Weekly Ratings: NBC Rolls, Caps Dominant November in Demos

A nice premiere for “Chicago Med” teamed with winning results for “The Voice,” “Blindspot” and “Sunday Night Football” to lift NBC to another victory in the young-adults demo and helped cinch another November sweep victory for the network.

NBC, which won for an eighth time in nine weeks this fall in adults 18-49, prevailed for a fourth straight November sweep, according to preliminary estimates for the ratings period which ends tonight. And its margin of victory over the second-place finisher (21% ahead of Fox) would be the largest for any network in 19 years.

With three nights to be counted (through Sunday), NBC led in adults 18-49 with a 2.3 “live plus same-day” rating, followed by Fox (1.9), CBS (1.8), ABC (1.7), Univision (0.8), CW (0.6) and Telemundo (0.5). The Peacock also is poised to prevail in adults 25-54 (2.9 vs. 2.5 for CBS) and adults 18-34 (1.7 vs. 1.4 for Fox) while CBS cruised in total viewers (9.6 million vs. 8.1 million for NBC).

NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” was the No. 1 broadcast program for the sweep in adults 18-49 with a 7.5 same-day rating. It was followed by Fox’s “Empire” (4.4), CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” (3.7), NBC’s Monday edition of “The Voice” (3.2) and ABC’s “Modern Family” (2.8). NBC’s ” Blindspot” (pictured) and “Chicago Med” (just its premiere) tied as the top new series in the demo (2.2).

In same-day averages for the 10:30 p.m. lead-in to local news Monday through Friday, NBC tied with ABC for No. 1 in adults 25-54 (1.8), with CBS close behind (1.7). NBC leads for the season in this category as well, improving its standing from a year ago when it was tied with CBS for No. 2, with ABC on top.

Looking at some same-day highlights for the last full week of the sweep (Nov. 16-22), AMC, “The Walking Dead” was up week to week (6.6/20 in 18-49, 13.22 million viewers overall) to rule as the No. 1 primetime program in the demo, while “Into the Badlands” (2.3 in 18-49, 4.83 million viewers overall) dropped off in its second week by about 25% in 18-49. By comparison, NBC’s “Blindspot” did a 2.6 and CBS’ “Supergirl” a 2.2 in their second weeks after delivering comparable 3.1 ratings for their premieres this fall.

At NBC, “Chicago Med” (2.2/7 in 18-49, 8.64 million viewers overall) debuted Tuesday and tied with CBS’ “NCIS” as the night’s No. 1 scripted series in 18-49. The third and final series in the network’s Dick Wolf-produced “Chicago” trilogy, “Med” opened a little better than both “Chicago Fire” and “Chicago PD,” which had bowed behind “Law & Order: SVU” on Wednesday.

ABC saw good fall finales for its Thursday dramas “Grey’s Anatomy” (2.5/8 in 18-49, 8.50 million viewers overall), “Scandal” (2.4/8 in 18-49, 8.13 million viewers overall) and “How to Get Away With Murder” (2.3/8 in 18-49, 7.19 million viewers overall). All three shows were up week to week by multiple tenths, with “Murder” spiking the most (21%, or 0.4) to the show’s top demo rating since the second week of the season.

The Alphabet’s telecast of the “American Music Awards” (3.5/10 in 18-49, 11.01 million viewers overall) was down a little year to year but was able to stay above the event’s all-time low demo score (3.4) set in 2012. It gave the network its top-rated Sunday since May.

Ongoing coverage of the Paris terrorist attacks propelled Fox News Channel to No. 1 among cable networks for the week on a total-day basis (1.41 million), moving ahead of Nickelodeon (1.21) and ESPN (1.09 million). The network placed second in primetime (2.32 million), behind only ESPN (3.00 million). Every FNC daytime and primetime program delivered their most-watched week of 2015, led by “The O’Reilly Factor” with 3.6 million and “The Kelly File” with 3.2 million.

WEEK’S TOP PRIMETIME NETWORKS
(Live plus same-day; Nov. 16-22, 2015)

Adults 18-49 rating/share
NBC ……………… 2.1/7
ABC ……………… 1.8/6
Fox ………………. 1.8/6
CBS ……………… 1.4/4
UNI ………………. 0.9/3
CW ………………. 0.6/2
TEL ……………… 0.6/2

Total Viewers (in millions)
CBS ……………… 8.40
NBC ……………… 7.69
ABC ……………… 7.05
Fox ……………….. 5.33
UNI ……………….. 2.39
CW ……………….. 1.49
TEL ……………….. 1.48

WEEK’S TOP PRIMETIME PROGRAMS
(Live plus same-day; Nov. 16-22, 2015)

Adults 18-49 rating/share
1. The Walking Dead (AMC), 6.6/18
2. Sunday Night Football: Cincinnati-Arizona (NBC), 6.3/19
3. Empire (Fox), 4.4/14
4. Monday Night Football (ESPN), 4.2/13
5. The Big Bang Theory (CBS), 3.8/13
6. American Music Awards (ABC), 3.5/10
7. The Voice-Monday (NBC), 3.0/9
8. Modern Family (ABC), 2.8/9
9. The Voice-Tuesday (NBC), 2.6/9
10. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), 2.5/8
11. Scandal (ABC), 2.4/8
12. How to Get Away With Murder (ABC), 2.3/8
12. Thursday Night Football: Tennessee-Jacksonville (NFLN), 2.3/8
12. The Simpsons (Fox), 2.3/7
12. Into the Badlands (AMC), 2.3/6
16. NCIS (CBS), 2.2/7
16. Chicago Med (NBC), 2.2/7
16. The Goldbergs (ABC), 2.2/7
19. Survivor (CBS), 2.1/7
19. The Middle (ABC), 2.1/7
19. Blindspot (NBC), 2.1/7

Total Viewers (in millions)
1. Sunday Night Football: Cincinnati-Arizona (NBC), 18.01
2. NCIS (CBS), 16.59
3. The Big Bang Theory (CBS), 15.19
4. The Walking Dead (AMC), 13.22
5. NCIS: New Orleans (CBS), 13.01
6. Dancing With the Stars (ABC), 12.35
7. Monday Night Football: Houston-Cincinnati (ESPN), 12.18
8. Empire (Fox), 11.34
9. The Voice-Monday (NBC), 11.21
10. The Voice-Tuesday (NBC), 11.18
11. Blue Bloods (CBS), 11.01
11. American Music Awards (ABC), 11.01
13. 60 Minutes (CBS), 10.99
14. Madam Secretary (CBS), 9.91
15. Scorpion (CBS), 9.16
16. Hawaii Five-0 (CBS), 9.10
17. Survivor (CBS), 9.05
18. Chicago Med (NBC), 8.64
19. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC), 8.50
20. Modern Family (ABC), 8.38

Source: Nielsen

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