‘American Idol’ Finale Posts Best Broadcast Demos, ’60 Minutes’ Tops Viewers With Steve Kroft So-Long
Game of Thrones’ swan-song ratings come out later today. Meanwhile, here’s how its broadcast competition fared against the highly hyped HBO bloodbath:
CBS’ newsmagazine 60 Minutes (0.8 rating in the adults 18-49 demographic, 8.21 million viewers) was Sunday night’s most watched broadcast, matching its best showing since April 14. The broadcast featured Steve Kroft’s official announcement of plans to retire.
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ABC’s American Idol (1.3, 7.71M) was No. 1 in the demo among broadcast networks.
Idol, moved from Monday night last year to Sunday night this year – where its finale aired in the teeth of the Game of Thrones’ ender – came in short of last season’s finale but up compared to the previous week. Idol aired live across the country so gets to add unduplicated viewers from its repeat in the Western U.S. when official nationals come in. Typically, that adds between 690,000-860,000 total viewers and a tenth to two tenths in demo ratings.
After 60 Minutes, CBS’ finale of its limited series The Red Line (0.3, 3.38M) tied its low in the demo and slipped to a new low in total viewers.
At 10 PM, the 10th-season finale of NCIS: Los Angeles (0.5, 5.13M) matched the series’ demo low; CBS noted it aired against the season finale of ABC’s Idol “and some cable show about dragons.”
CBS’ programming was delayed two minutes Sunday night due to PGA Championship overrun.
Meanwhile, NBC’s Good Girls (0.5, 2.47M) scored its biggest overall crowd since March 10, despite the GoT finale and American Idol’s season wrap.
Dateline NBC (0.7, 4.30M) generated its biggest Sunday 8-10 PM audience, excluding sports and trophy shows, since last September 2.
The CW’s Supergirl Season 4 ender (0.3, 1.05M) dropped two tenths compared to last year’s season closer. And the first-season finale of CW’s Charmed revival (0.2, 600K) continued to fumble about the same portion of its lead-in, in both metrics.
ABC ranked as the most-watched broadcast network for a fourth straight Sunday. Excluding only the night of the Oscars, the network also marked its most-watched Sunday night this season. NBC (0.6, 3.43M) followed, not closely, in the demo, while CBS (0.5, 5.03M) ranked No. 2 in total viewers. Fox (0.4, 1.12M), which aired repeats, and CW (0.2, 827K), followed.
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