Fast National ratings for Monday, April 6, 2015.
A competitive showdown between high-powered and star-studded No.1 seeds Duke and Wisconsin helped the 2015 NCAA Championship Game draw its best overnight numbers in 18 years, getting a huge bump from last year's game and leading CBS to Monday domination.
Keep in mind, as always, that these are time period numbers for a game that started a bit after 9 p.m. ET and 6 p.m. PT, rather than ratings for the game itself.
While “The Voice” and “Dancing with the Stars” mostly held their own against CBS' basketball, the enhanced competition took a bite out of a few scripted shows, sending “The Following” to below The Mulaney Line with a 0.9 key demo rating and also dropping the drama below 3 million viewers. Basketball also sent The CW's “The Originals” and “Jane the Virgin” to low ratings.
Let's get to the numbers…
Among adults 18-49, CBS averaged a 5.6 rating for Monday primetime, tops in the key demographic. CBS beat the combined total for the rest of the competition, which was led by NBC's 2.4 key demo rating and ABC's 1.6 key demo rating. FOX averaged a 0.7 key demo rating for the night, while The CW averaged a 0.4 in the key demo.
Overall, CBS averaged an estimated 18.01 million viewers and a 10.5 rating/17 share for Monday night. ABC was a distant second with 10.925 million viewers and a 7.2/12, followed by NBC's 9.05 million viewers and 5.6/9. There was a huge drop to FOX's 2.43 million and 1.6/3 and The CW's 0.7/1 and 1.02 million for the night.
8 p.m. – ABC's “Dancing with the Stars” led the 8 p.m. hour overall with 13.46 million viewers and finished third with a 2.0 rating among adults 18-49. NBC's “The Voice” was second with 10.97 million viewers and won the hour with a 2.9 key demo rating. CBS' “Mike & Molly” repeat and basketball pregame (plus the actual game for a chunk of the country) averaged 8.8 million viewers and a 2.3 key demo rating. FOX's “Gotham” repeat averaged 1.99 million viewers and a 0.5 key demo rating, while The CW's “The Originals” did a 0.5 key demo rating and 1.11 million viewers.
9 p.m. – CBS stormed into first with 20.45 million viewers and a 6.3 rating among adults 18-49 for Duke-Wisconsin. ABC's “Dancing with the Stars” averaged 13.55 million viewers and 2.0 key demo rating, compared to the 10.47 million viewers and 2.8 key demo rating for NBC's “The Voice.” A new “The Following” averaged 2.87 million viewers and a 0.9 key demo rating, topping The CW's 931,000 viewers and 0.4 key demo rating for “Jane the Virgin.”
10 p.m. – Basketball coverage closed primetime with 24.78 million viewers and an 8.1 rating among adults 18-49 for CBS. A “Castle” repeat averaged 5.77 million viewers and a 0.8 key demo rating for ABC, compared to the 5.705 million viewers and 1.4 key demo rating for NBC's “The Night Shift.”
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.