Updated Sunday Ratings Scorecard: 12.2 Million Viewers for Dominant ‘Grease Live’

24 Comments

1. Looks like FOX will be sticking with the Live musical business for sure now!

   • Eventually the networks will start to run out of well known musicals. I think Chicago could be done pretty easily though.

2. FROM FOX

   We’re very happy to report this morning that GREASE LIVE was not only a critical success but also a huge ratings success! So many of you wrote and tweeted such positive reviews of the show last night, and we’re all really grateful! Key ratings and social highlights are as follows:

   GREASE LIVE RATINGS HIGHLIGHTS

   With GREASE LIVE from 7-10pm last night, FOX ranked #1 in Adults 18-49, #1 in Adults 18-34, #1 in Total Viewers, and #1 among Teens. In fact, FOX beat its combined broadcast competition last night by +48% in Adults 18-49 (4.3 vs. 2.9 for ABC/CBS/NBC).

   Live + Same Day

   · GREASE LIVE (S): 4.3/13, up +26% from NBC’s The Wiz Live (3.4/11 on 12/3/15) and up +79% from NBC’s Peter Pan Live (2.4/7 on 12/4/14) in Adults 18-49

   o GREASE LIVE was also up from The Wiz Live by +6% (12.2 mil vs 11.5 mil) and up +32% from Peter Pan Live in Total Viewers (12.2 mil vs 9.2 mil)

   o Last night’s live broadcast also drew a much larger rating with younger viewers than previous live musical events – GREASE LIVE was up +48% in Adults 18-34 and up +68% in Teens vs The Wiz Live… and up 85% in Adults 18-34 and +131%, respectively, vs Peter Pan Live.

   § In both Adults 18-34 and Teens, GREASE LIVE drew a whopping 3.7 rating!

   § In fact, GREASE LIVE even out-rated NBC’s The Sound of Music by 23% among Teens

   · GREASE LIVE (S) Projections

   o A18-49 Live + 3 Day: 5.2 (+20% vs. L+SD)

   o A18-49 Live + 7 Day: 5.4 (+24% vs. L+SD)

   o Total Multi-Platform Audience: 15.5 Mil (+27% vs. L+SD)

   GREASE LIVE SOCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

   Twitter

   * 358,500 people sent 1.2 million Tweets about FOX’s GREASE LIVE during the broadcast and those tweets were seen a total of 162.2 million times.

   * The most-Tweeted minute occurred at 8:31 pm ET with 9,350 Tweets after Boyz II Men appeared and sang “Beauty School Dropout”

   * GREASE LIVE now ranks as the #1 most viral Special Live Musical Event based on unique authors and audience impressions (Source: Nielsen, compared to Wiz Live, Sound of Music Live, Peter Pan Live, ranked on unique authors/unique audience/impressions).

   Facebook Live backstage show:

   *More than 2 million views of our 13 backstage live Facebook videos, hosted by Mario Lopez and Jeannie Klisiewicz from “Ellen”

   (2,184,695 views, if you want to be exact)

   *The most watched video was the golf carts heading to the carnival finale and the view of how that whole final scene came together – 655k views so far https://www.facebook.com/gogrease/videos/vl.455613121297510/10153212389146268/?type=1

   We trended all night on:

   Facebook

   Instagram

   Twitter (for 13 hours, from 11am until at least 1am PT – and trended worldwide throughout both broadcasts)

   Snapchat:

   *We had over 2 MILLION views on yesterday’s story so far, and it hasn’t even been a full 24 hours.

   *With the cast live-snapping DURING the show, including a few snaps incorporated into the show (2 in the opening number from Vanessa and Carlos, and one at the end from Keke), we really leaned into this platform to give the younger demo a cool perspective on how live everything really was.

   • Did’nt FOX say they wold stop commenting on their ratings? 😉

3. FROM NBC

   “Dateline NBC” (1.0/2 in 18-49, 5.7 million viewers overall from 7-8 p.m. ET):

   · Grew +67% or 0.4 of a point in adults 18-49 versus its average so far this season with two prior Sunday 7 p.m. telecasts (1.0 vs. 0.6).

   · Is also up by +67% in adults 25-54 (1.5 vs. 0.9) and up +44% or 1.7 million persons in total viewers (5.655 million vs. 3.918 million).

   · Is close to rounding up to a 1.1 rating in adults 18-49, currently reporting a 1.04 in these preliminary fast-affiliate ratings.

   · Reported its highest 18-49, 25-54 and total-viewer results for a 7 p.m. Sunday telecast since May 31, 2015 (1.0 in 18-49, 1.6 in 25-54, 6.2 million viewers overall from 7-9 p.m.).

   “American Ninja Warrior: USA Vs. The World” (1.4/4 in 18-49, 4.5 million viewers overall from 8-11 p.m. ET):

   · Is close to rounding up to a 1.5 in 18-49, currently reporting a 1.44 in these preliminary fast-affiliate ratings.

   · For its final hour from 10-11 p.m., ranked #1 among ABC, CBS and NBC in every key demo – adults, men and women 18-34, 18-49 and 25-54.

   · Ranked #2 in the three-hour time period among the Big 4 networks in adults 18-49, adults 18-34, adults 25-54 and other key measures.

4. Wow… good for FOX. I remember a lot of eye-rolling when this project was announced – especially in light of NBC’s success, and general doubt that FOX could pull it off. Well – they beat NBC at their own game, right out of the gate. NBC seemed to finally get it right with The Wiz, but FOX really did create a game-changer last night. The best thing? The viewers! We now have two broadcast networks that have had success with live musicals… so hopefully they keep them coming! Paging ABC…

   • ABC is doing one with Dirty Dancing later this year.

     • True – but I don’t think this is either “live” or a “musical”. Dirty Dancing is not a musical. It is a movie that has music in it (like Footloose or Flashdance). There was a Dirty Dancing musical that hit London’s West End a few years ago… but I believe this is a straight-up remake of the film.

       • Yeah I did hear that this won’t be a live musical which is a shame. If ABC hasn’t started filming it yet they better change that decision and make it a live musical because these at least work. I think taped movie remake would have no interests.

         • Agreed… although I am excited that they are doing it in the first place. I think they have great talent involved (Abigail Breslin and Debra Messing), and I hope it is successful. More than anything, I’m glad that networks are creating more “event” type movies and specials like this… there’s been a lack of them in the past decade or so, and I hope the success for these musicals results in more change.

           • I still have interest in it as well but it would do a lot better performance wise as a live musical. Either way like you said I’m glad the networks are getting back in the event programming game which has drastically been missing over the past 10-15 years once they got out of TV movie or mini-series event business. Broadcast networks need to get back in this business because a contributor to the ratings decline is the lack of event programming that gets everybody talking the next day. It’s too original series heavy right now and those type of shows just don’t draw new viewers in that quickly with an exception of Empire last season.

             I’m rooting for all of these projects rather they’d be live musicals or not but man with the talent Dirty Dancing has starting with Debra and Abigail like you mentioned that would’ve been sweet to watch.

   • You’re talking about it like it got 30 million viewers.

     A solid performance? Absolutely (and made better by the fact it didn’t lose viewers throughout but gained!)

     A Game-Changer? Hardly.

5. Grease Live is definitely the word for FOX as this was an amazing ratings performance here for them beating NBC at their own game. It also goes to show that it really is time for FOX to move on from their animated/comedy block on this night as this is the second time this season something else did better did that lineup as Miss Universe did well back in December and start using Sundays for special programming. I would actually bring American Idol back in 2-3 years or even X-Factor and run it on Sundays after SNF ends.

   The next musical is going to be Tyler Perry’s Passion of the Christ on March 20th then either ABC’s Dirty Dancing or FOX’s Rocky Horror Picture Show. Not sure when NBC will air Hairspray probably the usual December spot.

   Would love to see Rent or Saturday Night Fever here in the future.

6. So You Think You Can Dance renewed for a kids cycle… I don’t think that will save the show.

   CBS and NBC will split Thursday Night Football next season

   • Any news on how they’re going to split the games? Alternating weeks seems like a bad idea since it would really mess up their schedules.

     • That is the first thing that I thought, too…surely they will not be alternating as that would just wreak havoc on schedules. I can’t imagine them trying to maintain any consistency with the non-football Thursdays.

       • According to the NFL’s press release, CBS gets the early season games and NBC gets the later season games. Does CBS hold back Big Bang Theory until mid October or do they air it on Monday nights like they did this year? I’m guessing NBC will air its Thursday night schedule for 3 or 4 weeks then go on hiatus to early December or even January.

     • CBS gets first 5, NBC the following 5

7. I know that a 1.4 is not fantastic but I think that that is a pretty good demo for ANW considering the Grease competition and the fact that it is normally a summer show.

8. SVU and Chicago Med renewed. Wolf signs with NBC until 2020

   • SVU is heading into season 18…unreal.

     • A testament to its qualities but as well to the insane weakness of NBC all those years.

9. FROM CBS

   “THE BIG BANG THEORY” IS THE WEEK’S TOP PROGRAM IN VIEWER AND ADULT 18-49 LIVE +7-DAY LIFT

   Television’s #1 Comedy Gains More Than Five Million Viewers and

   +2.1 Rating Points in Adults 18-49

   THE BIG BANG THEORY was the week’s #1 program in both viewer and adult 18-49 live + 7-day playback lift, according to Nielsen ratings for the week of Jan. 11-17.

   In viewers, THE BIG BANG THEORY gained +5.18m (20.93m from 15.75m, +33%), the only program to gain more than five million viewers.

   Among adults 18-49, television’s #1 comedy added +2.1 (5.9 from 3.8, +55%), the only program to gain more than two rating points.

   CBS’s other big gainers in viewers included BLUE BLOODS +4.19m (14.81m from 10.62m, +39%), CRIMINAL MINDS +3.92m (13.25m from 9.33m, +42%) and ELEMENTARY +3.68m (9.66m from 5.98m, +62%).

   Among adults 18-49, CRIMINAL MINDS gained +1.3 (3.3 from 2.0, +65%) and ELEMENTARY added +1.0 (2.1 from 1.1, +91%).

10. SUNDAY 1/31/16 FINAL NATIONALS: ‘Grease Live’ Hits Big for Fox http://programminginsider.com/?p=4924