Fast National ratings for Tuesday, February 18, 2014.
After a couple bounce-back nights due to ice-dancing, NBC’s Tuesday Winter Olympics coverage took a big drop, but still easily beat a special off-night performance episode of “American Idol.”
Expect NBC’s Sochi telecasts to get a big boost over the next two nights with the female side of the figure skating programming.
There were few other notables on a repeat-filled Tuesday, though ABC’s “Killer Women” somehow managed to lose 0.1 from an already impressively low young adult viewership. Also, The CW’s encore of the “Star-Crossed” pilot very nearly equaled the audience for Monday’s premiere.
On to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, NBC averaged a 4.8 rating for Tuesday night, tops in the key demographic. FOX was a distant second with a 2.7 key demo rating, still beating the combined totals for CBS (1.3 key demo), ABC (0.7 key demo) and The CW (0.3 key demo).
Overall, NBC averaged an estimated 18.47 million viewers and an 11.0 rating/17 share for Tuesday primetime. FOX was, again, a distant second with 9.625 million viewers and a 5.9/9, followed by the 5.3/8 and 8.07 million viewers for CBS. There was a big drop to ABC’s 2.71 million viewers and 1.9/3 and to the 923,000 viewers and 0.6/1 for The CW.
8 p.m. – The first hour of NBC’s Olympics coverage averaged 17.735 million viewers and a 4.4 rating among adults 18-49 to start primetime. CBS was second with 9.83 million viewers for an “NCIS” repeat, which came in third with a 1.3 key demo rating. The lead hour of female performances on FOX’s “American Idol” finished third overall with 9.5 million viewers and second with a 2.7 key demo rating. ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” repeat averaged 2.71 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating, ahead of the 798,000 viewers and 0.3 key demo rating for a “Vampire Diaries” repeat on The CW.
9 p.m. – The second hour of Olympics coverage rose to 20.16 million viewers and a 5.3 rating among adults 18-49 for NBC. FOX’s “American Idol” was up to second with 9.75 million viewers and stayed second even if the key demo rating dropped a hair to a 2.6 rating. CBS’ repeat of “NCIS: Los Angeles” was third with 7.98 million viewers and a 1.4 key demo rating, thumping the 2.26 million viewers and 0.7 key demo rating for repeats of “The Goldbergs” and “Trophy Wife” on ABC. The CW’s “Star-Crossed” encore averaged 1.05 million viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – NBC closed primetime in first with 17.525 million viewers and a 4.7 rating among adults 18-49 for Olympics coverage. CBS’ repeat of “Person of Interest” averaged 6.395 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating in second. ABC’s “Killer Women” averaged 3.17 million viewers and dropped to a 0.6 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.