Fast National ratings for Thursday, December 22, 2011.
FOX got a modest bump from “The X Factor” season finale – and a more significant one from not having to team it with “I Hate My Teenage Daughter” – and easily won the Thursday ratings.
For the night, FOX averaged a 3.8 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, up more than 25% from Wednesday’s ratings. But the actual ratings for “X Factor” itself were only up about 10% over the first half of the season finale; it was “Teenage Daughter” dragging down the network’s average. The network also averaged 12.5 million viewers for the night.
CBS was a distant second with a 1.8 demo rating and 8 million viewers, followed by NBC (1.1, 3.9 million), ABC (1.0, 3.3 million) and the CW (0.5, 1.4 million).
8 p.m. — The padded first half of “The X Factor” finale dominated, averaging a 3.5 demo rating and 11.5 million viewers. CBS’ repeats of “The Big Bang Theory” and “Rules of Engagement” combined to finish second (2.3, 7.9 million), followed by repeats of “Community” and “Parks and Recreation” on NBC (1.5, 5.2 million), repeats of the two “Disney’s Prep & Landing” specials on ABC (1.1, 3.8 million) and “The Vampire Diaries” repeat on the CW (0.4, 1.4 million).
9 p.m. — “X Factor” jumped up to a 4.0 demo rating and 13.4 million viewers overall, followed by a “Person of Interest” repeat on CBS (1.6, 7.9 million), “I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown” on ABC (1.1, 3.6 million). Those extra “X Factor” viewers seemed to come from NBC, as repeats of “The Office” and “Whitney” (0.8, 2.1 million) were down significantly from the 8 o’clock shows. “The Secret Circle” repeat got the CW a 0.5 rating and 1.4 million viewers.
10 p.m. — With “X Factor” done for the night, a rerun of “The Mentalist” won the hour for CBS with a 1.5 demo rating and 8.2 million viewers. The final scheduled episode of NBC’s canceled “Prime Suspect” bumped up about 20 percent from last week’s episode, but only to a still-dismal 1.0 rating and 4.4 million viewers. A “Grey’s Anatomy” rerun on ABC was third (0.7, 2.5 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.