Fast National ratings for Monday, April 25, 2011.
“Dancing with the Stars” was way up from last week and led into a surprisingly strong sample episode of the Wednesday comedy “Better with You,” leading ABC to an easy ratings rout on Monday night against mostly repeats and NBC.
Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 3.2 rating, far ahead of CBS’ 1.9 rating in the key demographic. NBC and FOX both posted 1.2 ratings in third, with The CW’s 0.9 rating coming in a close fifth.
Overall, ABC averaged an estimated 15.4 million viewers to go with a 9.6 rating/15 share. CBS was way back in second with a 4.3/7 and 6.72 million viewers. FOX claimed third with a 2.9/4 and 4.47 million viewers, nipping the 2.8/4 and 4.35 million viewers for NBC. The CW averaged 1.665 million viewers and a 1.1/2 for the night.
8 p.m. – Without any real competition, “Dancing with the Stars” rose sharply to 21.11 million viewers and a 4.3 rating among adults 18-49 for ABC in the 8 p.m. hour. A repeat of “How I Met Your Mother” (5.26 million viewers and a 1.6 demo rating) and a new “Mad Love” (5.57 million viewers and a 2.0 demo) gave CBS second place, beating the 4.82 million viewers and 1.5 demo rating for FOX’s “House” repeat. NBC was fourth with 2.85 million viewers and a 0.9 demo rating for a repeat of “Chuck.” A new “90210” averaged nearly 1.8 million viewers and a 0.9 demo rating for The CW, both up from last week.
9 p.m. – ABC won the 9 p.m. hour with “Dancing with the Stars” (23.28 million and a 4.9 demo rating) and “Better with You” (11.65 million viewers and a 2.6 demo rating). [Note that “Dancing” was up by over 1.2 million from the same half-hour last week, but “Better with You” was up by nearly 3.2 million from last week’s “Cougar Town” appearance, though the latter comedy did have to go against a new “Mike & Molly.”] CBS was second with the 7.74 million viewers and 2.2 demo rating for repeats of “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mike & Molly.” NBC’s “The Event” capitalized on the lack of competition to draw 4.43 million viewers and a 1.3 demo rating, both up notably (though still low, obviously). That beat the 4.115 million viewers and 1.0 demo rating for FOX’s repeat of “Chicago Code.” The CW’s new “Gossip Girl” averaged 1.535 million viewers and a 0.8 demo rating in fifth.
10 p.m. – ABC’s repeat of “Castle” won the 10 p.m. hour overall with 7.615 million viewers and finished second with a 1.6 demo rating. CBS’ repeat of “Hawaii Five-0” was second overall with just under 7 million viewers and won the hour with a 1.7 demo rating. NBC’s new “Law & Order: Los Angeles” improved to 5.76 million viewers and a 1.3 demo rating against those repeats, but couldn’t climb out of third.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.