Fast National ratings for Sunday, February 22, 2015.
Whether it was lack of interest in the nominated films, lack of interest in host Neil Patrick Harris or a third thing that could cause disinterest, overnight ratings for the 2015 Academy Awards were down double-digits from last year's telecast in most measures.
Of course, ABC's Oscars coverage still dominated Sunday, which featured only low-rated installments of “60 Minutes” and “Dateline” as new competition.
Remember the usual provisos: These are time period-specific numbers for ABC and *not* numbers for the Academy Awards telecast. On the East Coast, the show went over an hour over outside of primetime. On the West Coast, the first 90 minutes of the show were outside of Sunday primetime. The actual numbers for the Oscars will adjust up. They always do.
Stay tuned for those real Oscars ratings a bit later.
On to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged an 8.8 rating for Sunday night, tops in the key demographic. FOX averaged a 0.9 key demo rating for second, followed by CBS' 0.7 key demo rating and the 0.6 key demo rating for NBC.
Overall, ABC averaged an estimated 30.76 million viewers and a 17.2 rating/27 share for Sunday night. CBS was second here with 4.57 million viewers and a 2.9 rating/5 share, followed by NBC's 3.23 million viewers and 2.1/3 for the night. FOX averaged 2.14 million viewers and a 1.3/2 for the night.
7 p.m. – An hour of Oscars red carpet coverage (and the telecast for the left side of the country) averaged 21.45 million viewers and a 5.3 rating among adults 18-49 for ABC in the 7 p.m. hour. CBS' “60 Minutes” averaged 6.3 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating, compared to the 5.39 million viewers and 0.9 key demo rating for NBC's “Dateline.” A repeat of “Bob's Burgers” and a repeat of “The Simpsons” averaged 2.125 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating for FOX.
8 p.m. – A half-hour of red carpet coverage and the start of the Academy Awards (plus the last full hour of the ceremony for a lot of the country) averaged 35.47 million viewers and a 10.2 rating among adults 18-49 for ABC. CBS followed with a half-hour of “60 Minutes” (6.95 million and a 0.9 key demo) and a half-hour of the movie “Act of Valor” (4.88 million and a 0.6 key demo). FOX's repeats of “The Simpsons” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” averaged 2.37 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating, while NBC's “Chicago Fire” averaged 2.33 million viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – The Oscars ruled the 9 p.m. hour with 35.15 million viewers and a 10.5 rating among adults 18-49 for ABC. CBS' “Act of Valor” averaged 3.13 million viewers for second and a 0.6 key demo rating for third. NBC's “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” repeat finished third with 2.45 million viewers and fourth with a 0.5 key demo rating, compared to the 1.92 million viewers and 0.9 key demo rating for FOX's repeats of “Family Guy” and “Bob's Burgers.”
10 p.m. – The 10 p.m. hour component of the Oscars averaged 30.95 million viewers and 9.2 rating among adults 18-49 for NBC. CBS' movie averaged 2.945 million viewers to the 2.76 million viewers for NBC's “Chicago PD” repeat, while both networks averaged 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, particularly in the case of live events.