Viewers preferred NBC’s July 4 fireworks special to CBS’ version on an otherwise incredibly slow, low-rated Monday night in the Nielsen ratings.
Thanks to a double run of the “Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks Spectacular,” NBC won the night with a 1.6 average rating in the demographic of adults 18-49 and an average of 6.3 million viewers overall. CBS was second with a 1.0 rating and 4.8 million viewers, followed by ABC (0.8, 3.1 million), FOX (0.7, 1.9 million) and the CW (0.2, 434,000).
8 p.m. — Repeats all around, all of them barely watched. The one-eyed man that in the kingdom of the blind for this hour was NBC’s “America’s Got Talent,” which got a 1.2 demo rating and 4.9 million viewers, followed by CBS’ combo of “How I Met Your Mother” and “Mike & Molly” (0.9, 3.3 million), FOX’s “Masterchef” (0.9, 2.3 million), ABC’s “The Bachelorette” (0.7, 3.1 million) and the CW’s “90210” (0.2, 510,000).
9 p.m. — NBC’s telecast of the Macy’s special, featuring performances from Beyonce and Brad Paisley, easily won an otherwise repeat-filled hour with a 2.1 demo rating and 8.6 million viewers. It was followed by “Two and a Half Men” and “Mike & Molly” on CBS (1.1, 4.8 million), more of “The Bachelorette” on ABC (0.7, 3.1 million), “House” on FOX (0.5, 1.6 million) and “Gossip Girl” on the CW (0.1, 358,000).
10 p.m. — NBC’s instant replay of the Macy’s special actually won this hour, too, with a 1.4 demo rating and 5.3 million viewers overall. CBS’ “Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular,” with performances by Martina McBride, actually won the hour in viewers, with 6.6 million, but only pulled a 1.1 in the demo, barely ahead of the 18-49 numbers for ABC’s repeat of “Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition” (1.0, 3.0 million).
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.