Fast National ratings for Thursday, May 3, 2012.
Without the NFL Draft as competition, many of Thursday night’s shows ticked up a percentage point or two in last night’s ratings, with FOX edging out CBS for the young adult demo crown and CBS in turn winning in total viewers, while also having the night’s highest-rated show among adults 18-49 in “The Big Bang Theory.”
For the night, FOX averaged a 3.0 rating in the 18-49 demographic and 10.9 million viewers overall. CBS was second with a 2.8 and 12.3 million, followed by ABC (2.1, 7.4 million), NBC (1.4, 3.1 million) and the CW (0.8, 1.8 million).
8 p.m. — “Idol” won the hour for FOX, with a 3.9 demo rating and 15 million overall viewers, compared to an average of 3.6 and 11.3 million for “Big Bang” and “Rules of Engagement” combined. But from 8 to 8:30, “Big Bang” did a 4.6 with 13.6 million viewers to a 3.4 and 13.5 million for “Idol” in that half hour. NBC’s combo of “Community” and “30 Rock” came in third, with a 1.4 demo rating and 3.2 million viewers (“Community” was flat compared to last week, while “30 Rock” dropped about 500,000 viewers from last week’s live show). ABC’s “Missing” continued to struggle (1.1, 6.3 million), while “The Vampire Diaries” (1.1, 2.4 million) was up slightly over last week.
9 p.m. — “Grey’s Anatomy” won the hour for ABC (3.2, 9 million) in the demo, while CBS’ “Person of Interest” (2.5, 13 million) was the most-watched show of the hour. FOX’s “Touch” (2.1, 6.9 million) and NBC’s “The Office” and “Parks and Recreation” combo (2.0, 4 million) were up slightly over last week, as was the CW’s “The Secret Circle” (0.6, 1.2 million).
10 p.m. — “The Mentalist” won the hour for CBS by both measures (2.4, 12.7 million), followed by ABC’s “Scandal” (2.1, 6.8 million) and NBC’s struggling “Awake” (0.7, 2.1 million).
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.