Fast National ratings for Friday, May 1, 2015.
The season finale for “Blue Bloods” was easily Friday's most-watched program and led CBS to victory overall, while “Shark Tank” and “Beyond the Tank” paced ABC's normal Friday key demo domination.
Friday's other notable was the lack of apparent preemptions for The CW, letting us see how numbers for “The Messengers” look without interference. The answer? Pretty awful.
Oh and apparently nobody watched last week's Bruce Jenner interview and thought, “Wow. I should be watching '20/20' every Friday now.”
Let's get to Friday's numbers…
Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 1.4 rating for Friday night, tops in the key demographic. CBS was second with a 1.2 key demo rating, followed by NBC's 1.0 key demo rating for Friday. FOX's 0.7 key demo rating and the 0.3 key demo rating for The CW trailed for the night.
Overall, though, CBS cruised with 8.34 million viewers and a 5.4 rating/10 share for Friday primetime. ABC was a distant second with 5.89 million viewers and a 3.7/7, followed closely by NBC's 4.99 million viewers and 3.3/6. FOX's 2.56 million viewers and 1.6/3 and the 696,000 viewers and 0.5/1 for The CW trailed.
8 p.m. – “Shark Tank” led the 8 p.m. hour with 6.92 million viewers and a 1.6 rating among adults 18-49, taking a bite out of CBS' “The Amazing Race,” which averaged 5.535 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating in second. NBC's “Grimm” was third with 4.22 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating. The first hour of FOX's airing of “Taken” averaged 2.43 million viewers and a 0.6 key demo rating. The CW trailed with weak showings for “Cedric's Barber Battle” (747,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo) and “Whose Line Is it Anyway?” (742,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo).
9 p.m. – “Hawaii Five-0” won the 9 p.m. hour overall for CBS with 8.48 million viewers and finished second with a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's “Beyond the Tank” retained well with 6.305 million viewers for second and an hour-winning 1.5 key demo rating. The first hour of NBC's “Dateline” was third with 4.79 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating, topping the 2.68 million viewers and 0.7 key demo rating for “Taken” on FOX. The third episode of “The Messengers” averaged 646,000 viewers and a 0.2 key demo rating for The CW.
10 p.m. – CBS' “Blue Bloods” finale averaged 11.015 million viewers and 1.3 rating among adults 18-49, winning the 10 p.m. hour in both. NBC's “Dateline” averaged 5.96 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating, beating the 4.45 million viewers and 1.0 key demo rating for ABC's “20/20.”
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.