finished among cable’s top 10 programs last night in women 18-49 and women 25-54.
Syfy drama Dominion had a low-rated second-season premiere (0.26 rating in 18-49, 1.059 million viewers overall), well under its same-night averages last summer (0.47 in 18-49, 1.61 million total viewers). “Dominion” had regularly aired behind “Defiance” on Fridays in its first season, and it didn’t seem to take too well to new lead-in WWE Smackdown — even if the wrestling series delivered solid numbers from 8 to 10 (0.62 rating in 18-49, 2.388 million viewers overall).
At Fox News, The O’Reilly Factor continued its strong week (0.41 in 25-54, 2.766 million viewers overall), edging out the previous night’s hour as its most-watched show of summer. With the funeral of Kate Steinle and the immigration debate as lead topics, “O’Reilly” was cable’s second most-watched program of the night.
Critically acclaimed but little-watched Sundance drama Rectify averaged 224,000 viewers for its third-season premiere, up from last year’s opener (145,000) and closer (165,000).
Review: Rectify – Season 3 premiere
Outside of primetime, Conan O’Brien’s trip to Comic-Con paid off with improved ratings. Compared with its prior four-week Thursday average, Conan (0.35 in 18-49, 781,000 viewers overall) was up about 40%.
Also of note: Discovery’s two-hour Shark Week special Shark Planet led cable in 18-49 (1.23 rating), but this was the event’s lowest-rated original in its five nights to date. … History’s Mountain Men (0.68 rating in 18-49, 3.088 million viewers overall) was up sharply in the demo from last week’s pre-holiday episode (0.44). It was cable’s most-watched program of the night, and its 1.17 rating in men 25-54 led all cable series. … WeTV’s Braxton Family Values surged to season highs (0.64 rating in 18-49, 1.304 million viewers overall), and lead-out Cutting It: In the ATL also showed nice growth (0.46 in 18-49, 904,000) … USA’s Complications (0.46 in 18-49, 1.526 million viewers overall) hit a season high in 18-49 as well as 25-54 (0.54), while lead-out Graceland (0.33 rating in 18-49, 919,000 viewers overall) was in line with last week.
TOP CABLE ORIGINAL PROGRAMS IN 18-49 RATING
1. Special: Shark Planet (Discovery), 1.23
2. Teen Mom II (MTV), 1.14
3. Special: Monster Mako-r (Discovery), 0.85
4. Mountain Men (History), 0.68
5. Braxton Family Values (WE), 0.64
6. WWE Smackdown (Syfy), 0.62
7. Lip Sync Battle (Spike), 0.60
8. Alone (History), 0.57
9. Teen Mom II, 9 p.m.-r (MTV), 0.47
10. Cutting it in the ATL (WE), 0.46
10. Complicated (USA), 0.46
12. Beyond Scared Straight (A&E), 0.43
13. Tiny House Hunters (HGTV), 0.41
14. Beat Bobby Flay, 10:30-r (Food), 0.38
15. Movie: Camp Rock 2-r (Disney), 0.37
15. Fixer Upper-r (HGTV), 0.37
17. Teen Mom II, 8:00-r (MTV), 0.34
17. Lip Sync Battle, 10:30-r (Spike), 0.34
19. House Hunters Intl. (HGTV), 0.33
19. Graceland (USA), 0.33
19. Beating Bobby Flay (Food), 0.33
TOP CABLE ORIGINAL PROGRAMS IN TOTAL VIEWERS (in millions)
1. Mountain Men (History), 3.088
2. The O’Reilly Factor (FNC), 2.766
3. Special: Shark Planet (Discovery), 2.727
4. WWE Smackdown (Syfy), 2.388
5. The Kelly File (FNC), 2.240
6. Special: Monster Mako-r (Discovery), 2.083
7. Alone (History), 2.082
8. Tiny House Hunters (HGTV), 2.009
9. Fixer Upper-r (HGTV), 2.007
10. Teen Mom II (MTV), 1.953
Source: Nielsen (live plus same-day)
Each 18-49 ratings point represents about 1.27 million viewers
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