Fast National ratings for Friday, February 24, 2012.
“Undercover Boss” took a sizable drop in its second Friday airing, but still held on to deliver the night’s best 18-49 performance, while “Blue Bloods” drew the evening’s biggest audience. The result was the Friday status quo: A slim demo win for CBS and an easy overall win.
On the bubble front, FOX’s “Fringe” was up a hair in its last airing before a brief spring hiatus, while NBC’s “Grimm” dropped a bit from its last airing, but still won its hour with young viewers.
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 1.6 rating for the night, edging out the 1.5 rating for ABC. NBC and FOX both posted a 1.3 rating, while The CW averaged a 0.4 rating.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 9.62 million viewers to go with a 6.2 rating/11 share for the Friday night. ABC was a distant second with a 3.3/6 and 5.08 million viewers, nipping the 3.2/5 and 4.91 million viewers for NBC. FOX averaged a 2.0/3 and 3.29 million viewers, easily beating the 0.8/1 and 1.135 million viewers for The CW.
8 p.m. – “Undercover Boss” won the 8 p.m. hour with 8.63 million viewers and a 1.9 rating among adults 18-49, but those numbers were down by a couple million viewers and half a ratings point from last week’s time period premiere. “Shark Tank” recovered some of the juice it lost against “Boss” last week, averaging 5.89 million and a 1.8 key demo rating, both up. FOX’s “Kitchen Nightmares” also went up, with 3.48 million viewers and a 1.5 key demo . NBC’s “Who Do You Think You Are?” was down with 4.985 million viewers and a 1.0 key demo rating. On The CW, a repeat of “Nikita” drew a suspiciously high 1.22 million viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating.
9 p.m. – Also falling for CBS was “A Gifted Man,” which dropped to 9.07 million viewers, still enough to win the 9 p.m. hour, and a 1.3 rating among adults 18-49, which was good enough for third. NBC’s “Grimm” was second overall with 4.75 million viewers and won the hour with a 1.5 key demo rating. ABC’s “Primetime: What Would You Do?” averaged 4.63 million viewers and a 1.4 key demo rating. FOX’s “Fringe” eased into its hiatus with 3.09 million viewers and a 1.2 key demo rating, both up from last week by a Nielsen hiccup. The CW’s “Supernatural” repeat averaged 1.05 million viewers and a 0.4 key demo rating.
10 p.m. – While CBS’ first two primetime hours were down, “Blue Bloods” posted slight gains to win the 10 p.m. hour with 11.175 million viewers and a 1.7 rating among adults 18-49. NBC’s “Dateline” averaged 5 million viewers and a 1.3 key demo, just in front of the 4.73 million viewers and 1.2 key demo for ABC’s “20/20.”
All ratings information comes from preliminary Fast National Nielsen data, which includes live and same-day DVR viewing. All numbers are subject to change.