Fast National ratings for Thursday, October 23, 2014.
For the second time in five days, Peyton Manning led the Denver Broncos to victory and helped lead a network to primetime gold as CBS' Thursday Night Football cruised to victory in all measures.
Thursday night saw upticks for all three parts of ABC's Shonda Rhimes-dominated lineup, with a particular bump for “How To Get Away With Murder.”
The news was less good over on NBC where “Bad Judge” slipped down to The Mulaney Line with a 1.0 key demo rating and “A to Z” dipped below The Line, a depth FOX's “Gracepoint” continues to inhabit. At least FOX can be pleased that “Gracepoint” didn't drop this week despite having a “Bones” repeat as a lead-in.
And, again, with both of the participating Thursday Night Football teams hailing from outside of the Eastern or Central time zones, CBS' numbers are predictably imprecise.
On to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 4.5 rating for Thursday night, well above last week's total in the key demographic. ABC was second with a 2.8 key demo rating. That was far ahead of NBC's 1.1 key demo rating, FOX's 0.8 key demo rating and the 0.6 key demo rating for The CW.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 14.64 million viewers and an 8.9 rating/15 share for Thursday night, comfortably topping the 9.49 million viewers and 6.5/11 for ABC. NBC was third with 4.17 million viewers and a 2.8/5, edging out the 3.88 million viewers and 2.5/4 for FOX. The CW averaged 1.5 million viewers and a 1.0/2 for the night.
8 p.m. – Pregame and the start of the Chargers-Broncos game averaged 14.035 million viewers and a 4.0 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS in the 8 p.m. hour. ABC's “Grey's Anatomy” averaged 8.6 million viewers and a 2.5 key demo rating for a comfortable second, well ahead of the 4.66 million viewers and 1.2 key demo rating for NBC's “Biggest Loser.” FOX's “Bones” repeat averaged 4.27 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating in fourth. On The CW, “The Vampire Diaries” was tentatively down a hair with 1.65 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – Thursday Night Football coverage ruled the 9 p.m. hour for CBS with 16.075 million viewers and a 5.0 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's “Scandal” was second with a hair under 10 million viewers and a 3.0 key demo rating. NBC was a distant third with “Bad Judge” (4.33 million and a 1.0 key demo) and “A to Z” (3.22 million and a 0.9 key demo rating). FOX's “Gracepoint” averaged 3.49 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating in fourth, followed by the 1.35 million viewers and 0.5 key demo rating for The CW's “Reign.”
10 p.m. – CBS' football closed primetime in first with 13.81 million viewers and a 4.6 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's “How To Get Away With Murder” averaged 9.87 million viewers and a 3.0 key demo rating in second. On NBC, “Parenthood” averaged 4.09 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating.
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change, particularly in the case of live events.