TV Ratings: Young viewers prefer Jim Carrey’s ‘Grinch’ to ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ on Christmas Eve

Fast National ratings for Tuesday, December 24, 2013.
ABC’s broadcast of “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas” topped NBC’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” among young viewers on Christmas Eve, while CBS’ procedural repeats still dominated Tuesday overall.
The only other Tuesday notable was how close The CW’s “The 12 Dogs of Christmas” came to beating FOX’s comedy repeats.
As you might expect, it wasn’t such a busy TV night, so let’s just get straight to the low numbers…
Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 1.3 rating for Tuesday night, edging out NBC’s 1.1 rating in the key demographic. CBS was third with a 0.9 key demo rating, followed by FOX’s 0.4 and The CW’s 0.2 rating for the key demo.
Overall, though, CBS averaged an estimated 6.56 million viewers and a 4.2 rating/9 share for Tuesday, far ahead of the 4.66 million viewers and 2.6/6 for NBC. ABC was third with a 2.2/5 and 4.03 million viewers, still comfortably beating the 0.7/1 and 1.11 million viewers for FOX and The CW’s 1.01 million viewers and 0.6/1.
8 p.m. – CBS started the night in first overall with 6.825 million viewers for a repeat of “NCIS,” which finished third with a 0.8 rating among adults 18-49. NBC’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” was second with 4.06 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating, compared to the 3.85 million viewers and hour-winning 1.2 key demo rating for ABC’s “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas.” FOX repeats of “Dads” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” averaged 1.24 million viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating, edging out the 1.04 million viewers and 0.3 key demo rating for The CW’s “The 12 Dogs of Christmas.”
9 p.m. – A repeat of “NCIS: Los Angeles” drew Tuesday’s biggest audience with 7.03 million viewers and stayed third with a 1.0 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS in the 9 p.m. hour. NBC’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” remained second with 4.6 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, while ABC’s “Grinch” stayed third overall with 4.02 million viewers and first with a 1.3 key demo rating. FOX’s repeats of “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project” averaged 993,000 viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating, again just ahead of the 977,000 viewers and 0.2 key demo rating for The CW’s “12 Dogs of Christmas.”
10 p.m. – The last of CBS’ repeats was “Person of Interest,” which drew 5.81 million viewers to lead the 10 p.m. hour and stayed third with a 0.8 key demo rating. NBC’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” stayed second with 5.31 million viewers and a 1.3 key demo rating, while ABC’s “Grinch” averaged 4.21 million viewers and completed its sweep with a 1.4 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.
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