Fast National ratings for Friday, April 25, 2014.
Yawn. Friday TV ratings are not exciting.
As usual, “Blue Bloods” was Friday's top show overall and carried CBS to an overall win and, as is often the case, “Shark Tank” was Friday's top show in the key demo and carried ABC to victory among young viewers.
There was some minor variation on Friday.
After hitting a low with a 0.8 key demo rating two weeks ago, “Hannibal” added 0.1 for the second straight week, which counts as minor progress. [Note that “Hannibal” dropped 0.1 in Final Live+SD ratings each of the past two weeks, to a 0.7 and a 0.8 respectively.]
After falling last week, The CW's “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” ticked up, though “Hart of Dixie” didn't benefit.
Both the finale of ABC's “Last Man Standing” and FOX's “Kitchen Nightmares” were also up.
On to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 1.4 rating for Friday night, beating CBS' 1.2 rating in the key demographic. NBC and FOX averaged a 1.1 key demo rating for third, followed by the 0.4 key demo rating for The CW.
Overall, though, CBS won easily, averaging an estimated 9.185 million viewers and a 6.0 rating/11 share for Friday primetime, far ahead of the 6 million viewers and 3.9/7 for ABC for the night. NBC was third with 4.69 million viewers and a 3.2/6, followed by FOX's 1.9/3 and 2.99 million viewers. The CW averaged a 0.9/2 and 1.27 million viewers.
8 p.m. – “Unforgettable” started primetime in first with 7.57 million viewers, but finished fourth with a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's “Dateline” was second with 6.01 million viewers and won the hour with a 1.2 key demo rating. ABC was third overall and second in the key demo with the “Last Man Standing” finale (5.85 million viewers and a 1.3 key demo rating) and a “Last Man Standing” repeat (4.79 million and a 1.0 key demo). FOX's “Kitchen Nightmares” averaged 2.82 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating. On The CW, a new “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and a repeat averaged 1.61 million viewers and a 0.5 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – “Hawaii Five-0” ruled the 9 p.m. hour overall for CBS with 9.17 million viewers and tied for third with a 1.2 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's “Shark Tank” won the hour in the key demo with a 1.7 rating and finished second overall with 6.86 million viewers. NBC's “Grimm” averaged 5.23 million viewers and a 1.3 key demo rating, topping the 3.15 million viewers and 1.2 key demo rating for “Kitchen Nightmares” on FOX. The CW's “Hart of Dixie” averaged 925,000 viewers and a 0.3 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – “Blue Bloods” completed CBS' overall sweep with 10.81 million viewers and finished second with a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's “20/20” was second with 5.81 million viewers and won the hour with a 1.4 key demo rating, though the newsmagazine was way down from last week. NBC's “Hannibal” was down a hair with 2.825 million viewers and up a hair with a 1.0 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.