Fast National ratings for Tuesday, September 23, 2014.
CBS got a huge audience for the premiere of “NCIS: New Orleans” and dominated Premiere Week Tuesday overall, while “The Voice” rose from Monday's so-so launch to combine with “Chicago Fire” to give NBC the night among young viewers.
The numbers weren't all great for CBS, of course, as “NCIS” was well below last year's premiere and “Person of Interest” probably squandered much more of its lead-in audience than the network would want.
The night's other significant new series premiere was ABC's “Forever,” which equalled Monday's premiere among young viewers and grew from its less-than-impressive (but comparable to May's finale) “Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” lead-in. So anybody — that'd be me — who speculated that the Tuesday 10 p.m. Death Slot might doom “Forever” to a quick end appears to have been wrong.
Finally, after premiering its Tuesday lineup last week, FOX saw “Utopia,” “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project” all dip.
More analysis later with Live+Same Day Finals. Now, on to the Fast National numbers…
Among adults 18-49, NBC averaged a 3.6 rating for Tuesday night, far ahead of the 2.4 rating for CBS in the key demographic. ABC was third with a 1.8 key demo rating, followed by FOX's 1.0 key demo rating. The CW averaged a 0.3 key demo rating for the night.
Overall, though, CBS averaged an estimated 15.25 million viewers and a 9.3 rating/15 share for Tuesday primetime, comfortably beating the 11.81 million viewers and 7.1/12 for CBS for the night. ABC was third with 7.22 million viewers and a 4.6/8. There was a big drop to FOX's 2.07 million viewers and 1.4/2, which at least beat the 676,000 viewers and 0.4/1 for CW repeats.
8 p.m. – “NCIS” dominated the 8 p.m. hour overall with 17.99 million viewers for CBS, coming in second with a 2.9 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's “The Voice” averaged 11.44 million viewers and won the hour with a 3.5 key demo rating. ABC's “Dancing with the Stars” averaged 9.6 million viewers and a 1.6 key demo rating for third, leaving FOX's “Utopia” in the dust with 1.935 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating. The CW's “Arrow” repeat averaged 697,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – “NCIS: New Orleans” led the 9 p.m. hour with 17.09 million viewers and finished second with a 2.5 rating among adults 18-49, compared to the 14.58 million viewers and 4.5 key demo rating for NBC's “The Voice.” [The half-hour turnoff for “NCIS:NO” was minimal, with the drama doing 16.73 million viewers and a 2.4 key demo in the 9:30 half-hour.] ABC's “Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” averaged 5.57 million viewers and a 1.9 key demo rating in third, beating “NCIS:NO” among men 18-34 and tying the new drama among men 18-49. FOX followed with “New Girl” (2.32 million and a 1.3 key demo) and “The Mindy Project” (2.1 million and a 1.0 key demo). The CW's “Supernatural” repeat averaged 655,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – “Person of Interest” won the 10 p.m. hour overall for CBS with 10.67 million viewers and finished second with a 1.8 rating among adults 18-49. [“POI” was flirting with the 10 million viewer mark in its second half-hour.] NBC's “Chicago Fire” won the hour with a 2.7 key demo rating and was second overall with 9.4 million viewers. [“Chicago Fire” also took a big drop with 8.63 million and a 2.4 key demo in the 10:30 half-hour.] ABC's “Forever” averaged 6.49 million viewers and a 1.7 key demo rating in its time period debut.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.