Viewers know what they want, and last night it was a red-nosed reindeer and an assortment of lingerie models.
DEMOGRAPHIC DETAIL: For each broadcast program (or hour segment), the chart below displays preliminary key advertiser demographics (adult 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54 ratings), audience skews (women 18-49, men 18-49 and adults 50+ shares) and total viewership (thousands of people over the age of 2).
Ratings analysis and comparisons follow the chart.
CBS: The 50th anniversary airing of RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, despite being down 0.2 from last year’s broadcast to 2.8, didn’t just wallop the competing holiday programming on ABC, it convincingly beat THE VOICE–not bad for a differently abled, seriously aging reindeer. Even bigger, though, was the VICTORIA’S SECRET FASHION SHOW, which although once again down 0.1 from last year to 3.3, tripled its nearest competition–which was made up of new programming, not reruns. In between the two smashes, a rerun of NCIS had a strong 1.7.
NBC: The network’s rating last night was a whopping 40% below the parallel night last season. THE VOICE, which is swiftly moving into “moderate success” territory, hit a new series low, down 0.4 from last week to 2.2. That was naturally bad news for the sitcoms that followed, and MARRY ME fell 0.1 to 1.2, with ABOUT A BOY down 0.2 to 0.9 (tying its series low). No one had much interest in the infomercial for the network’s parent studio’s UNBROKEN movie, couched as an NBC NEWS SPECIAL about Angelina Jolie which drew a 1.0.
ABC: SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN ran directly into the RUDOLPH buzz-saw, dropping half a point from last year to 1.1. With that lead-in, the midseason finale of AGENTS OF SHIELD did OK in slipping just 0.1 to 1.7. The midseason finale of FOREVER was also down 0.1 to 1.1.
FOX: After MASTERCHEF JR proved steady at 1.6, the night’s sitcoms continued their mild renaissance, with NEW GIRL up 0.1 to 1.5 (beating NBC’s sitcom by 0.3), and THE MINDY PROJECT up 0.1 to 1.2 (also ahead of NBC by 0.3).
CW: The midseason finale of THE FLASH maintained the show’s scorching pace at 1.5, down 0.1 from last week’s ARROW crossover. SUPERNATURAL’s midseason finale was up 0.2 to 1.1.
The midseason finale train continues running tonight, with 2014 exits for ARROW, THE 100 and NASHVILLE. All the networks air their regular schedules, with a 2-hour HELL’S KITCHEN on FOX.
COMPARISONS TO SIMILAR NIGHTS: Preliminary adult 18-49 ratings versus the same night last year and same night last week.
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