Fast National ratings for Sunday, April 5, 2015.
NBC's “The Bible” sequel “A.D. The Bible Continues” delivered Sunday's best individual ratings, but “The Ten Commandments” still helped ABC score a slim Sunday win in the key demo, while CBS' dramas scored a slim victory overall.
Because of the Easter holiday, all of CBS' originals are deemed “specials” within Nielsen semantics, which probably doesn't matter to you, but certainly matters to CBS, since “Madam Secretary” and “The Good Wife” tied series lows and “Battle Creek” hit a low.
In addition to the decent launch for “A.D.,” NBC also premiered “American Odyssey,” which launched better than such early spring debacles as “The Slap” and “Allegiance,” but launched lower than last spring's “Crisis” and suffered a decline at the half-hour.
Let's get to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, ABC averaged a 1.4 rating for Sunday night, edging out NBC's 1.3 rating in the key demographic. CBS was third with a 0.9 key demo rating, while FOX averaged a 0.8 key demo rating.
Overall, though, CBS averaged an estimated 7.57 million viewers and a 4.9 rating/9 share for Sunday primetime. ABC was second with 6.8 million viewers and a 4.0/7, followed by NBC's 3.6/6 and 5.85 million viewers. FOX averaged a 1.2/2 and 1.99 million viewers.
7 p.m. – CBS started primetime in first overall with 7.72 million viewers for “60 Minutes,” which finished second for the 7 p.m. hour with a 0.9 rating among adults 18-49. The start of ABC's “The Ten Commandments” broadcast averaged 5.53 million viewers for second and won the hour with a 1.2 key demo rating. NBC's “Dateline” averaged 3.79 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating, topping the 1.54 million viewers and 0.5 key demo rating for FOX's repeats of “The Simpsons” and “Bob's Burgers.”
8 p.m. – “Madam Secretary” won the 8 p.m. hour with 9.12 million viewers for CBS and finished second with a 1.1 rating among adults 18-49. ABC's “Ten Commandments” averaged 7.28 million viewers and an hour-winning 1.6 key demo rating. NBC's “Dateline” averaged 4.63 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating, again ahead of the 2.44 million viewers and 1.0 key demo rating for FOX's “The Simpsons” and “Family Guy” repeats.
9 p.m. – NBC moved into first for the 9 p.m. hour with 9.54 million viewers and a 2.3 rating among adults 18-49 for “A.D.,” which was steady in its second half-hour and offered a big improvement over Mark Burnett's CBS miniseries “The Dovekeepers.” CBS' “The Good Wife” averaged 7.78 million viewers for second and a 1.0 key demo rating for third, compared to the 6.9 million viewers and 1.4 key demo rating for ABC's “Ten Commandments.” FOX's “Last Man on Earth” repeat averaged 2 million viewers and a 0.7 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – “The Ten Commandments” took over first in the 10 p.m. hour with 7.49 million viewers and a 1.5 rating among adults 18-49 for ABC. CBS' “Battle Creek” was second with 5.66 million viewers and third with a 0.7 key demo rating. NBC's “American Odyssey” premiere averaged 5.44 million viewers for third and a 1.2 key demo rating for second, but the 10:30 half-hour was down to 5.09 million viewers and 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.