ABC’s telecast of the 43rd annual Country Music Association Awards dominated Wednesday’s primetime ratings race, winning each half-hour and growing year to year. Also of note were nice gains for NBC’s “Law & Order: SVU” and CBS’ “CSI: NY” and “Gary Unmarried.”
According to preliminary national estimates from Nielsen, the CMAs (5.2 rating/14 share in adults 18-49, 16.8 million viewers overall) improved in 18-49 by 4% year to year and gave ABC its largest non-sports audience on a Wednesday in four years. Prominently featuring the popular Taylor Swift, the show hit a six-year high in women 18-34 (5.7/15) and a four-year high in total viewers.
At CBS, “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (2.2/6 in 18-49, 7.6 million viewers overall) was up a bit to log its best demo score since its season premiere, and that led into the highest-rated “Gary Unmarried” (2.5/6 in 18-49, 7.7 million viewers overall) in about a year; “Gary” seemed to benefit from a lack of comedy competition from ABC’s “The Middle.” Also for the Eye, “Criminal Minds” (3.3/8 in 18-49, 12.3 million viewers overall) was on the low side at 9 p.m., but 10 p.m. drama “CSI: NY” (3.7/10 in 18-49, 13.9 million viewers overall) logged its best scores since September with the second part of the “CSI Trilogy” featuring a crossover storyline involving each of the three “CSI” shows.
Fox started sluggishly with “So You Think You Can Dance” (2.1/6 in 18-49, 5.5 million viewers overall) before surging at 9 p.m. with the return of “Glee” (3.3/8 in 18-49, 7.3 million viewers overall), which held up well despite the tougher competition among young women and stood as the night’s No. 1 series in adults 18-34 (3.8/11).
NBC’s “Mercy” (1.8/5 in 18-49, 6.8 million viewers overall) ticked up slightly week to week but placed fourth in 18-49, followed by “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” (2.8/7 in 18-49, 8.8 million viewers overall), which matched a season high and finished within 1 share of crime drama rival “Criminal Minds” in 18-49. The momentum stalled at 10 p.m., however, as “The Jay Leno Show” (1.4/4 in 18-49, 4.6 million viewers overall) lost half of its lead-in to place a distant third among the major networks.
And one week from its season finale, CW’s “America’s Next Top Model” (1.5/4 in 18-49, 3.2 million viewers overall) was down vs. last week’s strong performance.
Preliminary 18-49 averages for the night: ABC, 5.2/14; CBS, 3.1/8; Fox, 2.7/7; NBC, 2.0/5; Univision, 1.3/3; CW, 1.0/3.
In total viewers: ABC, 16.8 million; CBS, 11.3 million; NBC, 6.7 million; Fox, 6.4 million; Univision, 3.5 million; CW, 2.2 million.
Contact Rick Kissell at
rick.kissell@variety.com