Sunday Overnights: ‘Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert’ on NBC Beats ABC’s ‘American Idol’

SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2018

Household Rating/Share
CBS: 4.8/ 9, NBC: 4.7/ 8, ABC: 3.5/ 6, Fox: 1.0/ 2

-Percent Change from the Year-Ago Evening:
Note: CBS aired the “ACM Awards” on the year-ago evening.
ABC: +84, NBC: +31, Fox: – 9, CBS: -27

Ratings Breakdown:
CBS inched past NBC for Sunday household overnight dominance, but NBC is the network to beat in adults 18-49 (and all the key young adult demos). And the bigger story is 8-10:15 p.m. live musical special “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert” holding a considerable overnight advantage over “American Idol” on ABC.

Keeping in mind that results for all live telecasts are approximate, “Jesus Christ Live in Concert” scored an estimated 6.0 household rating/10 share in the 8-10:15 p.m. ET block, which bested ABC’s “American Idol” head to head (6.1/11 vs. 4.4/ 8) by 39 percent in households.

Comparably, “Jesus Christ Superstar” led NBC to its top rating in the Sunday time period in the overnight households (excluding sports and the “Golden Globes”) since the “SNL 40” special on Feb. 15, 2015. It was 71 percent above NBC’s Sunday 8-10:15 p.m. average last season (also excluding sports and the “Golden Globes”). And it was 114 percent above the most recent major live musical event on the broadcast networks, Fox’s “A Christmas Story Live,” in metered-market households (6.0 vs. 2.8 from 7-10 p.m. on Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017). Most recently on NBC was “Hairspray Live!” also at a 6.0 overnight household rating (on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016).

“Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert” it led into a 45-minute edition of newsmagazine “Dateline” at a 3.9/ 7 from 10:15-11 p.m.

Earlier in the evening, CBS granddaddy “60 Minutes” (#1: 6.0/12) won the 7 p.m. ET hour, followed by encore telecasts of the first two episodes of the season of the “Roseanne” revival on ABC (avg. 2.6/ 5), a repeat of “Little Big Shots” on NBC (2.3/ 4), and the pairing of a repeat of animated holiday special “Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade” (0.8/ 2) and “Bob’s Burgers” (1.0/ 2) on Fox.

On CBS, episode three of crime solver “Instinct” dipped to a series-low 4.7/ 8 (#2) from 8-10 p.m., which was below failed fall time period occupant “Wisdom of the Crowd.” Next on the Eye net was the combination of scripted dramas “NCIS: Los Angeles” (#3: 4.5/ 8) and “Madam Secretary” (#2: 3.9/ 7) from 9-11 p.m.

In episode four news on ABC was drama “Deception” at a series-low 2.4/ 4 (#3) in the 10 p.m. hour, which dipped from the 9:30 p.m. portion of lead-in “American Idol” (4.6/ 8) by 48 percent. Even so, it was still an improvement over year-ago time period occupant “American Crime” (1.3/ 2 on 4/02/17).

Fox, meanwhile, was off the overnight charts with its 8-10 p.m. rotation of “The Simpsons” (1.3/ 2), “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” (1.2/ 2), “Family Guy” (1.3/ 2) and “Last Man on Earth” (0.9/ 2), which all finished a distant fourth in their time periods.

What follows are the household overnight ratings for Sunday, April 1 broken out by half-hour:

7:00 p.m.
ABC – “Roseanne” (R): 2.5/ 5 (#2)
CBS – “60 Minutes”: 5.8/12 (#1)
NBC – “Little Big Shots” (R): 2.1/ 4 (#3)
Fox – “Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade” (R): 0.8/ 2 (#4)

7:30 p.m.
ABC – “Roseanne” (R): 2.7/ 5 (#2)
CBS – “60 Minutes”: 6.2/12 (#1)
NBC – “Little Big Shots” (R): 2.6/ 5 (#3)
Fox – “Bob’s Burgers”: 1.0/ 2 (#4)

8:00 p.m.
ABC – “American Idol”: 4.0/ 7 (#3)
CBS – “Instinct”: 4.7/ 9 (#2)
NBC – “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”: 6.5/12 (#1)
Fox – “The Simpsons”: 1.3/ 2 (#4)

8:30 p.m.
ABC – “American Idol”: 4.5/ 8 (#3)
CBS – “Instinct”: 4.7/ 8 (#2)
NBC – “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”: 6.1/10 (#1)
Fox – “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”: 1.2/ 2 (#4)

9:00 p.m.
ABC – “American Idol”: 4.7/ 8 (#2)
CBS – “NCIS: Los Angeles”: 4.5/ 8 (#3)
NBC – “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”: 5.9 /10 (#1)
Fox – “Family Guy”: 1.3/ 2 (#4)

9:30 p.m.
ABC – “American Idol”: 4.6/ 8 (#2t)
CBS – “NCIS: Los Angeles”: 4.6/ 8 (#2t)
NBC – “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”: 5.7 /10 (#1)
Fox – “Last Man on Earth”: 0.9/ 2 (#4)

10:00 p.m.
ABC – “Deception”: 2.5/ 4 (#3)
CBS – “Madam Secretary”: 4.0/ 7 (#2)
NBC – “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert”: 5.8 /10 (#1) – “Dateline”: 5.6/10 (#1)

10:30 p.m.
ABC – “Deception”: 2.3/ 4 (#3)
CBS – “Madam Secretary”: 3.9/ 7 (#1)
NBC – “Dateline”: 3.0/ 6 (#2)

Source: Nielsen Media Research