Friday Ratings: Modest ABC Tops Diluted Evening

Friday, February 26, 2021
Preliminary Results

-Total Viewers:
ABC: 4.02 million, CBS: 3.60, NBC: 2.80, Fox: 2.05, CW: 794,000

-Adults 18-49:
ABC: 0.6 rating/5 share, Fox: 0.5/ 4, CBS and NBC: 0.3/ 2 each, CW: 0.1/ 1

Breakdown:
What can you say when the top-rated broadcast network — ABC — averages just 4-million viewers and a 0.6 rating in adults 18-49. Not much, unfortunately. That said, ABC’s “Shark Tank” topped the 8 p.m. ET (and the night overall) with 4.45 million viewers and a 0.7/ 5 in the demo. Next was veteran “20/20”, which led the 9-11 p.m. block with 3.81 million viewers and a 0.6/ 4 in adults 18-49.

Competing NBC newsmagazine “Dateline” could only muster a 2.47 million viewers (#3) and a 0.3/ 2 (#3t) in the demo from 9-11 p.m. (out of 3.45 million viewers and a 0.3/ 2 in adults 18-49 for just-renewed “The Blacklist” in the 8 p.m. hour).

Elsewhere, “WWE Friday Night Smackdown!” on Fox ranked fourth overall in total viewers and second in adults 18-49 from 8-10 p.m. (see the above chart). The CW’s pairing of “Whose Line is it Anyway?” and “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” was left at the starting gate with an average 794,000 viewers and a 0.1/ 1 in the demo. And CBS featured encore telecasts dramas “MacGyver”, “Magnum, P.I.” and “Blue Bloods.”