FOX won Thursday night with a 3.2 Adult 18-49 rating from 8-10 pm, with the two highest-rated shows of the night: the Thursday premiere of The X Factor (3.1) and the season premiere of Glee (3.3).
NBC placed second on the night with a 2.0 rating. The night started with the season finale of America’s Got Talent (2.4) from 8-10 pm. Rock Center with Brian Williams scored a 1.4 at 10 pm. Although AGT built its audience each half hour (starting at a 1.8 at 8:00, then 2.1 at 8:30, 2.7 at 9:00, and 2.8 at 9:30). The finale was more than a rating point below last year’s final AGT (3.6 rating on Wednesday, September 14 from 8-10 pm). A quiet end to a disappointing year. Next summer’s AGT will be quite a rebuilding effort: at least one new judge and a need to inject more engaging contestants with compelling back stories.
FOX had no problem winning each half hour against AGT. X Factor won 8:00 by almost a full rating point (2.7 to 1.8) and won 8:30 by well over a rating point (3.4 to 2.1). The race was a little closer at 9 pm, but Glee still won the 9:00 half hour (3.4 to 2.7) and 9:30 half hour (3.2 to 2.8).
Still FOX has to be disappointed in X Factor, a show that scored a 4.3 in its Thursday premiere last fall against all-original competition (including a 5.0 in the 8 pm hour on CBS with Big Bang Theory). By November and early December last fall, X Factor had drifted down to about a 3.0 each week (before jumping to a 3.8 in its finale). FOX cannot afford to see X Factor drift down much from the 3.1 starting point this year.
Back in May after the network upfront presentations, we projected
Thursday Ratings for the fall, giving
The X Factor a 3.4 rating for the Thursday edition and
Glee a 2.8 rating (the projections are for original episodes in September through December). Based on last night’s ratings, it will be difficult for
X Factor to hit that 3.4, but
Glee will probably settle in near that 2.8 once competition heats up on the other networks and the excitement of a season premiere recedes. Starting next week as many more shows premiere, we will revisit our forecasts for each night and see which programs are breaking through (or not).
CBS averaged a 1.6 rating last night from 8-11 pm with repeats of Big Bang (1.9) and Two and a Half Men (1.5), an original Big Brother (2.0), and repeat Person of Interest (1.1).
ABC posted a 0.8 for the night from a weak schedule that included Wipeout (1.1) and repeats of Grey’s Anatomy (0.7) and Scandal (0.6).
