Fast National ratings for Thursday, December 26, 2013.
On a slow post-Christmas Thursday dominated by repeats, CBS’ “The Big Bang Theory” delivered the best numbers in all measures and helped the network cruise to victory.
There were few other notables, but ABC’s lackluster “20/20” special tied in to “Downton Abbey” and NBC’s “The Women of SNL” helped those networks to a tie in for second among young viewers.
Meanwhile, FOX’s repeats continued to fall lower and lower, barely keeping the lights on and barely edging out The CW’s repeats at this point.
On to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 1.4 rating for Thursday night, topping the 1.1 rating for both ABC and NBC in the key demographic. FOX averaged a 0.4 key demo rating, just ahead of the 0.3 key demo rating for The CW.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 6.47 million viewers and a 4.0 rating/7 share for Thursday primetime, topping the 3.3/6 and 5.06 million viewers for ABC. NBC was third for the night with 3.38 million viewers and a 2.0/3, comfortably beating the 1.0/2 and 1.48 million viewers for FOX and The CW’s 0.6/1 and 905,000 viewers.
8 p.m. – CBS started the night in first with repeats of “The Big Bang Theory” (10.97 million and a 2.6 key demo) and “The Millers” (7.435 million and a 1.7 key demo). ABC’s repeat of “Shark Tank” was second with 5.58 million viewers and a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49. There was a big drop to the 2.11 million viewers and 0.6 key demo rating for two “Parks and Recreation” repeats on NBC and then to the 1.56 million viewers and 0.4 key demo rating for a “Glee” repeat on FOX. The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries” repeat averaged 887,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – ABC won the 9 p.m. hour overall with 5.22 million viewers for the “20/20” special “Mysteries of the Castle: Beyond ‘Downton Abbey,'” which came in second with a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49. CBS’ two repeats of “The Millers” averaged 4.87 million viewers for second and a 1.0 key demo rating in third. NBC won the hour with a 1.2 key demo rating for “The Women of SNL,” which was third with 3.75 million viewers. FOX’s “Glee” repeat was fourth with 1.395 million viewers and did a 0.3 key demo rating to tie with The CW’s “Reign” repeat, which was fifth with 923,000 viewers.
10 p.m. – A repeat of “Elementary” put CBS back in first overall in the 10 p.m. hour with 5.33 million viewers, coming in second with a 0.9 key demo rating. ABC’s “20/20” was second with 4.38 million viewers and third with a 0.8 key demo rating. NBC’s “SNL” special was third with 4.29 million viewers and won the hour with a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change, particularly in the case of live events.