Audiences tune in to 'AMAs'
ABC, Fox come in strong on Sunday
For the Alphabet, the "AMAs" averaged a 4.8 rating/11 share in adults 18-49 and 11.8 million viewers overall, finishing first or second (to Fox) in most key categories from 8 to 11 o'clock. The awards show, hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, was up slightly vs. last year's airing on a Tuesday and delivered its best numbers since 2004.
Fox took advantage of a huge NFL overrun (a 10 demo rating is a possibility in the nationals from 7 to 7:30 p.m.), with "The Simpsons" (5.3/13 in 18-49, 10.6 million viewers overall), "King of the Hill" (4.3/10 in 18-49, 9.2 million viewers overall), "Family Guy" (5.4/12 in 18-49, 10.5 million viewers overall) and "American Dad" (4.0/9 in 18-49, 8.1 million viewers overall) all above average. "King," which moved back to the higher-profile 8:30 p.m. slot this fall, logged its best demo scores in four years, while "Dad" had its highest rating since January.
At NBC, the New England Patriots' 56-10 demolition of the Buffalo Bills averaged a 4.9/12 in 18-49 and 13.5 million viewers overall on the net's affils from 8:30 to 11 p.m., with the national averages expected to come up by about 10%. It became clear in the early going that the game wouldn't be competitive, and auds began fleeing about an hour into the contest.
CBS was paced by "Amazing Race" (3.8/9 in 18-49, 12.5 million viewers overall), which was on the high end of its range and seemed to benefit from a lack of unscripted competition on ABC ("Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is the usual slot occupant). "Cold Case" (3.2/7 in 18-49, 13.9 million viewers overall) was about average, while "Shark" (2.9/7 in 18-49, 13.0 million viewers overall) rose to a season high at 10 o'clock.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: Fox, 5.3/13; NBC (7:30-11 p.m.), 4.5/11; ABC, 4.2/10; CBS, 3.3/8; Univision, 1.2/3; CW, 0.5/1.
In total viewers: CBS, 13.5 million; NBC (7:30-11 p.m.), 11.7 million; Fox, 11.6 million; ABC, 10.7 million; Univision, 2.8 million; CW, 1.3 million.
