Fast National ratings for Sunday, January 24, 2011.
Most of the Steelers-Jets AFC Championship Game aired in primetime, allowing CBS to absolutely crush the competition in Sunday night’s ratings.
The combination of football and a special “Hawaii Five-0” episode gave CBS a 14.4/34 rating and share in the 18-49 demographic and an average of 40.9 million overall viewers in primetime. FOX was a distant, distant, distant second with a 2.4/6 and 5.3 million, then ABC with a 1.3/3 and 5.1 million and NBC at 0.8/2 and 3.6 million.
7 p.m. – The first portion of Jets-Steelers to appear in primetime averaged an 18.2/44 in the demo and 52 million total viewers. On FOX, a “Simpsons” repeat and “American Dad” on FOX did a 2.2/5 and 5 million viewers, followed by ABC’s “America’s Funniest Home Videos” (1.4/3, 6.4 million) and NBC’s “Dateline” (0.6/1, 4.6 million).
8 p.m. – As the Steelers seemed in control of the game, ratings dipped a bit, but still made the competition look puny, with CBS averaging a 17.2/39 and 47.7 million viewers. On FOX, “The Simpsons” averaged a 3.1/7 and 6.5 million, with the latest “Bob’s Burgers” (2.2/5, 4.8 million) holding onto a little over 70 percent of its lead-in. ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” was third with a 1.9/4 and 7 million viewers, followed by NBC’s telecast of the first “Sex and the City” movie (0.6/1, 2.8 million).
9 p.m. – Though the Jets made things interesting, the game continued to dip, but still crushed, with CBS averaging 16.7/37 and 45.7 million. “Family Guy” and “American Dad” combined to average a 2.4/5 and 5.3 million for FOX, followed by a “Desperate Housewives” repeat on ABC (1.1/2, 4.1 million) and more “Sex and the City” (0.9/2, 3.1 million).
10 p.m. – The game and post-game coverage stretched a bit into the 10 o’clock hour, so the “Hawaii Five-0” ratings (5.7/15, 18.2 million) will go down (CBS’ average dropped 5 million viewers at 10:30), but will still likely be the show’s biggest audience ever. “Sex and the City” inched up to second place (1.2/3, 3.8 million), followed by a “Brothers & Sisters” rerun on ABC (0.7/2, 3.1 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.