TV Ratings: NFC Championship Game boosts ‘The Following’ to biggest numbers ever

Fast National ratings for Sunday, January 19, 2014.

Though any ratings related to live sporting events are subject to change, preliminary numbers from Sunday night have the combination of the NFC Championship Game between the Seahawks and 49ers and “The Following” season 2 premiere gave FOX its highest-rated night in two years (since the Giants-49ers NFC Championship Game), and lifted “The Following” season 2 premiere to that show’s best numbers ever.

For the night, preliminary numbers say that FOX averaged 44.7 million viewers and a 15.4 rating among adults 18-49. Everyone else was irrelevant, with CBS, NBC and ABC all averaging only a 0.9 demo ratings, differentiated by small amounts among total viewers (5.7 million for CBS, 4.2 for ABC, 3.5 for FOX).

7 p.m. — Niners-Seahawks was already under way, and already destroying everything in its path. For the hour, it averaged a 15.7 in the demo and 46.4 million viewers. It was followed by CBS’ “60 Minutes” (1.3, 7.8 million viewers), an “America’s Funniest Home Videos” repeat on ABC (0.8, 4.4 million), and “Dateline NBC” (0.8, 4.25 million).

8 p.m. — More football annihilation, with the game pulling a 15.3 in the demo and 44.5 million viewers, followed by “The Bachelor Love Stories” special on ABC (0.9, 3.9 million), a “Good Wife” repeat on CBS (0.7, 4.4 million) and NBC’s telecast of the movie “Bridesmaids” (0.7, 2.8 million).

9 p.m. — Third verse, same as the first two: football at a 15.1 demo rating and 43.1 million viewers, followed by ABC’s “Revenge” (1.3, 5.3 million), a “Mentalist” repeat on CBS (0.7, 4.4 million) and more “Bridesmaids” (0.8, 2.9 million).

10 p.m. — The game ended at 9:54 p.m., and postgame coverage ran until 10:18. So the numbers for this hour will be fuzzy, but “The Following” itself drew a 4.4 demo rating and 11.2 million viewers, followed by more “Bridesmaids” (1.2, 4 million), a “Criminal Minds” repeat (1.0, 6.1 million), and what was almost certainly the series finale of “Betrayal” (0.7, 3.4 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.
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