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NBC Tops Live+SD Premiere Week Ratings, ‘Wonder Years’, ‘NCIS: Hawai’i’ & ‘FBI: International’ Lead Newbies

NBC won Premiere Week (September 20-26) in total viewers and adults 18-49 based on Live+Same Day ratings. Underlining the continuing decline in live viewing, only one of the Big 4 broadcast networks cracked the 1.0 adults 18-49 rating and none came close to 10 million viewers.

CBS was second in total viewers, led by NCIS, the FBI franchise and Survivor, while Fox was second in the demo on the strength of The Masked Singer and 9-1-1.

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On the new series, ABC’s The Wonder Years pulled in the highest 18-49 L+SD average (0.7) while CBS’ NCIS: Hawai’i (6.582 million) drew the largest audience, followed closely by the network’s FBI: International (6.427 million).

Sports have bucked the downtrend this fall and remain the biggest live viewing draw. NBC’s Sunday Night Football game between Green Bay and San Francisco was head and shoulders above the rest of the field during Premiere Week with a 5.6 in 18-49 and 19.7 million total viewers. Despite airing on the low-trafficked Saturday night, ABC’s college football coverage finished second behind Sunday Night Football for the week in the demo.

While SNF fueled NBC’s averages to give the network the largest weekly margin of victory ever for a broadcast network (excluding the 1988 Winter Olympics), the network also ranked as No. 1 for Premiere Week with entertainment programming for the first time in L+SD total viewers since 2001 and for the 10th consecutive year in 18-49.

NBC, which also recently finished No. 1 for the 52-week season, had the top four dramas of the week in 18-49 – Chicago Fire, Chicago P.D., Chicago Med and Law & Order: SVU, which saw rare double-digit increases (32% in 18-49, 84% in total viewers) over last year’s premiere. It also had the top unscripted program of the week with The Voice.

PREMIERE WEEK IN 18-49
(ALL PROGRAMMING)

NBC – 1.3
Fox – 0.8
ABC – 0.6
CBS – 0.6

PREMIERE WEEK IN TOTAL VIEWERS
(ALL PROGRAMMING)

NBC – 6.6 million
CBS – 4.4 million
Fox – 3.5 million
ABC – 3.0 million

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