Fast National ratings for Tuesday, September 25, 2012.
The consistent dominance of the “NCIS” franchise led CBS to a ratings win on the first Tuesday of the new TV season. The network got mixed results from the debut of “Vegas,” while FOX and NBC’s sitcom blocs managed to not destroy one another.
For the night, CBS averaged 17.19 million viewers and a 3.3 rating among adults 18-49. Thanks mainly to “The Voice,” NBC was second in the demo with a 2.7, but third in total viewers with 7.44 million. FOX averaged a 2.5 demo rating and 4.86 million viewers, while ABC (thanks to “Dancing with the Stars”) finished with a good overall viewer total (9.89 million) and modest demo numbers (2.0). The CW, which isn’t starting its season for a few weeks, was irrelevant (0.2, 632,000).
8 p.m. — “NCIS” (4.1, 20.16 million) and “The Voice” (4.0, 11.25 million) finished neck and neck in the 18-49 demo, but “NCIS” nearly doubled it among total viewers. Bigger competition from “NCIS” also caused “The Voice” to dip 12% from last week’s rating.
The first of two “New Girl” episodes drew a 2.7 demo rating and 5.33 million viewers – down more than 40% from last year’s premiere numbers (4.7, 10.08 million), but fairly close to the first season finale (2.8, 5.5 million). At 8:30, the debut of “Ben and Kate” (2.0, 4.188) held onto 74% of the lead-in, but next week it will have to follow the weaker “Raising Hope.” (Also worth noting that the “New Girl”/”Ben and Kate” combo was down more than 35% from the “Glee” episode that aired in this timeslot last fall.)
“Dancing with the Stars” continues to skew old, with 10.07 million viewers overall but only a 1.7 demo rating. A “Hart of Dixie” rerun (0.2, 654,000) was also way off in the distance.
9 p.m. — “NCIS: LA” (3.4, 16.7 million) was, like its parent show, remarkably close to last year’s premiere numbers and easily won the hour. FOX was second in the demo thanks to “New Girl” (2.7, 5.19 million) and the debut of “The Mindy Project” (2.4, 4.7 million). ABC and NBC tied for third in the demo with a 2.4 rating, but “Dancing with the Stars” got 13.05 million viewers compared to the 6.25 million that “Go On” (2.7, 7.269 million) and “The New Normal” (2.0, 5.24 million) combined for.
Worth noting that “Go On” and “New Girl” were tied in the demo despite “Go On” having the much stronger lead-in, and that “Go On” dipped the most (19%) of any of NBC’s Tuesday shows from last week to this week. Also, in terms of pure retention, “Mindy” held onto 89 percent of the “New Girl” lead-in, while a year ago “Raising Hope” only held onto 66 percent.
An episode of the CW’s “The Next” (0.2, 609,000) is also a thing that was on television last night.
10 p.m. — The debut of “Vegas” (2.5, 14.7 million) easily won the hour against the return of “Private Practice” on ABC (1.9, 6.56 million) and a new “Parenthood” on NBC (1.8, 4.81 million). “Vegas” also was up 5% in total viewers over the debut of “Unforgettable” in this timeslot last fall, but it was down 14% in the demo, and also dropped 18% in the demo from 10 o’clock to 10:30.
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.