‘The 91st Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade’ Rises to Best Metered Market Rating Since “The Oscars”

NBC’s coverage of “The 91st Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” has delivered the highest metered-market rating for any entertainment telecast on the broadcast networks since the Oscars in February, according to Nielsen Media Research. From 9 a.m.-noon on Thursday, the parade, hosted by “Tpday’s” Matt Lauer, Savannah Guthrie and Al Roker, averaged a 12.5 rating/27 share in households in the 56 local metered markets and a 7.0 rating/32 share in adults 18-49 in the 25 markets with local people meters.

Excluding sports, both the 12.5 rating in households and 7.0rating in adults18-49 make this the #1 telecast of the season on ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox and highest going back to last February’s “Academy Awards” on ABC (22.2 in households, 12.7 in 18-49 on Feb. 26).

Last year’s Macy’s Parade earned a 13.5 in households, equaling its high since 2002, and a 7.7 in 18-49 in the local people meters, the event’s best since 2003.

From noon-2 p.m., NBC’s coverage of “The National Dog Show,” hosted by John O’Hurley and featuring the commentary of expert analyst David Frei netted a 6.0/14 in metered-market households and a 3.1/13 in 18-49 in the local people meters. The 6.0 matches the show’s second-best household rating since 2004 (6.3), trailing over that span only last year’s 6.4 (which was a high for the event since 2003). The event also did a 6.0 in 2013. The 3.1 in 18-49 in the LPMs is the second-best for “The National Dog Show” since 2002 (3.7, the first year Nielsen tracked local-market 18-49 ratings), trailing over that span only last year’s 3.4, which remains the event’s highest rating since 2002

National ratings for the parade and dog show, including viewer totals, are due from Nielsen on Wednesday