Premiere week: NBC and CBS tie, ratings sink
Two networks post a 2.5 in 18-49s in first week of the new season
September 28, 2016
The big headline from premiere week, and the one everyone will be paying attention to today, is that NBC and CBS tied for first in adults 18-49, in what’s expected to be a tight season-long battle between the two.
NBC averaged a 2.51 adults 18-49 rating, according to Nielsen, with CBS posting a 2.46; statistically, there’s no difference, as they both round to 2.5 and were recorded by Nielsen as a tie.
ABC followed with a 1.3, and Fox was fourth with a 1.2.
But the smaller headline, and the one everyone should be paying much more attention to, is the big ratings declines suffered by three of the Big Four networks during this first week of the new season, setting a troubling tone for a season where viewership patterns will be under more scrutiny than ever.
CBS was the only network to remain even to last year’s premiere week, thanks in part of football. This fall, as last, CBS gained a competitive benefit from the NFL Network’s “Thursday Night Football” ratings, which are rolled into its own.
Collectively, the Big Four were off 11 percent, from an 8.4 to a 7.5 rating.
Fox dropped the most, down 25 percent from last year, but ABC was right behind with a 24 percent slide.
NBC fell 7 percent from last year, when it beat CBS by 0.2 during premiere week.
For comparison’s sake, consider this. In 2014, just two years ago, the Big Four declined only 2 percent year to year, and the winning network, NBC, posted a 3.0 rating.
None of the Big Four averaged below a 2.0 during premiere week of 2014.
From 2014 to 2016, premiere week ratings for the Big Four have fallen a collective 22 percent.
The reasons for the declines have been detailed ad nauseum in recent years, from other devices drawing viewers away to DVRs allowing them to time-shift programming (which, it should be noted, makes up for some but certainly not all of the decline).
The question going forward this season is whether the year-to-year dips in ratings will remain the same, get better or get worse. Based on recent trends, it’s likely to be the third. And so the big worry from there is, just how low they’ll sink.
***
In broadcast ratings for the week ended Sept. 25:
Among adults 18-49, NBC and CBS each averaged a 2.5 rating and a 9 share, followed by ABC at 1.3/5, Fox at 1.2/4, Telemundo at 0.7/2, Univision at 0.6/2, ION at 0.3/1, UniMás and CW at 0.2/1, Estrella TV, Me-TV, Escape, Grit, Azteca and Bounce TV at 0.1/0, and MundoMax and COZI TV at 0.0/0.
Top five English-language Big Five shows (18-49s): 1. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 7.6; 2. CBS’s “Thursday Night Football” 6.1; 3. NBC’s “Sunday Night NFL Pre-Kick” 5.5; Tie-4. NBC’s “Football Night in America” and Fox’s “Empire” 4.2.
Top five English-language Big Five shows (total viewers): 1. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” 20.62 million; 2. CBS’s “Thursday Night Football” 17.55 million; 3. CBS’s “NCIS” 15.60 million; 4. CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory” 15.82 million; 5. CBS’s “Bull” 15.57 million.
Show on the rise: CBS’s “Thursday Night Football,” Thursday, 8:30 p.m. A matchup between New England and Houston averaged 17.55 million total viewers, up 14 percent from the 15.39 million Buffalo-N.Y. Jets averaged the previous week.
Show on the decline: ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars,” Monday, 8 p.m. The reality competition posted a 1.7 rating among 18-49s, down 19 percent from a 2.1 the previous week.
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Tags: abc, broadcast, broadcast recap, cbs, fox, nbc, ratings declines
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