Fast National ratings for Thursday, September 5, 2013.
A record-tying night for Peyton Manning helped lead the Denver Broncos to an NFL season-opening rout over the defending Super Bowl champions and also led NBC to a ratings domination on Thursday night.
The Denver/Baltimore game was up over the Fast Nationals from last year’s NFL opener, which was on a Wednesday and featured the Cowboys and Giants. That game’s ratings adjusted heavily in final figures, as this one will as well. And this year’s game was delayed due to weather, which will also lead to adjustments.
Football wasn’t the only thing on TV on Thursday, though, as “Big Brother” got a big week-to-week bump for CBS, while ABC’s “Rookie Blue” was also up a tiny bit.
Among adults 18-49, NBC averaged a 9.2 rating for Thursday night, tops in the key demographic. CBS was a distant second with a 1.5 key demo rating, followed by ABC’s 1.1 key demo rating and FOX’s 0.5 key demo rating. The CW averaged a 0.2 key demo rating for the night.
Overall, NBC averaged an estimated 23.19 million viewers for Thursday primetime along with a 13.7 rating/22 share. CBS’ 3.8/6 and 5.89 million viewers finished second, well ahead of the 3.76 million viewers and 2.3/4 for ABC. FOX’s 1.1/2 and 1.61 million viewers and the 0.4/1 and 677,000 viewers for The CW trailed.
[Univision averaged 3.53 million viewers and a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49 for Thursday.]
8 p.m. – NBC’s NFL coverage (pregame in some markets and the game in others) drew 17.88 million viewers and a 6.9 rating among adults 18-49 in the 8 p.m. hour. CBS’ repeats of “The Big Bang Theory” and “Two and a Half Men” drew 6.76 million viewers and a 1.4 key demo rating in second. ABC was far back in third with 3.66 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating for “Wipeout,” which beat the 1.79 million viewers and 0.6 key demo rating for FOX’s “Glee” repeat. The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries” repeat averaged 771,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – The football game rose to 26.68 million viewers and a 10.4 rating among adults 18-49 for NBC in the 9 p.m. hour. “Big Brother” was up to 7.07 million viewers and 2.4 key demo rating for CBS. ABC’s “Wipeout” was third with 3.4 million viewers and a 1.1 key demo rating. FOX’s “New Girl” and “The Mindy Project” repeats averaged 1.42 million viewers and a 0.5 key demo rating, better than the 583,000 viewers and 0.2 key demo rating for The CW’s repeat of “Beauty and the Beast.”
10 p.m. – NBC closed primetime in first with 25.01 million viewers and a 10.4 rating among adults 18-49 for the Broncos-Ravens action. ABC’s “Rookie Blue” averaged 4.21 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating, topping the 3.85 million viewers and 0.8 key demo rating for CBS’ “Elementary” repeat.
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.