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Thursday Final Nationals: Considerable Year-to-Year Erosion for College Football Playoff Semifinals on ESPN

ABC repeats usual dominance on New Year's Eve in late night

The top ratings performer on New Year’s Eve — as usual on every New Year’s Eve since the 1970’s — is “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” in late night from New York’s Times Square as the clock struck midnight on the East Coast.

In prime time, a new ratings winner emerged: ABC’s fellow Disney partner ESPN with their college football playoff semifinal doubleheader: the “Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. Oklahoma”, then the “Cotton Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State”.

On the surface, ESPN was a juggernaut relative to other New Year’s Eve programming, as it nearly doubled ABC (its closest competitive network) in total viewers and adults 18-49.

However, the shift from New Year’s Day to New Year’s Eve for the playoff games proved costly. Compared to the year-ago semifinals’ total viewership which took place on Jan. 1, 2015, the late afternoon contest fell 45 percent while the evening matchup had a 34 percent drop.

 

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Thursday, December 31, 2015
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 4.7/9 9445 2.2/11 2.8/11 3.3/10
8:00 Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (s) 4.1/8 8132 1.8/8 2.3/9 2.8/9
9:59 Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve (s) 6.0/12 13015 3.1/15 3.9/14 4.5/14
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 2.3/5 3940 0.4/2 0.6/2 0.9/3
8:00 Big Bang Theory (r) 3.8/7 6016 0.6/3 1.0/4 1.7/5
8:31 Life in Pieces (r) 2.3/4 3785 0.4/2 0.7/2 1.0/3
9:01 Mom (r) 2.1/4 3267 0.3/1 0.5/2 0.8/3
9:30 2 Broke Girls (r) 1.8/4 2845 0.3/1 0.5/2 0.8/2
10:00 Elementary (r) 1.8/4 2815 0.2/1 0.5/2 0.6/2
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 2.6/5 4795 0.7/3 1.0/4 1.4/4
8:00 Toast to 2015 (s) 2.8/6 4777 0.7/3 1.0/4 1.4/4
10:00 New Year’s Eve Game Night with Andy Cohen (s) 2.1/4 3718 0.8/4 1.0/4 1.3/4
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-10 Network Average 1.5/3 2629 0.7/3 0.9/3 1.1/3
8:00 Pitbull’s New Year’s Revolution (s) 1.5/3 2629 0.7/3 0.9/3 1.1/3
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-10 Network Average 0.5/1 838 0.2/1 0.2/1 0.3/1
8:00 iHeartRadio Music Festival (r) 0.5/1 838 0.2/1 0.2/1 0.3/1
PROGRAM HH/Share Viewers
(000)		 Adults
18-34		 Adults
18-49		 Adults
25-54
8-11 Network Average 0.9/2 1620 0.6/2
7:00 Premio Lo Nuestro 2015 (s) 0.6/1 1097 0.3/1
8:00 Feliz 2016 (s) 0.8/2 1536 0.5/2
10:00 Feliz 2016 (s) (thru 12:30am) 1.0/2 2065 0.8/3

Sub-Demo Breakdowns – Thursday 12/31/15

ABC’s “Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” (8pm) (Women 18-34: 2.0/9; Men 18-34: 1.5/7; Women 18-49: 2.6/9; Men 18-49: 2.0/8)

ABC’s “Primetime New Year’s Rockin’ Eve” (9:59pm) (Women 18-34: 3.7/16; Men 18-34: 2.6/13; Women 18-49: 4.4/16; Men 18-49: 3.5/13)

NBC’s “Toast to 2015” (Women 18-34: 0.7/3; Men 18-34: 0.6/3; Women 18-49: 1.2/4; Men 18-49: 0.8/3)

NBC’s “New Year’s Eve Game Night with Andy Cohen” (Women 18-34: 0.8/4; Men 18-34: 0.7/3; Women 18-49: 1.1/4; Men 18-49: 0.9/3)

Fox’s “Pitbull’s New Year’s Revolution” (Women 18-34: 0.9/4; Men 18-34: 0.5/2; Women 18-49: 1.0/4; Men 18-49: 0.7/3)

ESPN’s “Orange Bowl: Clemson vs. Oklahoma” (Women 18-34: 2.56; Men 18-34: 4.90; Women 18-49: 3.04; Men 18-49: 6.37)

ESPN’s “Cotton Bowl: Alabama vs. Michigan State” (Women 18-34: 3.29; Men 18-34: 5.06; Women 18-49: 4.21; Men 18-49: 6.83)

CNN’s “New Year’s Eve with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin” (Women 18-34: 0.31; Men 18-34: 0.28; Women 18-49: 0.44; Men 18-49: 0.46)

Cable Rankings – Thursday 12/31/15
What follows are the top 20 most-watched shows in prime time on cable for Thursday, December 31:


  1. “College Football Playoff: Cotton Bowl: Alabama vs. Clemson” (ESPN, 8:20-11:31 p.m., 9.60 household rating, 5.51 adults 18-49 rating): 18.552 million

  2. “College Football Studio” (ESPN, 8:08-8:20 p.m., 9.54 household rating, 5.45 adults 18-49 rating): 18.090

  3. “College Football Studio” (ESPN, 8:01-8:08 p.m., 8.91 household rating, 5.07 adults 18-49 rating): 16.764

  4. “College Football Playoff: Orange Bowl Classic: Clemson vs. Oklahoma” (ESPN, 4:10-8:01 p.m., 9.05 household rating, 4.70 adults 18-49 rating): 15.640

  5. “WWE SmackDown” (Syfy, 8 p.m., 1.00 household rating): 1.658

  6. “New Year’s Eve with Anderson Cooper and Kathy Griffin” (CNN, 8 p.m.-12:38 a.m., 0.94 household rating, 0.45 adults 18-49 rating): 1.623

  7. “The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 9:30 p.m.): 1.389

  8. “American Dad” (Adult Swim, 10:30 p.m.): 1.298

  9. “Liv and Maddie” (Disney Channel, 8 p.m.): 1.256

  10. “Jessie” (Disney Channel, 8:30 p.m.): 1.244

  11. “American Dad” (Adult Swim, 10 p.m.): 1.193

  12. “The Big Bang Theory” (TBS, 9 p.m.): 1.187

  13. Movie: “Lord of the Rings: Return of the King ” (2003) (TNT, 8 p.m.): 1.177

  14. “American Pickers” (History, 9 p.m.): 1.153

  15. “American Pickers” (History, 10 p.m.): 1.140

  16. “American Pickers” (History, 8 p.m.): 1.124

  17. “Caribbean Life” (HGTV, 10 p.m.): 1.120

  18. “Caribbean Life” (HGTV, 10:30 p.m.): 1.075

  19. “Caribbean Life” (HGTV, 9:30 p.m.): 1.055

  20. “Liv and Maddie” (Disney Channel, 10:30 p.m.): 1.030


Source: Live+Same Day data, Nielsen Media Research

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